First is a Hitchhiker Scarf, which I've made before and is a very popular pattern (over 30,000 projects on Ravelry; wow!). The yarn I wanted to use was some handspun merino which I'd spun earlier this year. I'd bought a colour pack of 10 x 25g bundles of fibre from World of Wool and it had sat in my fibre stash for at least a couple of years so I thought it was time to spin it.
I split each nest of fibre into thirds in order to spin a 3ply yarn. For the first single (or ply), I spun each colour end to end; for the second single, I split each colour lengthwise into 4 pieces and spun in the same colour order 4 times and for the third single, I split each colour into 8 and spun that in the same colour order as bobbins 1 and 2. After I'd plied the singles together (using my Jumbo flyer and bobbin) I ended up with a large skein of yarn that weighed 260g and measured 387 metres.
For my Hitchhiker scarf, I used a 5mm KnitPro circular. This pattern is very easy to memorise and didn't need too much attention, so was good knitting to do whilst watching TV or chatting at Knitting Group, so was a quick knit and, in fact, only took five days to complete. I blocked it last week whilst hubby was away and I was able to pin it out on the floor of the spare room/office and today I nipped outside while the weather was good (it's since got very foggy here) and snapped a photo in the daylight:
I'm very pleased with it and think I'll use it a lot, especially if the weather turns colder, as forecast. It's nice and wide, but not too deep, so can be wrapped around the neck a couple of times.
Having finished that scarf, I went hunting through my stash (hubby's made comments about how large it is so I haven't bought any yarn for at least three months) for something to make into an Escarpment Cowl. DD1 will be home from Uni in three weeks and I thought that, rather than wearing a scarf which needs to be unwound, she might prefer a cowl so, when on a Tube train or a bus, she can just pull it off over her head. I hunted down the two balls of Sirdar Escape DK which I knew I had and started knitting. Again, this turned out to be a fairly mindless knit, apart from increases every other round and was soon knitted up. I modified the pattern very slightly in that I knit it a bit longer than the pattern said before joining and starting to work in the round (because DD1 has a larger-than-average head circumference and very thick, wavy hair) and did an extra four rounds/two ridges of the garter stitch border before casting off (and I used the JSSBO rather than the one in the pattern). The thing I'd forgotten though, was how much this yarn bleeds when it's washed, so I'm wondering whether to make another one to wrap up for her at Christmas (she tends to throw all her washing into the machine for one load as nothing she's got has bled). Oh well, maybe she'll just have to remember to handwash it -- or (most likely) wait until she comes home in the holidays so I can do it for her!
The colours are a little darker than the photo shows, but it's a mixture of blue, purple and fuschia pink. It's a clever pattern because it looks like a shawl with the point at the front, but just pops over the head (I couldn't get the back to sit right on the hanger, but the back goes down into a shallower point too), so there's not too much bulk under a coat.
I cast on something new yesterday evening as well and I also started a new weaving project last week, which I'll tell you about next time. I'm really getting things made, aren't I. In the meantime, I'm tied to the house today as we're expecting a couple of deliveries and it's just me and Jess at home today. I suppose it gives me an excuse to do more knitting and spinning as I don't want to switch on the vacuum cleaner and miss hearing the doorbell, do I!!!
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