Whew! One More Done...

Well, almost 2 if you count the wristers I may or may not finish for Kid #1's girlfriend...

I finished the scarf for my male student worker. I don't have the pattern here, but I believe it's called "Cruisin' Altitude." It'll be on my Ravelry page as soon as I can update it. I did it in Encore Chunky, since the pattern called for a "bulky" yarn.

The pattern called for about 300 yards, so I bought 3 skeins of the Encore, knowing I'd have some left over. But all it took was a ball and a bit of the 2nd one for a scarf a bit over 5' long, which according to Hubby and Son #2, is "manly length" for a kid the size of my student worker. A 5-foot scarf wouldn't do for Son #2 at 6' 2", but Jimmy's about 5' 7" and that should fit him fine.

Here's the scarf as a WIP. The Encore Chunky is Color 1444, Chocolate. It's a tweed-ish yarn with flecks of gold and dark blue every once in a while. It makes up nicely, being 75% acrylic and 25% wool. The wool makes the stitches pop and the loft of the yarn is amazing. This is a surprisingly bulky scarf.

I have a 3rd ball left, so I get to make myself a pair of socks with it!! The yarn makes socks on size 7 DPNs (yes, I know you size 1 sock-knitters are thinking, "Good Lord, the woman is knitting on TIMBER!" ); but size 7 works well with this and makes a cozy sock for around the house and with my Birkenstocks.

For what it's worth, I got the pattern on a card in the "back of the store" bin for 99 cents at Hobby Lobby. And it had been sitting with some white acrylic (which I may use for the wrist warmers for The Girlfriend...) with about 2 rows knitted. I pulled that puppy loose, and then figured that this pattern was "manly" enough for Jimmy. Actually, it's a nice pattern for either gender: just adjust your yarn and pick a "girly" color if you want to do this for a girl. Frankly, this would look awesome in a hot pink!

Here's a picture of it all finished. I've beefed up the size so you can see the stitch definition and the blue and gold tones in the yarn.

I can't say enough about Encore, available at your LYS (hopefully) or at www.patternworks.com or through Plymouth Yarn, www.plymouthyarn.com - where at least you can take a look at it. I've used regular Encore and the Chunky and done everything from socks to baby gifts with this. It is easy to knit with; holds a pattern like crazy, as you can see.

And.... it holds up to wear!! It washes well, doesn't pill, and it doesn't feel "too" wooly or "too" acrylic.

So now, what's next on the list? Well, I have my mom's cowl to finish. I did actually DO a pair of wristers out of some "unknown" yarn. My friend Joan handed me two partial-balls and said, "Here, we can't sell them - take them and see what you can do." I have no idea as to content or anything, but it's fine yarn, so I doubled it, did a "purse stitch" and ribbing and made some poufy wristlets. Not quite long enough to go over the thumb, but enough to cover the gap maybe between glove and sleeve, or help with a slightly short sweater. Not sure if I'll give those to The Girlfriend, or if I'll use the white acrylic and do some proper wrist/fingerless glove thingies. Maybe if I work it out right, I can do them with a nice lace pattern down the back of the hand! Or - wowza - a cable!!

That will end up my Christmas knitting unless I stash-bust and find some yarn suitable for wrist warmers for the boys. With those long arms, they can use a little extra help in the winter and they said they'd wear them. We'll see.