Still on the needles…

It’s been a while since I last wrote about knitting.  I thought I would provide an update on the projects highlighted in this post.  Amazing to think I published that nearly three months ago.

Anyway, here is the latest shot of my Soumak Scarf:

I am, strictly speaking, half way through – this represents four out of eight pattern repeats.  It is just over a meter long, and the finished scarf is supposed to measure around 180cm.  Each pattern repeat is just over 30cm, so in theory I will need to do only three more to achieve the stated length.  The beauty is that I can just see how I feel and if I decide to make it super-long, I can add the final repeat.  This is a fun, easy knit and I love how the different colours go together.

I also adore the back!

Isn’t it great to be producing something which looks so fabulous on either side – result!!

What won’t be much fun is the weaving in of all those ends.  I have experimented with knitting them in as I go along, but I do not like the finish this achieves.  So I will, in due course, need to bite the bullet and painstakingly sew them all in by hand.  Still, as I commented recently to a fellow crafty blogger, making things is all about the journey and not just the finished article (at least that’s what I keep telling myself!).

Meanwhile, I am making only slow progress with my Seascape Stole.  This photo shows the latest.  In fact, what you can’t see is that I originally knitted about this much, but had to rip it out because I found I had made a mistake.  It is hard to get things back on track with lace knitting if you go wrong, so it seemed best to start again.  I am comforting myself with the thought that although this does not look like much knitting, it represents half my effort so far.

It is a slow knit because I have to concentrate very hard on getting the pattern right.  It is interesting because the fundamental stitch pattern is not difficult at all, and only requires a small number of stitch variations.  But it is so easy to get distracted and miss a crucial maneuver – I definitely don’t want to rip it out yet again!  I will shortly add in a ‘life-line’ – this is an independent thread that weaves across a single row of knitting and marks a spot where you know everything is right to that point.  It means that, if you subsequently go wrong, you need only rip back to the line, rather than right back to the beginning.  A definite must for this kind of project.

Overall, though, I cannot get enough of that rich purple yarn.  And the pattern will look really lovely when it is finished, so it is worth persevering with it.

Finally, since my last knitting post, I have started this third shawl.  This is ‘travel and company knitting’ – ie it is a supremely easy pattern which I can work on with other distractions around me.  You might recognise the yarn from this post.  And the pattern is taken from my recently-acquired book, Sequence Knitting.

I find it constantly amazing that such a variegated yarn produces an ‘organised’ colour pattern.  This is totally random, given that the stitch combination and number of stitches were chosen slightly arbitrarily.  That’s knitting for you!  It really is pleasing to see the colour waves develop and I love having the opportunity to take this out and about to work on it.

It will be interesting to see how far I have got with this lot in another three months! 🙂