Year of the Book Has Started!

I have officially started on my goal for the year of knitting or crocheting something from all of my as yet unused knitting and crochet books.

So with out further ado, I would like to present Book Project no. 1!


Book: Son of Stitch'n'Bitch by Debbie Stoller
Pattern: Uncle Argyle Scarves by Lindsay Henricks
Yarn: Patons Merino Deluxe in Black (10) and Grey (3) purchased on our recent trip to Australia from CR & K Daisy Designs.

I bought this book for this pattern alone (it's a thing I do!). I've had a real thing about any sort of argyle since my mid-teens. There are however quite a few other good boy's (read men's, they will always be boys to me!) patterns in it, such as the Mixology sweater and the Skull Isle Hat.

This scarf uses the double knitting technique and I swear that it may be the death of me! For those who have never used double knitting before (this is my first time), you have to knit the front and back of the project at the same time which means you knit then you purl, then you knit and then you purl etc. across the row with two strands of yarn and moving the yarn from the front to the back or the back to the front between every stitch. Kind of like knitting a 1 x 1 rib only much worse. Aaaargh! The only thing that is going to keep me going on this (I hope) is that I am loving how it looks. I'm making this for my brother Marc who lives in London and is in need of warm wooly scarves for most of the year. I hope he likes it. It's taken me a week to get this far. Ugh!

Here's the other side of the scarf.


In other colour knitting glutton for punishmentness (I know it's not a real word!), I started (before Christmas) working on the Imprint Tote.


It's looking a little crumpled from be neglected at the bottom of my knitting bag while I have been working on the Argyle scarf.

I am using the pattern for the Imprint Tank from Interweave Knitts, Summer 2008. When I saw this pattern, I really liked the motif but I decided that it would look better on a tote bag. I'm using the recommended yarn, Mission Falls 1824 Cotton but in the colours Merlot, Peony and Pebble. I love the look of this yarn knitted up but it is a real b!tch to knit with (pardon my language). A contributing factor may be that I have been using a bamboo circular needle as I was knitting it on the plane. I'm thinking that the combination of the nubbly cotton yarn and the not so smooth tips of the bamboo needle may be making the process worse than it needs to be. I've put this down for the time being to work on the Uncle Argyle Scarf, but when I pick it up again I plan to change over to my Knit Picks Options. Let's hope that improves things!