Little knitted things and a class

Sewing seems to have ground to a halt -- probably because no new cold weather items are needed, and it still seems a bit early to start on spring wear. Planning is underway however, and I'm thinking of doing something similar to The Great Module Sew Along by TomKat Stitchery. 

In the meantime, a couple of small knitting projects have been completed -- the first a hat from the December FIFC (Fall In Full Color) club (2013, I think?) by Knitspot and Anne Hanson.  "All Boxed Up" in a yarn listed as FIFC Festivus (special edition). An easy knit, and this one will go in the donation box.

 

The other project is a scarf -- "Punch and Judy", also by Anne Hanson -- and this one was knit in Everlasting DK (Amethyst colorway) by Dream in Color. This one is heading to my scarf drawer, as I think it will add a nice purple pop of color to my grey leaning wardrobe.

I do hope to soon start sewing again, and one of the things I hope to start is a "cut and sew" top made from machine knit yardage (made by me, not purchased). To that end I bought an online course by O! Jolly! on "How to Cut and Sew a Sweater". Olgalyn Jolly teaches machine knitting at Parsons School of Design in addition to courses  at FIT. I'm finding it full of great information, and look forward to trying out her methods on my own project.

The miracle of blocking

I'm in the midst of knitting up a lace scarf - Star and Pine, by Anne Hanson - which is done in two separate pieces and then grafted together in the middle.  Yarn is a lovely blend of Blue Faced Leicester, silk and cashmere from Yarn Hollow in the White Pine colorway. It was one of the November projects from Knitspot's Fall in Full Color 2013 - and yes, it's taken me a good bit of time to get around to it!

It's taking me a while to finish up the second half, so I decided to do a little blocking of the first half to get a better idea of what to expect of the finished size.  If ever there's a type of knitting that transforms with blocking it's lace.

The first (out of focus) pic shows just how crumpled up and hard to visualize the pattern that unblocked lace can be.  In the second pic I have soaked (in Eucalan) and spun out the scarf half and pinned it out on a couple of foam blocks.  Mine aren't "official" blocking squares, but some I picked up at Costco many years ago.  Work just fine for blocking. The process would have been easier if I had been able to find my blocking wires -- I would have run a wire through each edge point instead of laboriously pinning everything, but can't find them since our move. Sigh. When I block the other half I'll probably run a sturdy crochet cotton cord through the points if the wires still haven't appeared. It won't be as easy as using the more rigid wires, but will be easier, and probably more even, than pinning.

And here's a closer look:

It transitions from tree shapes to a different pattern as it approaches the back neck.  I suspect they appeared star shaped to the designer (hence the pattern name), but they look more flower like to me. Regardless, I think it will be a lovely scarf when I finish!