Holiday Knitting Part 2 - Fine Scarves.

For our first post featuring scarves, we're highlighting those knit in laceweight or fingering-weight yarn, resulting in a fine fabric...and a lovely gift.

First, Kozue . You might remember this from a few months back when I asked for input about which yarn to use (and then on facebook about which color). Well, I've been busy knitting other things and haven't gotten around to this; turns out this is one time my procrastination has paid off. We now have Malabrigo's Silkpaca laceweight (a plied 70% baby alpaca/30% silk blend with 420 yards per skein).

See what I mean? I'm glad I waited!

Second, another pattern from Assemblage called Hakusa . 

For most of the pattern, you hold a strand of Habu Merino together with a strand of Habu Silk Stainless; the border is the Silk Stainless by itself. The photo shown on the pattern (and most of the projects on Ravelry) are monochromatic; Kathy knit a sample and used gray and a pale purple. We really like mixing the colors for a tweedy look over the body of the scarf and a defined contrast for the border.

...and finally, we can't resist including the Linen Stitch Scarf . Our latest shipment of Claudia Handpaints Fingering offers up plenty of colorways. Here are a few to get you thinking about fall/winter neutral combinations - with just a pop of purple or blue perhaps?

the pattern calls for three different skeins...which ones would you choose?

In our next installment, we'll offer suggestions for cowls in three different weights - fingering, worsted and chunky...you can choose the project to match the amount of time you have to spend.

Holiday Knitting Part 1 - Labors of Love.

My daughter tweeted today that she was wanting to listen to Christmas music and how lame was that. I replied I didn't think it was lame at all. The needlepoint deadline for Christmas finishing was ten days ago; we've been in a holiday state of mind for weeks!

Fortunately for us knitters, we have a longer timeline to finish up those holiday gifts. Three months from today for Christmas and a few weeks less for Hannukah (it starts December 8). So our first installment in the gift category is for projects that could take a month or two (or more). Those we call "labors of love".

First up - socks. A labor of love if you knit them in sock (aka "fingering weight") yarn and especially if you knit them for folks with larger feet, like that special man in your life? We have a huge assortment of yarns in stock right now that would be perfect for socks; here are Jessica's top picks:

L-R: Smooshy (with cashmere!) in Good Luck Jade, Frolicking Feet in Plum Pudding (how appropriate!), and Claudia Handpaints in Argyle II (yep, three skeins if you're knitting for large feet)

Next - a beaded cowl. We've been a fan of the Jeweled Cowl pattern for a few months, so we have a variety of beads and plenty of those tiny crochet hooks to attach them. The pattern calls for laceweight, but we like using fingering (no other pattern modifications); around 400-450 yards makes a nice sized cowl. Marci pulled these three yarn/bead combinations. She especially likes the Claudia Handpaints with the pink beads (and I'll bet she didn't even notice the colorway was called Truffles!)

L-R: Smooshy (again!) in Wisterious, Claudia Handpaints (again!) in Truffles and Malabrigo Sock in Playa.

And last but definitely not least - a throw. We are in love with Swans Island and the Swans Island Throw (sadly no photos on-line, but we have the pattern in the shop) is the knitted version of their heirloom blanket. It's worked in linen stitch, so the fabric looks woven. The pattern suggests size 10-1/2 needles, 2,500 yards (10 skeins) of their worsted for the main color and another 250 yards (one skein) for the contrast to make a 46"x57" throw. If that's too much labor - how about using Ella Rae Chunky and size 13 or 15 needles? You'd need about 16 balls of the main color and one more for the stripes.

L-R: Ella Rae Chunky, the pattern, and the suggested Swans Island Worsted

Stay tuned for scarf suggestions in our next installment.  And if you're planning gift knitting, please chime in here, or on Facebook or our Ravelry group and let us know how it's going. We'll cheer each other on!