Scarf of Pretty Good Softness, Done

And a pic, of course.


Overall, I'm happy with the felting. It really evened out the stitches. However, it doesn't feel quite as soft to me as it did before felting, so that's a minus. It's still softer than most scarves I own, but not crazy soft. It is VERY warm.

Striped Scarf, Done

And here's a pic of the striped scarf.


I've heard there's a setting on my camera for self portraits, but I believe that's just a myth. I did this the old-fashioned way, standing in front of a mirror. So there.

Felting and Blocking the Sinsation Scarf

This evening I put the Sinsation scarf into the washing machine to felt it. Took it out of the dryer and couldn't even bear to look at it - mind you, everything I read online said it would be this way, but still. It was a wadded mess inside the lingerie bag. I put that into the dryer and took it out while still damp.

I think it's all good. It's a little narrower than I expected, so I pulled on it to make it a bit wider again and I'm blocking it that way. The texture seems like the felted scarves I've seen in the yarn stores, so I have hope.

Keep your fingers crossed...

Yarn Mystery - Solved

M. and I were at a yarn store this last weekend, and I spotted my mystery yarn.

This:


Is this:
Ornaghi Filati Luna Park 202
Content: 100% superwash merino wool
Made in: Italy
Size: 50g/200m - 1.75 oz/210 yards
Gauge: 33 sts/4" using needles #3-4US, for sock you might want to use #1-2US.
Care: machine wash gentle/dry flat

Ravelry link: the yarn.

Yay me! Still working on the little scarf I'm making out of it.

What the heck is this yarn?

Drat. I think I threw away the ball band. It's 4-ply, feels like wool, and would be the right thickness for sock yarn. Oh well. I only have one ball of it, so I'm playing around with crocheting a little scarf.

Here's what the yarn looks like:


Update: Aha! It's Ornaghi Filati Luna Park 202:
Content: 100% superwash merino wool
Made in: Italy
Size: 50g/200m - 1.75 oz/210 yards
Gauge: 33 sts/4" using needles #3-4US, for sock you might want to use #1-2US.
Care: machine wash gentle/dry flat

Ravelry link: the yarn.

Beginner Scarf

A couple of weekends ago, J. finished her very first scarf! I helped her with some of the basics, but the work is all hers.

Here she is weaving in the ends:


And here she is showing off the final product!


Yay for J!

Lots of Stuff

I set up the light box again, so here are pics of a bunch of things I've been meaning to get to.

This is a knitted scarf I did in December. I'm particularly pleased with it because it's one of the first times I've improvised something just because I wanted it. In this case, I needed a black scarf to go with an outfit for an Xmas party. I can wrap this around my neck a couple of times and still have enough length to knot it. It took me about 1 day to do:



Ravelry link for technical details.

And here are the better pics of the fez-wearing monkey amigurumi:





Ravelry link for technical details.

And improved grim reaper amigurumi pics. I still need to figure out the scythe, though:





Ravelry link for technical details.

And something new - a baby penguin! Addicted to amigurumi? Maybe. This one is for J.:





Ravelry link for technical details.

By the way, I thought the penguin eyes were blue, but be damned if they aren't green. I double-checked the yarn label and got M. to look at it too. Huh. I never have been all that good at telling green from blue.

And last, a crocheted dice bag I improvised for myself. I admit, there's a ball of yarn in there along with the dice just to show the shape:



Ravelry link for technical details.

Remind me not to let these stack up again...

Some Finished Projects

Here are the crocheted purse and the really soft scarf. Finished!

The scarf is really more purple than blue. I ended up restarting it on much bigger needles (US11, I think) and making it really skinny so it would be longer.

Striped towel & Really Short, Really Soft Scarf

Miscellaneous stuff. The striped towel is done in dishcloth cotton on US7 needles, and is about 14" across and currently 13" long. The short scarf is done in Sinsation yarn that I got on sale. I only have 1 ball of it - hence the shortness. But it's really, really soft, so I got it anyway.

Stockinette = Pringle's Potato Chip

Alas. No amount of blocking can make this necktie behave. AD knitted this beautiful tie, but it curls. I blocked the hell out of it, but no dice. As soon as we put the tie on her husband's neck, the damn thing curled right up again. She tried steaming it and ironing it after that, but no. We talked about lining it with a stiff fabric, but it would be one exceptionally uncomfortable tie.

Don't know if you can make out the knocked over pins in these pics, but they're courtesy of M's cat. So helpful.







Edited to add:

AD says:

I sprayed the tie with the imitation spray starch "Magic Sizing" and let it dry while pinned flat. Then I carefully wound it up and stuck a couple pins in it. It looks like a sushi roll. I just unwound it and it looks good so I wound it back into the sushi roll and will store it like that until needed.

Yay!