I managed to finish Harry’s Scarf in the Nick of Time. I put the fringe on it Thursday morning.

I tagged everything with the fiber content and washing instructions – I had a vision of a mom pulling a sodden, shrunken mass out of the washing machine. And we carried it off to the library. The Wine and Cheese thing went well, I washed about a million glasses (that was my job) and learned that I Really Don’t Like Blue Cheese. I had always suspected that was the case, but it has now been confirmed by experts. The last time Michael looked at the bid sheets, Harry’s Scarf was at $40. This was after I started washing glasses but before the end of the shindig and we didn’t get to see them again. We never discovered the fate of the Fund Raiser Scarf, but it went home with someone who wasn’t us.

But the best part of the evening is that I got to wear Remembering Honey! I hope someone took a picture…

Great Gran also finished up the ENORMOUS amount of knitting that she was doing for her Church Bazaar. We took Baby hats, baby blankets, baby shoes, a little sweater, two short capes and one regular-sized afghan to the church yesterday morning. The sale is today; I am getting M up in a minute because I saw some really wonderful bird houses and want to be sure to get one.
They are raising money for a new sanctuary, Ivan took a large chunk of the old one.

Great Gran and I are back to our regularly scheduled knitting. I am working on M’s cardigan and Great Gran’s new project is Helmet Liners for the soldiers. She is really excited because they used to make something similar during World War II. The Denise Needles have really come in handy.

The Emergency Yarn Order arrived on Saturday and, in yet another Astounding Yarn Miracle, is the SAME DYELOT. How lucky can a girl get? I may even have enough time to finish. If knitting on this scarf is all I do for the next three days. Unfortunately, life rarely permits a person to only do one thing and I have a pretty tight week scheduled. Add to that my Allergies (it’s not the goldenrod, it’s some other yellow thing that blooms at the same time). The SneezeNoMore Medicine has me feeling a little Wonky so it’s a good thing that the only mad skill required for a Hogwarts scarf is knitting in circles. I’m a third of the way along.

Lady Bird is included for scale.

I also ordered some Parade.

Blue for M and green for me! Doesn’t my mug look pretty?

I don’t really need any more sock yarn. I’ve got enough for at least five pairs of socks already, but Parade is sport weight! And self-striping! And Knitpicks has free shipping on $30 orders. I’m a sucker for free shipping.

Also of note: my Aunt and her Little Friend came over for a Knitting Lesson on Friday. I started them off learning the knit stitch with some leftover Rowan Biggie Print on #13s (10 inches long and plastic – short, light needles make for less Awkward learning). Their homework is to finish knitting the ball of yarn. I’ve ordered Lion Brand’s Landscapes in several different colorways (so they can pick) for scarves. In the next lesson, they’ll learn to cast on and then make a simple garter stitch scarf (counting their stitches ever few rows to make sure that the loose one on the edge hasn’t made them add an extra). I like to start people out on an easy project in a yarn with stitch definition (so they can see what they are doing) but a fair amount of interest (so that less-than-perfect craftsmanship is less-than-obvious). Even if they never make anything else in their entire lives, they will have a decent looking scarf that they can tell people they made. I also try not to spend too much on the yarn so that if they never finish, they didn’t blow $40 on materials. Once they’ve finished a scarf, then they can spend obscene amounts of money on Luxury Yarns and Hand Turned Needles. But until then, stick with the mid-range yarns and the lighter plastic needles. Keep the beginners away from large aluminum needles! All you get with that is a lot of swearing and throwing of projects. No one wants that – someone could loose an eye.

Emily Ivey and the Knitting Workshop Present: The Fund-Raiser Hat and Scarf

The pattern for this Delightful Set can be found here in html format. I am adding a link to my Patterns page in case you need it a year from now and find combing through the archives Tedious.

I gotta tell ya: I just love this yarn! The Andean Silk is Dreamy. My stitches are well-defined even though the garmet has developed a delicious little halo. The best part is that Andean Silk creates a wonderful finished object that looks like it cost a lot more than it did. It blocked beautifully – almost crisply – but maintained a fabulous drape. I will absolutely use it again!

