All the way to... "???"

So, I finished my New Year Secret Scarf Exchange scarf. And I'm pumped about it. Like, so pumped that even though I don't even particularly like the color blue, I wanna keep the thing. I think she puuuuurdy. Here she is, in all her shriveled glory, about 24.7 seconds after I bound off. I modeled her on the white blanket under a white-ish lamp and grabbed my camera before blocking began.

Then I blocked, using my favorite SOAK scent (flora) and straightened, rolled, and squeezed the best I could into this towel:

Then, of course, I blocked. BLOCK, PEOPLE!!! Look at the difference in this and the following photos compared to the first two above. It's amazing how blocking TOTALLY MAKES your knitting pop!

Kick-ass red fingernails getting the job done right:

Pinned and ready to dry overnight:

Not sure why I look so sneaky with my perky little lips here. But the tousled hair and rosy cheeks are pure I-totally-just-woke-up material. As soon as I smooched Hubster goodbye for the day (I head to work after he does), I unpinned, wrapped, and photographed the heck outta this scarf. I love her, she's gorge! And I hope my scarfee, all the way in Scarfee-land does, too.

Got it all worked out

For those of you who have been fretting, stressing, pacing the room, and worrying about that ugly little mess I recently shared... well, you can rest assured that things are gonna be a-okay. The emergency surgery took many hours to complete and there were two minor setbacks (the yarn broke twice while I was tugging at it not-so-ginger-like), but in the end the yarn was saved!

I'm a happy knitter now, lace-ing away on my Branching Out Scarf for my secret-secret scarfee.

New Year Secret Scarf Exchange

So, I am a part of my very first ever exchange, and I just sort of fell into a group that I'm absolutely loving. I'm really enjoying being a part of a semi-somewhat community. I like knitting something for someone who will appreciate the work that has gone into making it, and I absolutely love the fact that someone out there that I don't even know is making something just for me.

I was especially pumped to have found what I thought was the perfect color yarn for the gal I was assigned in the secret exchange--a dark heathered blue made of a wool and silk blend. It was soft, supple, and was knitting up beautifully. That is, until this afternoon. This yarn met an ill fate indeed.

You see, I got this great idea to suppress my PMS oh pitiful me feelings and make myself some brownies. I found a recipe here at Smitten Kitchen today that promised to make some good, rich, delicious brownies and decided to give it a try. Hey, why not? I already had all the necessary ingredients, plus plenty of milk to wash it all down with a smile.

Well, to get the recipe into the kitchen with me, that meant the laptop needed to come sit on the counter. And, since the battery didn't really want to cooperate long enough for me to finish the 20 minutes of cocoa and sugar and butter melting preparation on the stovetop, I needed the power cord.

Of course, I had been knitting on my secret scarf for my secret exchange buddy before I got up to make the brownies, and the laptop had the pattern pulled up on the screen. When the power cord was brought to the kitchen, the yarn (which had been resting on a portion of the cord) got tangled and mangled and incredibly discombobulated. It was enough to make any knitter sick. And, yes, I know that I should have rolled the yarn into a ball as soon as I unpacked it from the mail wrapping. But I just wanted to get started already!

So, this is what I am left with now:

A mangled disaster of fibers, all knotted up in a mess of I'll-never-get-this-untangled-ness. And a portion of a scarf that could have turned out beautifully. No-no-no, the yarn is too far gone. She has been taken off life support and we're just waiting for the trash pick-up Monday at 7:00am.

Now, I've planned a trip to Valdosta tomorrow afternoon, just a short 45 minute drive down the road, to buy some emergency get-back-to-it yarn so that I can officially get re-started.

yaaaaaaaaay.

Desert Rose, my first sweater

Here's a little blast from the (not-so-far-back) past, my beloved Desert Rose sweater. This was the first sweater I ever attempted, and the only one I have completed to-date. The pattern was originally titled Rusted Root, written by Sarah and Rachel, but I just fell in love with the feminine lace pattern of this sweater so much, calling her anything to do with rust or a root made me think dirty or weeds. I held a vote on my personal blog, and decided on the replacement name of Desert Rose.


This was the first project I ever knitted that had any sort of lace in it. It was also the project that taught me increases, decreases, yarn-over, knit two together, and other knitting instructions. Other than knitting these giant stockings for The Hubster, me, and our little fuzzy pup for Christmas, I hadn't knitted anything other than scarves until I knitted this sweater! I am just as proud of her today as I was the day I finished her, blocked her, and tried her on for the camera!

(P.S. If you reference my sweater here against the other Rusted Root sweaters pictured on Ravelry, you'll notice that my lace detail is on the opposite side of the front of my sweater. Yeah, I'm a lefty, and I knit as a lefty which means I knit everything backwards, and I think I forgot to switcheroo everything in this pattern. I was a bit nervous about the big project! So I think that's what happened with that.)