It's An Obsession

I hate having leftover yarn. Those bits of skeins that are too large to throw away but too small to do anything with drive me mad. As a result, I tend to keep knitting and knitting until a skein is gone (or small enough that I don't feel guilty about just throwing it out.)

Many of you are now chomping at the bit to give me your favorite "scrap yarn" project. The Beekeepers' Quilt seems to be a current favorite among Ravelers (which, btw, shows that I'm not the only one with tons of these bits laying about.) I'll be happy to take any suggestions/patterns/thoughts on the subject - seriously - but I will mention that I also have a bit of an issue with "mixing" yarn types. I'm so OCD sometimes.

Making 400 of these doesn't really appeal to me.

Anywhoooo... the point of this tirade is that I finished my niece's scarf just in the nick of time. I was, quite literally, knitting the last bit of the tail two hours before it had to be in the mail to make it there in time for Christmas. But, because I modified the pattern and made it quite a bit smaller, I had a TON of pink acrylic yarn left over. Pink.Acrylic. There was nothing to do but to keep knitting for my niece because, honestly, what else am I going to do with 3/4 skein of pink acrylic? I just finished a hat to go with the scarf and found myself with more than enough of this stuff left to make a pair (or three) of mittens so those are in the works too.

I'm pretty proud of this hat.

Look how much of this is left!

The finished scarf ended up 100 rows shorter (seriously) with legs and tail about 1/2 the length the pattern called for and ears that are about 2/3 the length called for. Regardless of it being short and stumpy, I think it still looks pretty good. At one point, when I was obsessing about the fact that I wasn't following the pattern and I was convinced it was going to look really jacked-up, Cassandra said "remember your audience" and truer words were never spoken. My niece didn't know that the scarf was short and stumpy and she was thrilled with the final product. I just hope she likes the hat and mittens as well.

My intention is to write up the hat pattern this week - before I forget what I did - and post it here for you all to download for free. I started the mittens without a pattern but Cassandra handed off a pretty good one that she's making for one of the Things so I can't claim that as an "original Alex design." LOL

If y'all want to send me some favorite scrap patterns, I'll be happy to add them to my binder. I'm one of those folks who hates to waste stuff so throwing out yarn - even the smallest amount - just feels wrong to me.

Hope you had a GREAT New Year's Eve.

- Alex

Critters for Christmas

Knitting has turned me into "one of THOSE people" - the ones who are planning for Christmas in October. Well, to be honest, I bought the patterns in July but I'm just now casting on.


I miss the days when I didn't think about Christmas until, say, the week of Christmas. It was an awesome thing to realize that I had seven days or so to balance my checkbook and scour the stores in a fast, but satisfying, buying frenzy. There was just something more festive about it.


Planning for Christmas makes it seem like a chore.


On the other hand, I love giving hand-made gifts to my family and friends. Not everyone appreciates them, but I like the process of picking out something I think the person might like and creating it from scratch. I think it has more value than some mass-produced piece of plastic that a gajillion other people are also going to own on December 26th.

This year, for the first time, my niece and nephew are getting hand-made gifts for Christmas. It's tricky with kids. They could be really bummed out with the present (think about Ralphie in the bunny suit) because it's NOT that mass-produced piece of plastic. However, I hedged my bets and had the kids pick out the patterns that they wanted.


Enter my very best resource for knitted items for kids: Morehouse Farm Merino.


Morehouse Farm makes some of the loftiest, loveliest merino yarn you've ever seen. You know it's from the farm because, occasionally, there'll be a bit of hay or something stuck in the fiber. But even better than their yarn are their patterns and kits. Sure, they have the traditional hats, scarves, sweaters, etc. but where the real treasure lies is in their Critter Knits.


Pretty much any animal you can imagine has been made into a Morehouse Critter - dogs, dragons, chicks, and geckos abound. They might be scarves or purses or hats but, however they're knitted up, the one thing they all are is CUTE.


My niece chose the pink poodle scarf and my nephew the gecko. While I love the merino wool, it's not really practical for two little, messy children so they're getting theirs made from lovely, washable acrylic. I picked the loftiest acrylic I could find because I was worried that the pattern would lose it's shape so the gecko is being made with Vanna's Choice and the poodle will be made from Waverly by Bernat.


So far the gecko is coming out beautifully. I'm actually surprised at how well the acrylic is knitting up and how much I like the hand of the finished fabric.  I'm really looking forward to seeing their faces when the open their presents on Christmas day. I'm sure they'll be happier than Ralphie was.(At least I hope so!)

- Alex