It's time to start knitting that red scarf!

Due to the overwhelming response to last year's Red Scarf Project (over 7,500), the deadline for submitting a scarf for the 2008 giveaway is October 15. Scarves can be sent in any time between Sept 1 and Oct 15, so don't wait until the last minute. Mine is underway, with pictures soon. It will be good travel knitting as we travel to Boston to take DD to college.

In the meantime, I have a finished object to show off!
It still needs to be blocked, but I managed to crochet an edging around the neckline. I've decided that the armholes don't need edging, mostly because I couldn't figure out how to crochet loosely enough to maintain the size. The original length was too short, so I picked up the cast on edge and added several rows of ribbing. The yarn is Artfibers Rosetta, a mercerized cotton tape, so should be comfortable in the summer. I'm a little concerned about the looseness of the stitches, so found a navy camisole to wear underneath.

On the needles we have the Fawkes socks in the STR Firebird colorway, the cabled cotton pullover and a new handle for the Big Booga bag. Next up are a lacy scarf from some sock yarn and another pair of socks. Several of the sweaters in the Fall IK and No Wool for You are calling me, time will tell.

In which we discover how needle size affects pooling

I finally started knitting with my Rockin' Sock Club yarn, choosing to knit Fawkes with the Firebird colorway. Thanks to Ravelry for allowing me to search on the colorway to find a pattern that I liked. Not that I don't like the Solstice Slip pattern, but the cable is so similar to the twining in Conwy that I wanted to try something different. I started on US2 dpns, and loved the way the stripes spiral around the sock. Because the sock seemed a little big, I switched to US1 dpsn for the last pattern repeat before the heel. The arrow highlights just what happened to my lovely spiral.I tinked back to remove the damage. As I also had concerns about having enough yarn, I decided to start the heel after 3 pattern repeats instead of 4 and started the heel with the US1s. I don't mind the leg portion of the sock being a bit big as long as the foot fits snugly. I'll do the sole on US1s and the instep on US2s, and see what happens with the pooling.

Finished Big Booga Bag

Total felting time - 1/2 hour in the washing machine, then lots of rinsing. Extra rinsing because I put it on the deck to drip dry, right before the torrential downpours of last Thursday night. The blocking was down over shoeboxes inside a Stew Leonard's bag, so the bottom is flat.
I'm not thrilled with the handle - too short, but need additional yarn to make more icord. That won't take long, and is easy to replace.

This is destined to hold my tap shoes and dance clothes - class starts in early September, so I should be ready!

Really big booga bag

The bulk of my vacation knitting, during one of the hottest weeks of the year, was on a huge wool item. I was driven to finish knitting so I could see how it came out once felted. The unfelted bag is shown here on a fully grown college freshman:
Yes, if stretched it would completely enclose her. I was good, and swatched:

This is after 10 minutes in the washer with some towels. I'm going to let the bag go for at least 15 minutes, as I want it a bit denser, and smaller.

If all goes well, the felted swatch will be sewn inside for a pocket.