Saturday, July 26, 2008

Saturday Sleepover/Quilt-In Fun



Fiona hosted a sleepover last Saturday night at Dragonfly Crafts. This week it’s held in Australia by Quilty-Gal. It’s much easier to travel to Australia from Arizona via “blog travel” (and cheaper, too).



My work-in-progress is the Starfish on the Beach scarf from
Ocean Breezes: Knitted Scarves Inspired by the Sea.



The starfish design is really lovely. I’m using Alchemy’s Synchronicity yarn (50% silk, 50% wool) in the color Topaz and size 8 needles. The feel of the yarn is glorious.




I chose this pattern because I love the whole idea of a starfish scarf, and I really want to move forward in my knitting by learning new stitches. New-to-me lessons learned: (1) making a nice neat little slit in one end to use for tucking in the other end of the scarf, (2) backward loop cast-on, (3) YO K1 tbl, (4) YO, K2tog, (5) and YO, sl 1, K2tog, psso.

What makes me crazy? The pattern used commas between every knitting notation. I offer the following as Exhibit A:

(K1, P1) twice, K4, sl 1, K2tog, passo, (YO) K1 tbl, twice, YO, K2tog, YO, sl 1, K2tog, psso, YO, K2tog, (YO, K1 tbl) twice, YO, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K3, (K1 P1) twice.

Holey moley! It’s hard for a tentative knitter like me to figure out where one stitch ends and another one begins. I did sort it all out, but a semi-colon as a divider between stitches would make things much clearer.



I’m off now to see what everyone else is doing at the sleepover.


12 comments:

Happy Zombie said...

Oooo blogtravel! Champagne, caviar, lots of leg room, cloth napkins... everyone goes first class on BlogAir!

meg said...

Love the color & sheen of that yarn~ it's going to very cute :-)

Anonymous said...

Your scarves are beautiful June, They will be perfect for the beach at Christmas. Glad you dropped in to catch up again. Not sure what happened to Claire?

Thimbleanna said...

LOL about the semicolons! I guess I've been reading commas so long I've never given it a thought. I love your scarf -- it's going to be beautiful!

Kim Campbell said...

That is so pretty! I love the color. Have fun at your sleepover!!

Mrs.Kwitty said...

JunieMoon--that scarf is gorgeous--love the starfish! AND that yarn! wool and silk, so luxurious and a lovely sheen. Gorgeous.
Smiles, Karen

Sue said...

What a beautiful scarf! The yarn is a beautiful colour, too. Perfect for a mermaid. :) I agree with you on the commas...knitting patterns are hard enough for us newbie knitters to read without all that too!

Anonymous said...

Pretty! The yarn looks like it would be slippery to work with, but maybe the wool part of it lends some less-slickness.

One way to read the printed instructions more easily is to highlight every other stitch (or set of stiches) with a highlighter.

Unknown said...

What a lovly idea! So how was the sleepover?! Did everyone do a project? Love your knitting of the starfish...very clever!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
Robyn

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I can't believe that you are only a beginner knitter June! That pattern looks so complicated and yet your scarf is gorgeous and so perfect!

Hugs, Pat

Lena said...

Wow, June this one is even prettier than the last one, even though that's hard to believe, as it is so nice. I love both the pattern, and the yarn you've chosen for this one. It looks so soft.

Anonymous said...

you know I have finally given up entirely on knitting. I refuse to make yet another scarf or other 'block'. :)
I want to knit a sweater, or bowl, or hat, or something ... I absolutely can not follow the instructions or patterns. I've had to abandon so many knitting projects only to give away the project for someone else to complete. I admire people who can follow those instructions but there must be a synapse in my brain that simply doesn't click ... bravo to you. That yarn looks beautiful -- the pattern too.

Diane