Road Test Results and a UFO

I test drove the new knit dress yesterday and I am pleased to report that it passed. I actually got a few complements on it! Although I have to wonder if that wasn't so much because of the dress itself, or because I work in a super casual environment and a dress- any dress- is going to stand out. In any case, the dress is a success and I'm pleased with it's performance. The fabric, with it's minimal lengthwise stretch, was a good choice.

After making the dress on Saturday, I was itching for something to do on Sunday, but I really didn't want to trace a new pattern, or worry about a muslin, so I pulled this out:

Yes, it's a knitting project. Now I don't really consider myself "a knitter." I don't really make anything but scarves, which are just long rectangles. I love yarn, I love knitted things, I even love the sound and the feel of my bamboo knitting needles as I make scarves. I just can't seem to get past the scarf stage. I'd love to make a sweater- I even have a sleeve almost finished- but I just can't seem to wrap my head around anything more complicated than a scarf. I get lost in a pattern. I can't seem to keep up with the increases, the decreases, and the pattern repetitions. And then there's the dreaded gauge. I actually found a sweater pattern that looked easy enough for me to attempt, but I could not for the life of me get the correct gauge. If I got the right stitch count, the rows were off, and vice versa. I gave up.

Scarves are great because the gauge doesn't matter. I can just cast on and knit- literally. I almost always knit, hardly ever purl, so most of my scarves are garter stitch. And since most of the time I use novelty yarns, it doesn't matter anyway.

This project is a simple garter stitch scarf in Yarn Bee Truffles, which I picked up awhile back at Hobby Lobby. I made a scarf out of this yarn (blue and green colorway) last year and I adore wearing it. So I thought I'd try another color. This one is called Out West and it's a combination of red, teal green, tan, and chocolate brown. I'm not sure I'm liking it yet. Since the photo was taken Sunday, I've knit up almost the whole ball, and I have approximately 18" of scarf. This is a ladder yarn with shiny satin bits and fluffy matte bits. When it's knit up it makes a really cool textural fabric. I'll cut enough fringe for both ends (this yarn fringes nicely, too) and then join the second ball and knit until the end. Then I'll finish it off with the fringe and wear it. With the weather cooling off the way it is, it'll be scarf weather soon.

I hope to have this finished by the end of the week (famous last words.) I'll have to remember to take a picture and share.