Once I was finished with the cabled hat and scarf, I immediately cast on for the Hogwarts Scarf (Library Knitting #2). As I was working on the first few rounds, I started thinking (as I occasionally do) that this was not enough yarn to make a really long, fat scarf. Turns out, it’s not enough yarn to make a really long, fat scarf. I am illiterate and somehow managed to misread the yarn requirements and only order half as much yarn as I need. The new stuff is sure to be a different dyelot. Sure, I could have called KnitPicks and begged them to paw through piles of yarn checking numbers, and I probably should have. But I am embarrassed about this whole thing (which is why I have decided to share the incident here, with only a Few Personal Friends). So I didn’t call. Instead, I have convinced myself that different dyelots is no big deal: it’s a striped scarf, right? I’ll just stagger the dyelots and maybe no one will notice. How’s that for a Plan? And the supplemental yarn may not even make it here in time (I’ve got to finish it by Thursday week) so the whole dilemma may be moot anyway. If I miss the deadline, I think I’ll make it up anyway for M’s sister. She will be the envy of her high school. All the Cool Kids have hand-knit Hogwarts Scarves.

The Up Side to the the Yarn *ahem* Difficulties, is that I have had a bunch of time to work on M’s cardigan. Which I am having a very good time making.

You can’t tell from the picture, but I am past the armhole shaping and in the neck decrease Home Streatch. Of that piece of cardigan anyway. There are still two sleeves, the other front and the back to go. No to mention the front and neck bands. And the seaming. The miles and miles and miles of seaming.

The Yarn Fairy has been very good to me!

The yarn on the left is for the Hogwarts Scarf for the Library Fund Raiser and for M’s Georgia Tech scarf. I think you can figure out which colors are for which scarf. The yarn on the right is for the Fund Raiser Hat and Scarf. This stuff is delightful! It is soft as anything and a little fuzzy and silky and has a great drape and I will certainly use it again! I’ve already started on the FRH&S.

I’ll post the pattern when I’ve finished the scarf. I think they’re pretty. There is nothing more fun to make than a cabled scarf. Now I have to go, Betty insists that it’s time for lunch. I think her watch is fast.

PS I got to the arms on M’s Cardigan! Work on that project is temporarily suspended due to the Library Knitting Time Crunch.

I sat up a while last night and knit until the pattern got too complicated (or rather, I was too tired for the pattern). Which means that I am about 10 inches from the cast on edge. Armholes and neck shaping don’t happen until 16 3/4.

Lucy has developed a love of yarn. She takes whole balls (about half her size) and carries them down the hall to hide under the bed. I guess she’s making a stash. Last night, she grabbed the one attached to M’s Cardigan (which, incidentally, was hidden underneath an afghan) and took off down the hall. Since Lamb’s Pride comes in pull skeins, my knitting stayed in the chair and the ball of yarn made a long trail down the hall and into the bedroom. When Lucy discovered that it was still attached to something, she chewed through the offending trail and placed the rest of the ball under the bed with three others. All the yarn has been recovered and I have been rethinking my knitting bag arrangements. Perhaps I should switch to bags with zippers.

Now I am off to watch a little more television and knit. Maybe I’ll make it to the armholes by tonight.

How many more days ’til November?

Here are some knit bloggers on the Texas Gulf Coast. Just to keep y’all informed.

• One Stitch Short
• Fruitcakes Here a-Knititn’
• Elvis Knits (Elvis is the cat)
• Off the Kuff
• Texas is sooo big… (How big is it?) Texas is so big that the knitters have their own blog ring!
• If you are in the Houston-Galveston area and you are planning to ride it out, why not experiment with a little citizen journalism?

As for me, I’m waiting to see how quickly this thing turns north (and how big it gets) to decide if I need to bring in the hanging plants. I’ve also been wishing (as usual) for a down-grade. To pass the time, I’ve been working on M’s cardigan. The pattern is titled “Men’s V-Neck Cardigan” and is by Mari. You can take a peek at the promised results here. As I was looking for the v-neck, I had to scroll through a whole bunch of intriguing patterns!

I ordered Great Gran some yarn which I thought was the right yarn but it turns out I was wrong. She shouldn’t have thrown away the yarn bands. Knowing that the yarn came in a doughnut shape with a pale band is just not enough to go on! I did get the brand right (Rowan). I’ll be calling in the morning to see if the nice folks at Yarn Market can figure out where I went wrong.