2015 - the Year of the Scarf perhaps?

It's not as though I planned it, but this year seems to be shaping up to be a Scarf Year.  First off, I finished the simple, crocheted orangey-red scarf from James C Brett Marble DK (a very nice, soft acrylic yarn).

Then, hubby asked me if I'd knit him a scarf.  A bit of deliberation looking at patterns, some frustration when he was looking online at the sort of thing he wanted until I more or less told him that if he wanted me to knit him a scarf, it would be a Double Bump scarf as that was the closest pattern I could think of that would match his requirement of "not plain" (but he didn't want cables).  Discussion then followed because when I showed him the scarf on Ravelry he declared it "not wide enough" so I had to patiently explain that I would just cast on more stitches and "yes, before you say anything, that will work - trust me"!  He decided he wanted burgundy.  And he wanted something that "wasn't thin", so I went to the yarn shop and bought 4 x 100g balls of Sirdar Wool-Rich Aran.  I didn't think I'd need all four balls, but he wanted a long scarf so he could fold it in half, wind it around his neck and pull the ends through it and still have enough length to dangle down his front.  Awkward?  Fussy?  Him?  Why on earth would you think that? :D

So, I cast on and started knitting.  And continued knitting, and knitting, and knitting.  It got to a decent-looking length and I showed it to him.  "It looks good - but it needs to be longer".  On I knitted and then showed it to him again; "still not long enough".  After about four weeks, I decided to stop asking him what he thought of the progress, made a fringe for one end (yes, he wanted a fringe as well), attached it, cut the yarn for the fringe at the other end and then just knitted until I'd finished the fourth ball of yarn, cast off and attached the fringe.

Now, I should say here that I did warn him that once I'd finished the yarn and it had a wash and was laid out to dry it would probably get longer because the pattern's a type of waffle stitch, but I don't think he believed me.

Anyway, I hung it over a coat hanger and he said he liked it.  I went off to work and came home five hours later to be told "my scarf's got longer" (because - obviously - it had expanded under its own weight).  I didn't know whether to laugh or bang my head on the wall.  In fact, just draped around the back of his neck and left to hang, the ends of the fringe reach nearly to his ankles.

So, one scarf for my husband, which he probably won't wear until next autumn, but at least it's done and out of the way (and I'm not knitting anything in burgundy for a while - it's not my favourite colour at the best of times).

Here it is:

A much easier make was my latest weaving project.  I warped my loom with some yellowy-cream, light pink and light blue DK acrylic, wound a ball of James C Brett Baby Marble DK onto a shuttle and off I went.  I'm really pleased with the result --- except --- I beat it (that's using the reed/heddle to push the weft/across yarn down onto the woven fabric) a bit too hard, so the fabric's stiffer than it should/could have been.  I think it's a fairly common beginner weaver thing.  However, all is not lost because, being acrylic, a quick wash cycle and drying it on the hotter setting of my tumble dryer has softened it up a bit, so it's still useable as a scarf.

This is destined for our knitting group's box of "items to be donated".  Last year, we knitted and crocheted ornaments for a Christmas tree to be displayed in the church local to the village hall where we meet each week.  This year, we've decided that our 'tree' will be decorated with accessories (hats, scarves, mittens, etc) which will then be donated to the Salvation Army and other charities, so our knitting has a purpose, so this scarf will be going into that box along with the orangey-red crocheted one I showed off a couple of posts ago,

Last week, I cast on two new knitting projects.  My first socks of the year are on the needles and I've also started a new jumper.  I'd planned on taking photos of them today, but.....

What a dreary day.  It's been raining since first thing this morning, the sky is drab and my house doesn't get enough natural light to take very good photos, especially as there's red involved in both projects (always difficult to photograph indoors).  I've also got another scarf on my loom - weaving is so much quicker than knitting or crocheting.

Hopefully the weather will brighten up tomorrow so I can get some decent shots.

In the meantime, I'm bracing myself for the Easter holidays.  DD2 has a non-pupil day tomorrow, so she'll be at home with me and I'm trying to think of something we can do to get her away from spending the entire day either playing on the Wii or using my laptop.