B is for Blue

My favorite color.


Blue Bottles


Blue Box


Bluebonnets


Blue Socks

What's your favorite color?

Snaps

Everything worked out right for a quick trip to the beach Monday afternoon. It was overcast when we left the house, but the sun burned through the clouds briefly while we were there. It feels like forever since I've seen the sun, but I have photographic evidence it still exists.

Labyrinth Scarf

I finished the Labyrinth Scarf...twice.

Take One



The contrast color I chose was some leftover Manos del Uruguay in persimmon. I thought I would like the bold color against the drab brown and at first I did, but after a couple of days, I knew it wasn't really me. The brown and orange combo kept bringing me back to the early 1970s and the thick and thin nature of the yarn wasn't helping to create a clean finish to the bound off edges. The only thing to do was to rip out the orange yarn and replace it with something else.

Take Two



This time I went with a yarn that was uniformly spun and less dramatic in contrast to the brown. It's a more modern color combo too. I like this version a lot.



Labyrinth Scarf
Design by Lynne Barr
Knitting New Scarves

Yarn: Hand Spun Shetland Wool and Brown Sheep Nature Spun

Color: Brown and Ecucalyptus

Needles: US 10 DPNs

Construction:
This scarf is knitted in the round. Every few rounds a yarn slit is constructed (like you might do to add a pocket to a sweater) and the stitches are held on waste yarn. To finish, the waste yarn is removed one slit at a time placing the live stitches on two double pointed needles. Beginning with the lower needle the stitches are bound off with a contrasting color yarn. A few stitches are picked up on the side to bring the cast-off edging up to the upper needle. This process is repeated until all stitches are bound off in one continuous edge that snakes up the entire length of the scarf. Clear instructions and step-by-step pictures are included in the book.

I really enjoyed knitting this creative scarf, even if it did take me two tries to get it right.

Snippets and Snaps

The Preemie Project is sponsoring a Craft-a-thon next month. Here are my entries for the Crafting for Preemies Contest.



Preemie Eyelet Cap and Preemie Spiral Hat

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Cotton Chenille Washcloth

Putting some of that new yarn to use already. Easy pattern, simple stitch, great yarn: a good combination for enjoyable, mindless knitting.

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A few photos of the mule deer at Homestead Resort in Utah.


The Big Boys



Real Close
About 5 feet away. He stepped around the corner of the building where I was hidden from view. Startled him and me!



Daily Visitors



Sweet Little One

Souvenirs

Yarn always makes the best souvenir, in my opinion. On our trip to Utah I seemed to acquire more than usual. However, each skein of yarn was purchased with a specific project in mind.

My only purchase at Three Wishes was cotton chenille for washcloths. This was on my list of yarns to look for and I was happy to find some in the sale bin.



At The Wool Cabin I was tempted by Alpaca Sox which will become a pair of luxurious socks for me.



And, a hank of Spunky Eclectic Super Nova: a superwash Merino sport weight. It can be used for socks, but I think I'll make up the store's shawl pattern that was free with the yarn. This pretty color is called Utah Sunrise.



I walked out of the Needlepoint Joint with several hanks of Inca Alpaca for a hat and scarf that were in the shop. Those store samples really do help to sell the yarn.



At each shop I asked about Peace Fleece. No one had any. Evidently it's too new or not widely distributed. Most shop owners had never heard of it, though it seems to be very popular in the knit-blogging community. I'll order some online when the time is right, but for now I have plenty of new yarn to keep me busy.

Antelope Island

We made it home to Texas safe and sound. It's not as warm as I had hoped for, though I'm sure this cold snap won't last long.

We made the most our last day in Utah. Took the long way down from the Heber Valley through Ogden (there's a nice yarn shop there) and spent the afternoon on Antelope Island.



The Great Salt Lake is frozen in most places, but where it is not, the ducks congregate--many varieties. The hawks hang out there too--looking for a good meal--as do bald eagles, we were told, though we did not see one.

We saw bison,



coyote,



rabbit, chuckar partridge and porcupine.

The scenery was beautiful and since it was cold and overcast, there were very few people out. It felt like we had the whole island to ourselves.



This is my favorite picture of John from that day.



He's wearing an Irish Hiking Scarf.



And, I'm holding a new scarf I'm knitting from what was left of the brown Shetland handspun. The pattern is Labyrinth (picture #17) from Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr. This interesting scarf is knit as a tube in the round. The white stripes you see are waste yarn, holding stitches that will be bound off later in a contrasting color.



The sun broke through the clouds briefly at the end of the day sending a shaft of light upward toward the heavens. With so much beauty all around, I could not help but think of the one who created it all.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

A Stash is a Good Thing

Today is our last day in Utah. We fly home tomorrow.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to visit the yarn shops in Salt Lake City this trip, but as it's working out, I've had a chance to go to several.

Stopped in at Black Sheep Wool Co. on our first day here while John met with his boss at the office. And even though I didn't really "need" any yarn, I bought some anyway.



Found this new-to-me sock yarn by Pagewood Farm. I think it will work well for Monkey Socks.



A helpful employee made sure I didn't overlook this Soft Sea Wool. I've heard so many good things about it, I had to get some to try.



And I picked up several colors of worsted weight wool to have on hand for practicing stranded knitting. Perhaps they will become a hat or a pair of mittens.

Yesterday, John had to go back to the office. So while he was there, I drove over to Three Wishes and then after I picked him up, we stopped at The Wool Cabin. There was more yarn purchased, but I'll save that for later.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Next time I'll be blogging from Texas, where it's sure to be warmer.



I'll miss our nightly treat of Carolyn's Frozen Yogurt, but not the freezing temperatures.