The NSKO East concluded with much knitting accomplished, much enjoyment of each other's company, and me (at least) already looking forward to the next knitting vacation. Here's the wrap-up:
Gloves, gloves, gloves. K1Frog2 showed me how to knit them, and I made 4 gloves in 4 days. To be honest, I was a bit tired of gloves when it was done, but I feel I have burned them into my brain to where I could sit down and do one any time I wanted (like my favorite sock pattern), and I love that. It was well worth it. And here they are:
The pair on the left are made from Sirdar Snuggly, a synthetic yarn with a nice, soft feel. The pair on the right are Debbie Bliss cashmerino dk. I really liked working with that yarn. If the washability is as good as the label indicates, I may have found a new favorite all-around yarn.
After the first pair (Sirdar), we had to go to a yarn shop to get the yarn for the second pair (oh, the horror), and of course we found some unlooked-for bargains to round out the shopping trip. After I got tired of gloves, I spent the last day of the NSKO swatching my finds. First the Noro (I am a closet Noro addict, though sadly too poor to indulge my cravings):
I seem to have thrown away the band by mistake, so I can't tell you exactly which Noro this is, but it's a variegated wool base yarn with shiny synthetic wrapped around it. It sort of sparkles with the colors. The photo above is before washing, the photo below after. I have come to believe in washing all experimental swatches, even if the band says it's not washable, just to find out what it actually does when washed. Most of the swatches I then wash again and throw in the dryer, just to see what that does. The photo below shows the swatch after washing. The base yarn felts ever so slightly, which I actually liked, but it does dim the color sparkles a bit. There's a real trade-off there. All in all, I think I prefer it unwashed.
The final yarn was not really mine, my mom bought it, but I have sort of appropriated the working of it. She fell in love with a sample shawl in the shop made with a ladder yarn, then she fell in love with the ladder yarn when she saw some in her colors (a variegated sky blue / golden brown with silver sparkles). The shawl turned out to be machine knit, so unfortunately I will never be able to duplicate it by hand. But when she bought an entire bag of the ladder yarn it turned out to be half price, so we are forging ahead. After looking at some patterns for ideas, we decided to make a scarf. In this yarn, it will be very drapey, and she can wear it draped around her neck almost like a piece of jewelry. When I first started knitting it, I was disappointed that it didn't look like the fantastic shawl in the shop, but as the scarf has started taking shape, I have become quite enamored of it. It has a certain something in its own right. Here's a photo, although I think you have to see it in person to really appreciate it:
The yarn is Skacel Tropicana.
That's the NSKO report. This week I did start one new project, though. After I returned to work I found out that one of my co-workers, an incredibly kind and sweet person, is undergoing tests to see whether she has ovarian cancer. It shouldn't happen to someone so nice. I have decided to knit her a prayer shawl. I went upstairs to browse the stash for ideas on what sort of yarn to get for it, and in the first bin I pulled out there it was: a big bag of Lion Brand bulky weight organic cotton in a pretty light blue (she's blond and fair complected). I took it as a sign. I have started the shawl (sorry that it wants to load upside down):
It's the classic prayer shawl pattern, bulky yarn done up in seed stitch. I hope to have it done before she goes in for surgery in about 3 weeks. Lots of knitting ahead. I think there's one person who follows this blog who also knows who I'm talking about, and if you would like to help me knit this, I think it would be great to do it as a shared project. I'm not sure who else at work knows what's going on, but if you know of any other knitters who know or who you think it's okay to tell, my dream is that a bunch of us knit on this and give it to her to show that we are all rooting for her. Let me know what you think.
