Whistle WHile You Work

or, actually, listen to "The Ruby in the Smoke" by Phillip Pullman and watch videos on www.threadbanger.com
The scarf continues to grow slowly. i'm working in a chunky, varigated wool blend in greens and browns. i'm planning another measuring day. at the moment the scarf is taking up a large amount of the boy's staircase. more pictures soon!

Hearts & Flowers

Funny knitting story before we get to the scarf info:
Last night I went to see the Pink Box Burlesque do their "Big Top" charity show. The proceeds went to the The Elephant Sanctuary and the Children's Craniofacial Association. I was sitting in
the second row working on a hat for one of the performers who happens to be a dear friend. When the emcee took the stage she pointed me out and asked if I could possibly whip her up some pasties. I, of course, said no problem. I would like you to know that by the end of that show I had a lovely hat to had over to my friend, Miss Ducky, and a damn fine pair of knitted, tassled pasties made with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the colorway "Aslan." It's so important to keep one's nipples warm don't you think?

I decided after January that I enjoyed doing theme knitting
so all the February knitting has been in holiday appropriate colors (where else am I going to use fuzzy pink yarn?).


February has seen significantly less knitting than January now that the scarf is permanently at Drew's. I've been doing more reading and less t.v. watching, which leads to less knitting.

Prior to watching "Dollhouse" tonight the scarf was just over 3388 inches (282.333 feet). For scale: the Flatiron Building in New York is 285 feet.

The pink and purple yarns are all from donations and so I haven't got a clue what company most of them are from. But here are a few closeups:








This is an almost popcorn-y yarn that Sally and Barbara from Tuscaloosa brought me. It's very stiff when knitted up on these needles.











Below that you can see a fun fur in purples and pinks. Also from Sally and Barbara. I know Ellen was selling this stuff when I first started working at Serendipity, but I have no recollection of brand name.



This yarn was a ribbon- type also from Barbara and Sally.
















I'm reasonably certain that this is an alpaca-blend and I think I got it from one of the lovely ladies at Knit Nouveau. It's so soft. I love alpaca. Not, however, as much as I love angora. And I hear that there's a bunny in the area that needs a haircut. I may have to see what I can do about getting in on that.












This is a pink DK weight wool. It was nice to work with but as per usual with this stuff does not have a label or a clear donor. I know it came in one of the bags I got recently, but I can't remember which one.









This last yarn is very, very soft and very very synthetic. It came from Barbara and Sally and I'm fairly positive that they got it at Serendipity a few years back, but I don't know the brand name as per usual.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th and I just watched "The 13th Warrior" with Drew.
I've finished the Lorna's Laces,
done a skein of Linie 73-Spot
(yarn 18) in teal,







a ball of Berroco Plush Colors (yarn 19) in kiwi,










and started a ball of violet mystery wool (yarn 20). I think I may have gotten the wool to make a stuffed penguin. I know the teal yarn was purchased at Serendipity because it was sparkley and teal (one of my favorite colors). The lime was probably intended for a baby toy of some description. I probably should have saved it as I do have baby knitting in the offing, but new yarn is always better and I think I shall make a blanket, which this wouldn't really do for anyway. I've also got to make a wedding shawl for Lindsay and a DNA scarf for Sam. Or something else suitably medical.
On the bright side, I chew my fingers less when I'm knitting. I probably won't get much done tomorrow. I've got work and then Drew and I are going to "The Count of Monte Cristo" at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. I'll knit if I can get him to drive.

Day 7

260 inches

I finished the mystery ball and have started the first full skein (yarn 17) in the scarf. It's a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Sand Dune. I bought two skeins to do a set of knee socks, but I didn't like the shape once I started knitting so into the scarf it went.

Last night I went up to Drew's balcony and let the whole thing unroll onto the floor below. It made a really satisfying "whomp." Then I stretched it from the arm of the couch to the upstairs bathroom door, went downstairs and knitted from there. I'm looking forward to storing it upstairs and knitting downstairs.
I've promised Drew that when it's all done he can have it as a bean bag chair.
I had a lovely conversation with two customers at work about it. It's a no-stress project, which I need desperately right now. The beauty of this project is that it's got a definate goal and end point, but the amount of time it takes to get there or even if I do get there is irrelevant. In the current haze of mom/house/work that makes me very happy.

Day 6

Well, standing in line at the DMV got me through the rest of the blue velvet and onto a small section of black wool (yarn 12) from Brown Sheep.
This afternoon and my lunch break saw some pink cotton and viscose (yarn 13) from my teddy bear phase as well as a segment of black chenille (yarn 14), whose origin and history are an utter blank. My break got me through that yarn and onto a small segment of dark grey Blue Sky Alpaca (yarn 15) left over from a scarf. After that will be some white cotton (yarn 16) that I used in a baby blanket.


The scarf sausage is starting to get too big to fit in my bag. I"ll have to upgrade it soon.
238.25 inches

Day 4 contd

Done with the sari silk. Now it's on to the mystery ball. I reorganized my stash box last night and this ball of yarn is made up of a bunch of different yarns that were in disarray and mostly weren't big enough to wind into their own balls. It starts off with (yarnd 8) some purple cotton and viscose that was left over from a series of teddy bears that I made.
Then it moves on to (yarns 9 & 10) two different colors of Blue Sky cotton that I had been making a hat with.
I didn't have quite enough yarn to finish the hat though, so I pulled it out and added the yarn to the scarf project.

Day 4

Yarn #7 is recycled sari silk from... Mango Moon I think.
I adore this yarn. I actually had this ball knitted into a not very successful scarf that I unpicked last night. I need to measure again, but I'm waiting for David to come back from lunch and do math for me since the scarf now exceeds the length of one tape measure. David finds math comforting.

Day 3

New yarn, new yarn! La la la la la la.
It's Brown Sheep worsted in white.


It, like the pink, is left over from the cat purse I made.

Oh, and the cute red head at Knit Nouveau identified the previous yarn (#5) as Noro Silk Garden. I'm pretty sure someone from Serendipity gave it to me.

Ok, measurement time... 80.25 inches. Yay!

Day 2

More progress today. Work was slow so I got rather a lot done. When I measured this afternoon I had 43.75 inches. I made a livejournal post. I've got a meter, but I'm still at 0%. I finished the Zen and started the 4th yarn : Plymouth Yarn Sinsation in a royal purple color. Sinsation is a chenille and rather yummy. I got it from my secret pal in the lj knitting swap I did.

















I've finished the Sinsation and am starting yarn #5,
which is a wool/something blend. It looks a bit like sari silk. I don't recall where I got it. It's a left over from someone else.

later

8 p.m.
25.5 inches

3rd yarn: Berroco Zen in black.