Monday, February 2, 2015

Scarf

After only 10 days and an outlay if not more than £20 I have a scarf. Knitting is clearly something to do for reasons other than the end product - which I'm pleased with for all sorts of reasons but I could probably have bought something similar for much the same price and without the investment of all that time - suddenly knitwear like this from Mati Ventrillon looks incredibly reasonable.

Of course the reasons other than the end product were very much why I wanted to relearn how to knit, there are a few of them. I like having something to do when I'm not really in the mood to do anything very much - jigsaw puzzles, solitaire, twitter anything which can be done sitting down and doesn't demand to much effort works. Knitting is perfect, enough concentration to count and keep track of where you are is all that's required and having something tangible at the end of it is great as well as relaxing. There is also the pleasure of making something - never to be underestimated, creativity of whatever sort has an uplifting sort of effect and who doesn't appreciate that. And then there is the particular pleasure of feeling a little bit smug when someone compliments you on something you've made (or that's been made just for you - the tea cosy my sister knitted me is just such an item) whatever it might be.

My scarf was an easy project. Three balls of yarn (50g each) which I knitted until the thing was long enough. I choose wool with tweedy flecks of colour and a slightly uneven thickness working on the theory that it would probably hide a few shortcomings - it probably has - and played about with plain and purl stitches for much the same reason with the added benefit that it made it more interesting to knit. It's amazing what you can do with 2 stitches in the way of adding a textured pattern.

I've already embarked on a second project so I've clearly got the bug. I'm really looking forward to hitting the woollen mill back in Shetland this summer - they have some great colours it's going to be a real pleasure to play about with (whatever the results are).

4 comments:

  1. Well, that was speedy! Good job! And I love those colors. I bet that scarf will go with a lot of things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They're the kind of colours I like so it goes well with most of my winter wear. It's now been fully tested in cold weather and proved warm and comfortable so I'm very happy with it. If it stays cold for the test of the month (as threatened) I might even get another one done

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it must have been Jamiesons yarn. It's lovely. Can I ask which weight you used.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It wasn't Jamiesons, though they do sell the most lovely yarn and there will be a significant buying trip when I'm home in the summer. This was rowan's tweed yarn, I've disposed of the labels so I can't give you any more details. I do have a little stash of Jamiesons spindrift though and a plan for it!

    ReplyDelete