Second Branching Out Done!

Well I'm finally finished with my second Branching Out and what can I say? I'm sorry Jo Sharp? Sorry I flew off the handle and bad-mouthed your fabulous yarn? Sorry that I freaked out and wrote lots of bad words on my blog? Needless to say, I am much more satisfied with the finished product than I was at the beginning of this knit. In fact, I love it. The colors are fabulous, it's soft and cozy and light as a feather. I haven't blocked it yet, so I think I can get a bit more length out of it, but as it is I like it better than my first brown Branching Out. Can't wait to start a new project though, my hands were starting to kill after knitting this pattern for so long.

nothing special

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to knit, crochet, read or do any of the things I normally like to do. Have been completely bogged down with school (well, of course I manage to sneak just a little knitting in) and work. Most days I'm at one or the other for twelve hours a day, with a one hour lunch break.

I'm making slow but steady progress on all of my projects, but am focusing on finishing the scarf so I can start some other little Christmas projects. I know it seems early, but I know I must pace myself considering my school schedule. I'm dying to buy yarn, but haven't even been paid this month (my check is over a week late!) - not that surprising, that's the inefficiency of government bureaucracy for you.

Anyway, I hope to gradually finish my side projects so that I have something to show here, as I won't be able to post Christmas things for obvious reasons, so there probably won't be much knitting content for a little while. Only three months though: three months to freedom from academia, freedom from FARGO and this horrible prairie region in general. Can't wait to move home to pretty little Duluth. Of course a few very short years ago I would never have thought I'd be saying that. But, values change and that's probably a good thing, although any transition is somewhat difficult in the beginning. Under the surface it all means "getting older" and sometimes that's a hard pill to swallow.

trying to remain calm

I've gotten over my fit and have decided simply that since I'm not completely happy with the yarn and how it's turning out, I'm just going to order more Premiere in a different color and make the gift scarves out of that. I'll be saving the bastard bitch Jo Sharp for something...who knows what. Who the hell wants an itchy ass mohair scarf anyway??

ugh..

Since I didn't like how the Branching out scarf was turning out with this yarn, I decided to try to make up a pattern like Misty Garden from Scarf Style since I don't actually have the book, but the pattern calls for this type of yarn. I think it looks every bit as disgusting as the branching out scarf, possibly worse. Apparently the dye lot I got my yarn from has random blotches of purple rather than nice stripes as I've seen pictures of on different sites. This renders any pattern indiscernible. Thanks Jo Sharp. Bitch.



Possibly the needles I'm using are too big but I don't see how using smaller needles and more stitches would make this scarf look that much better. You can see a photo below of both scarves next to each other looking like crap. Of course the only reason you can see the leaf pattern in the first scarf is because the background is relatively dark. The other one just looks like crap either way, I think.



I'm about ready to ship this f-ing yarn to this creature so she can do what she pleases with it...

Branching Out

Pattern: Branching Out Scarf from Knitty.com
Yarn: Classic Elite Premiere
Needles: US9

I'm really happy with the way this turned out. I'm sure the pictures here have been pretty boring gray and brown lately, but I have been trying to use up left-overs, and am glad I used the extra Premiere I had for this. I used two left over skeins plus a little extra that I found laying around. The yarn was perfect for this scarf as it has such great stitch definition and it's so soft and cozy!

I also started a second scarf with the Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Kid and I'm really not sure if I like it or not. On a black background the colors look interesting and you can easily see the pattern.



On any lighter background, however, especially white, you can't hardly see the pattern at all. The colors still look nice, but it seems that it's not worth the total pain in the ass this yarn is to knit with for the leaf pattern when you can't even see it. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm really torn. This is supposed to be a gift and in a way I like it, but is someone who doesn't know the hell I went through to knit this thing going to appreciate it if they can't really see the pattern??