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Malabrigo Melon Scarf

Pattern: Melon Pattern from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace weight - One skein (470 yards) in Tortuga colorway
Needles: Knit Picks Options US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Size after blocking: 71.5" x 7.5" (Pre-blocked: 60"x 6.5")
Notes: I followed the recommendation for a scarf with garter stitch edges. I worked 5 melon pattern repeats with 4 garter stitches at each edge and 3 garter ridges at each end. I remembered having "flaring" issues on a scarf I made for Nick and so I went down a needle size for the last 5 garter rows. Next time I'll begin and end with a smaller needle.

This was my first Malabrigo experience. Now I understand. It was lovely to work with, and it is deliciously soft and warm and light to wear. My only concern is how it will hold up. Only time will tell.



Nick accompanied me to Skater's Cabin for this photo shoot. The light was pretty flat (read: These photos don't do justice to the beautiful richly colored yarn.), but at least it wasn't raining or snowing and there was occasional filtered sunlight. It seemed like the best we might get for awhile. When we got there, we saw that The Wolf was out on the lake.

Every winter since we've been here, people have been seeing this wolf around the lake/campground/glacier area. This winter is the first time we've seen him. The very first time we saw him, we actually heard him first. We followed his voice to the edge of the lake and stood watching him and listening to him howl for nearly an hour. Since then, we've seen him several times, and for the last several days he's been on the lake every time we've been there.

So after the scarf photo shoot, we came home and got our cross-country skis and went back. We skied a big loop around him, torn between wanting to get as close as possible, and not wanting to disturb him.

A wildlife photographer I'm not. (Like I needed to tell you that.) I know these photos are just average photos, but it's not every day you get to ski within snapshot distance of a wolf - nothing average about that.

I Am A Fickle, Fickle Knitter

I keep flitting from project to project without making much progress on anything. AND I keep lusting for new projects. I know there are other names for this disorder, but fickle sounds young and flirty and ADHD .. not so much.

So I have two finished socks to show, but not a pair:

That's one Monkey Sock*and one Thuja. The mates for each of these have been dutifully cast on and I'm hoping if I cart them along to Virginia Beach, peer pressure will translate into at least one finished pair.

I had a spurt of Leaf and Trellis shawl knitting which was cancelled out by some Leaf and Trellis shawl unknitting (ripping actually) when I found an error last night. I'm back on track now, but my net progress since last you heard about it is underwhelming.

I worked a little bitty swatch out of my Malabrigo Lace in the Melon Stitch pattern from VLT. I'm thinking that I'll make a scarf with just a simple garter edge rather than a shawl. I love the lace knitting, but clearly (see above) I shouldn't mix knitting that requires chart following and socializing. I'm optimistic (read: In the throes of a new crush) that this will fill all of my current needs, since it's lace but with a very simple, easily memorized pattern.



I'm also being led astray by thoughts of a fair isle-y cardigan. With oil prices and global warming fear going up, and a husband threatening to suggesting we turn the thermostat down, the only responsible thing I can do is order yarn for a beautiful cold-weather sweater that I'll never want to take off. Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified arrived in today's mail so maybe I can finally make a decision and place a Morehouse Farms order. I have yet to make anything that required steeking and I think I'm ready.

It looks like I'll have enough knitting on board to last the week in Virginia Beach - or at least until our first yarn store run. Now if I can just get the laundry done and the suitcases packed, we'll be on our way!

* Since you asked: I'm using Koigu KPPPM in colorway P460 for the Monkey Socks

Close Encounters Of The Ursine Kind

We found this when we stepped outside yesterday morning. The remarkable thing is not that a bear wandered through our yard and took a dump, but that our family beast slept through the whole thing. This is a dog that barks at her own shadow; I have no idea how she missed a black bear visit.




It's not all about the wildlife around here though; I also have some knitting show and tell. While at Article Pract in Oakland several weeks back, I was seduced by some Malabrigo Lace Yarn in "Tortuga."


It's mostly solid appearing in the skein, with wonderful greyish-purply/greeny variations that almost but not quite are done justice by this photo. I'm thinking scarf, though I haven't picked out a pattern yet.

I decided I had to jump on the Monkey Sock bandwagon about the time that I found this Koigu:



I'm hoping Hilary is going to jump with me so we can Monkey-Sock-Knit together in Virginia Beach next month.

No better time to segue into a shout-out to "anonymous" whose name I think is Wei-ming. (Am I even close?) We met on my last visit to Article Pract. I love bonding in yarn stores with fellow knitters. Thanks so much for coming to visit me here. How are your socks coming along?

And finally, time to show an in-progress photo of my Leaf and Trellis Stole, from Victorian Lace Today. This is 5 repeats in to what I think will be between 30 and 40 repeats total. Lots of time for progress shots, I know.



Ignore the funky pink provisional cast on. I'm using JaggerSpun Zephyr wool-silk. I know it looks sort of whitish here, but it's in a color called Mushroom. I'm using a much smaller needle than the pattern specifies, so I've added an extra 43 stitch repeat to make it wide enough. I'm using Addi Turbo Lace needles (3.25mm) for the first time and they are all they are reputed to be: Pointy enough, smooth join, not too slippery, lovely to work with!