In an Attempt at Knitting from my Stash..

I have decided not to join the Knitting from Your Stash 2007 because I know there is no way I won't be able to avoid buying new yarn. But I have made a promise to myself that this year no matter what I am knitting I will ALWAYS HAVE SOME YARN FROM MY STASH on sticks. That way I can close my lid to the one medium sized Rubbermaid bin I keep my stash in. I know knitters, I must sound so pathetic only having one bin full of yarn but I'm doing the best I can. Anywho, since I haven't decide which of my knit-o-lutions I was going to start first I casted on 2 scarves that involve cables this weekend, they will just be stuff I work on casually until I decide what major project I want to tackle.

I know what your thinking, why the same cables?

I have just been so obsessed with the basic cable now that I know how to do it. I have tried more complicated cabling and twisting but I don't think I was using quite the right yarn for this pattern from Lion Brand yarns, so I frogged it. But it is so lovely I definitely plan on knitting that one for myself. I decided that since the basic cable scarf was such an easy stitch, I would cover my friends (and myself) in it for awhile and then move on to something else. I bought Cables Untangled and their are a number of beautiful patterns that I would love to try. Some well beyond my current skills. So if I master this here basic cable enough that you don't notice the occasional gap in the yarn or anything, then I will feel more confident to try some of what is in that book. But I also don't want to be bored with my cabling so I did try to mix it up a bit.

Revan posing with my knitting, he's a ham like his mamu.

You'll notice that in this UFO that I have done the right cable c6f and the left cable c6b. It created a slightly more interesting visual in the pattern. I also wanted to see if a cable would feel a bit stronger with garter stitches surrounding it rather than purl stitches and I have to say it really kind of does. I'm pretty happy with this pattern so far. I guess you can say I created it but it is a variation on all the patterns that involve the basic cable like my fav Irish Hiking Scarf. There is a bit more curling at the bottom/cast on area than I've seen on any other scarf I've cabled, that could be from the garter stitches or the yarn. I've never blocked anything I have knitted before so i may try that when I am done too.

My Nikon D80 auto-corrected the color so this is not representative of what the yarn actually looks like to the naked eye, but I wish it did. Don't you think that purple is beautiful? It would be nice. I don't even know what kind of yarn this is to be honest. This was another of the yarns my friends Johnnie and Jon brought me back from Italy in 2005 and I just haven't made anything with it yet. Its lovely but I think it if ever had a tag on it, it fell off a long time ago so I wouldn't be able to find it again unless by accident.

As for the grey one above, I wanted to do an Irish Hiking Scarf on the round when I first started the blue one way back in November, but 3 things got in the way. The first is that I couldn't afford the yarn it would have taken to be able to complete that sucker cause that was some pricey yarn. Second, it would have been too hard for me to start out on dpns and I didn't know how to do the 2 circular needle technique correctly yet. Finally, living in Austin I would never be able to wear it if it was doubly thick super-wash wool. As it is, on the rainy days when I have worn it, I'm sweating like I'm in a sauna with that thing wrapped around my neck. So, this one I is with Caron Simply Soft which is cheap and fun to work with. I'm not rushing to finish this one by any means. I just bring it to work to knit during my breaks or if it is a really slow day and I can hide it under my desk. ;P Maybe by next fall it will get done I'll keep ya posted.