Ene's Scarf Success!

It's done It's done IT'S DONE!!!

And, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever knit :) This lovely lovely Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style took me since March to complete, due to my own lack of foresight in yarn purchasing. As you can clearly see, there is a stark contrast between the two yarns I used, but I've learned to live with it (and love it as well. I can certainly say no one else's looks like mine!) It's Fleece Artist Kid Silk 2 ply, which is a silk and mohair blend. Absolutley beautiful yarn. The scarf is warm and snuggly (as snuggly as a scarf can be) and turned out large enough to be a shawl. I loved blocking it too, watching the pile of twisted lacy stitches become a real form.

The people at Fleece Artist are wonderful to work with. I would recommend them to anybody. Also, the people at Feather Your Nest ( http://www.featheryournest.ca/ ) are great too! The owner is the nicest lady! I'll be doing all my Fleece Artist and Handmaiden yarn ordering though them in the future! (I must plan a visit to Sarnia!)

Hot Water Bottle Cozy - Free Pattern!

This is my first attempt at writing out a pattern that I've made, so bear with me! As a warning: this cozy was made especially for my own hot water bottle, which measures approximately 12 inches long and 7.5 inches wide. I've a feeling most hot water bottles are around that size as well.

Materials: Red Heart Acrylic Yarn
Needles: 7US / 4.5 mm
Gauge: 4 stitches and 6 rows = 1 inch

First Side:
Cast on 30 sts
***start with a Purl row, continue in stockinette for 43 rows

Decreasing for bottle neck:
Over next 10 rows: Decrease 2 stitches at each end of Knit rows 3 times
Decrease 1 stitch at each end of Knit row 2 times

continue for 15 rows in stockinette stitch
Bind off***


Second side:
Cast on 30 stitches and stockinette stitch for 7 rows
Next: follow directions for "Decreasing for Bottleneck" (pattern between *** and ***)
Next: Knit 5, Cast off 4, Knit 5
Next: Purl 5 Cast ON 4 over the space created by casting off, Purl 5

Increasing over next 10 rows:
Increase 1 stitch at each end of Knit row 2 times
Increase 2 stitches at each end of Knit row 3 times

at this point, you should have 30 stitches

Next: follow directions for first half (all pattern between the ***stars***).

Another warning: I made this pattern up before I was smart enough to make button holes. So, I would suggest that one adds more length to the body of the cozy and creates a button hole so that it can be fastened shut. Without button making skills, I simply crocheted a little yarn into a sting to tie it together. Buttons would be much nicer!

Personally Designed FOs

Well, here they are. Some of my latest FOs. The rather odd looking top is what I'd like to call a "ponchette" that developed because of a rather stubborn gauge mistake that I made while attempting to make the Bonita Shirt from Summer's Interweave Knits. I cast on WAAAY too many stitches, and before you know it, I'd put in hours of work on an extremely large top. Being stubborn again, I didn't want to frog it all, so I trudged on and made the "ponchette". It has no real practical purpose - no purpose at all, other than the fact that I learned a super cool cast-on that I'm very impressed with! (provisional, check the mag. It's great!)
Also the cowl, I want to eventually make a cowl-necked sweater, so that was some testing going on there.
It was made with (I think 4) skeins of Paton's Grace Cotton, which is very soft and smooth and great to work with.


This second FO is a hot-water bottle cozy that I made many months ago. It's just some Red Heart. I learned some great design/gauge skills with this one. I ended up making one for my grandma too - she saw mine and decided she wanted one as well.