Ruffled Fancy Scarf - Finished Product!

Following on from my last entry about what I'm currently knitting, behold the finished ruffle scarf!

I'm delighted with how it came out and I've actually been wearing it every day since I finished it. As I said before, the yarn caught my eye as I was shopping for supplies to make a scarf for my godmother, and being a total sucker for anything that's multicoloured, I couldn't resist buying a ball of it. 

There was a sample scarf knitted up with this yarn in the shop, and I thought it looked similar to the Rico Loopy yarn only slightly frillier. However, when it came to actually knitting with the stuff it turned out to have a few differences. Firstly, I didn't find it quite as easy to knit with as the Loopy. Also there were no instructions on the yarn wrapper band, which was a bit of a pain in the arse. The only thing it said was to use a 5mm needle. Now, if you decide to try knitting with this yarn I would strongly recommend that you DO NOT use a 5mm needle - it's much too skinny, the loops can come off the end of it (yes, this happened to me). I used the same 8mm one that I used on the Loopy scarf and found it worked much better.

On the band of the Loopy wool, it shows that you knit the scarf up by knitting into one of the 'thicker' holes on the top edge, skipping a 'thicker' hole and then knitting the following 'thicker' hole (as illustrated by this incredibly crappy MS Paint diagram):

So anyhoo, I figured that you'd knit the Krystal scarf in pretty much the same way as you'd do the loopy one (considering the lack of instructions on the band, it was pretty much trial and error). All was going well until I started to get to the end of the ball of yarn and realised that the scarf was only about a foot long, and unless you've got a neck like a Barbie doll, it's not going to be much use as a scarf. I'll admit the air turned blue for a moment, but I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and logged on to YouTube to see was there any joy to be had there. 

I couldn't find any videos to help me, however after a bit of googling I discovered that unlike the Loopy scarf where you'd do "knit, skip, knit, skip, etc" like in the diagram above, you actually knit into all the thicker bordered holes. Once I learned that, I unraveled the scarf and started again, thankfully it knits up pretty quickly once you've figured out how to make the damn thing!

 

The above picture is a closer view of the yarn, and as you can see it's beautiful! My favourite part is where the yellowy-gold transitions into the pink; it reminds me of a sunset. 

Overall, I really enjoyed knitting this scarf, despite the few hiccups at the start. Also, the range of colours in the other yarns they have is gorgeous, so I'd be surprised if I don't knit another one. It took me about an hour of leisurely knitting to finish it and I'm very happy with the end result, it's lovely and soft and goes with a variety of my outfits.

I found out later that there's actually a pattern booklet that is supposed to come with the yarn (it's free) and you just take one from the shop, however I think that it would be much easier if the manufacturer put the basic instructions on the wool band, and also maybe a link to where you can download the pattern from their website because I can't imagine I'm the only person who hasn't realised that the pattern comes separately. (Or maybe I am...........that's embarrassing!!)

Wool from: Springwools

Needles from:  my personal stash :-)

Ruffled Fancy Scarf

Just a quick update on one of the things I'm currently knitting. I was out shopping (at Springwools) for some wool for a scarf for my godmother the other day when my beady eyes fell upon this gorgeous yarn! 

I've never knitted with it before, but from what I can see it's very similar to the Rico Loopy yarn, but a bit thinner. I'm a complete sucker for anything brightly coloured or shiny, so naturally my eye was drawn to this. There were a huge variety of colours on offer, but I went for this one because I loved the way the colours transitioned into one another (especially the gold into the pink; it reminds me of a sunset!).

I've started the scarf (a little gift from me, to me) and at the point of writing this I've knitted about 10 inches or so.

I'll post an updated entry when it's done, along with some pictures of the finished scarf and my thoughts on the wool and the knitting process.

Super Cosy Adult Beanie

 

Ok, I have to start out this post by making a confession; this hat wasn't actually supposed to be for me, it was meant to be for my cousin. He'd asked me to knit him a beanie and I ordered the wool online in a rush, not noticing in the description that the wool has a glittery fleck in it (you can see it a bit in the photo). Obviously, when the wool arrived and I saw the shimmery bits, I knew it wouldn't be any use for a hat for him.........but I thought 'waste not, want not' and I ended up with a lovely hat! (I've since selected a more appropriate wool for a guy in his mid twenties and his beanie is under construction at present.)

This hat was a really easy piece to make, mainly due to the beautiful wool. It's really, really thick and so soft - almost a velvety chenille type texture. I used a circular loom and when I started to knit it, you couldn't see the individual stitches, it produced a rib-like pattern that you can see in the photo above. (By the way, the photo doesn't do it justice by a long shot. I must apologise for my lack of skills as a photographer!)

The whole thing took just under an hour to finish and I'd make another one in a heartbeat. It's definitely the warmest hat I have, and it's lovely and soft, no itching or anything like that. The wool has just the right amount of stretch so that the stitches don't separate when you put the hat on - making it extra cosy!

I've included a link to the wool, below. I'm seriously considering getting another ball to make a matching scarf if this cold snap continues!

Wool from: Springwools 

Loom from: eBay