FO: Wayfarer

  

Well, this is embarrassing.  This scarf has been done for something like two months, and I just got around to blocking it last week.  It took a while to dry - thanks, shitty Seattle weather! - but the resulting fabric is light and soft and I'm a little obsessed with it.  Since Lumberjack had a day off of work yesterday, we got a ton of finished object photos of this and several other projects.  Yay!

This was my first time working with Brooklyn Tweed Shelter (although I've stashed a bit of it since then!) and I have to say, it's one of my favorite yarns I've ever worked with.  It's rustic and wooly and even a little bit scratchy, but it is so light and fluffy, and the colors are so amazing, that it is super fun to knit up.  This was also the first pattern I ever purchased from Jared Flood's pattern support line.  I did make some little changes, which I've noted on the Ravelry project page.  I would have appreciated some extra guidance on the special cast-on and bind-off, even a link to a tutorial.  The tutorials I ended up using are in my pattern notes if anyone wants to check them out.

Even though right now is sort of a silly time to finish a scarf, I expect that this will get lots of wear in the fall and winter.  It's really long and light, which I think will be great for bundling up in when the weather gets cold.

Rav project link: Wayfarer
Pattern: Wayfarer, by Jared Flood
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Shetler, colorway Thistle
Yardage: 3 full skeins - 450 yards
Needles: US 9 - I went up a size from the recommended needle size.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to my readers in the US!

And to my international readers, Happy Cute Rat Picture Day!

Wedding Shawl Swatch

So a few weeks ago, I went to Serial Knitters to see their selection of Madelinetosh Prairie.  I had originally planned to buy 2 skeins of Prairie in the colorway Antler - a soft, warm white - for the shawl that my Eastside knitting group is graciously knitting for my wedding.  I'd already chosen the Evenstar pattern, and all I needed to do was get the yarn.

Which was a little harder than I had anticipated.  I checked every online shop and local yarn shop I could, but no one had two skeins of Antler.  So when I went to Serial Knitters, I was hoping to find a different white.

Instead, I walked out with two skeins of Prairie in the colorway Grenadine, a slightly variegated pink that has shades of warm and cool pink, pink-brown, and pale blue.  And even though it's different than what I had originally envisioned, it's very fitting that the shawl is going to be pink.  My friends who are knitting my shawl also really liked my color choice.

My friend knitted me up a swatch so I could take it with me to look at fabrics if I'm still going to go the make-my-own-dress route.  Last week I actually went and tried on wedding dresses with my mom, which was a strange but interesting experience.  I didn't want to shut down any of my options before even starting, so I decided that I am going to try on off-the-rack wedding dresses - even white ones! - and am willing to buy a dress if it's the right one.

If nothing else, going wedding dress shopping really solidified what I want in a wedding dress.  First off, most of the dresses I tried were really, really heavy.  Most of them had long trains and full, floor-length skirts.  Since the wedding is going to be in a cabin with a garden outside, I was really hoping to find a tea-length dress so that I can dance and hang out without changing my dress.  Although I found one shorter-length dress, most of the dresses I tried were giant ballgowns that, while stunning, didn't feel like me.  I did find one beautiful pink dress with a deep v in both the front and back, and little pink flowers embroidered along the neckline and waistband, but it had a super full, heavy skirt too.

Overall, it was an experience that encouraged my desire to make my dress.  I have a few very particular ideas of what I might want to design, so I'll probably start sketching them soon.

And whatever I choose, it had better go with my pink shawl!

Barn Sale

Last Saturday, Lumberjack, his family and I went out to his grandparents' house in rural Washington.  His grandfather passed away a few years ago, and this last weekend the family got together to have a barn sale of his old tools.  It was a pretty emotional day, but I felt really lucky to be included.  I never met his grandfather, but seeing so many things that he made or used - carpentry tools, fishing licenses, tractor, boat, tackle boxes - made me feel like I got a little glimpse of who he was.

I brought my camera with, and took a whole mess of pictures, of pretty much anything that I thought was beautiful, meaningful, or interesting.  I could say so much more, but I think for now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Lumberjack, his mom, and I also went to a nearby yarn store, and I found some beautiful handspun, but that's a story for another day.  I'm really happy with a lot of these photos, and I hope that his family likes them too.