Irish Hiking Scarf, Revisited

Need a last minute scarf idea? If you're like me, you know you need one more gift to knit up. While I like the Irish Hiking Scarf that was so popular a few years back, I just didn't like the way the ends flared out. So, with that idea in mine, and wanting one that would fold under a coat, I came up with this idea, to make it in the 'seaman's scarf' manner.

Irish Hiking Scarf, Revisited

Cathy Waldie, September 8, 2008

Pattern for the Original Irish Hiking Scarf: http://www.helloyarn.com/irishhikingscarfpf.htm

(US)6 (4.0mm) needles (short straights are fine)

(US) 8 (5.0mm) needles (short straights are fine)

360 yards, worsted weight yarn (2 skeins of I Love this Cotton! used in sample)

stitch holder

chibi needle, for grafting and weaving in ends

53" x 8" finished size

C/O = Cast On
K = Knit
P = Purl
Kfb = Knit into the front and back of stitch
Pfb = Purl into the front and back of stitch
sts = stitches
IHS = Irish hiking Pattern
tog = together
B/O= Bind Off

(make 2)
With smaller needles (US) 6 (4.0mm), C/O 36 sts.
Rows 1, 3, 5: K3, (P2, K2) x7, P2, K3
Rows 2, 4, 6: P3, (K2, P2) x7, K2, P3
Row 7 (inc row): K3, P1, Kfb, K2, P2, Kfb, K1, P2, K1, Kfb, P2, K2, P1, Pfb, K2, P2, Kfb, K1, P2, K1, Kfb, P2, K3 (42 sts)

Change to larger needles (US)8 (5.omm) and follow original pattern as follows:
Knit Rows (5-8) in IHS pattern 1 time

Knit Rows (1-8) in IHS pattern 8 times

Knit Rows (1-4) in IHS Pattern 1 time, end with row 4.

Dec row for ribbed neck :
K2, P2, K2 tog, P4, P2 tog, K2, P2, K2 tog, P5, K2 tog, K1, P2, K1, P2 tog, P4, P2 tog, K1, P2, K2 (36 sts)
Scarf pieces now measures 14" in length.

Rib Knit Section:
Row 1: K3, (P2, K2) x7, P2, K3
Row 2: P3, (K2, P2) x7, K2, P3
Repeat rib Knit rows (1 and 2) 22 times, End with row #45-row 1 in pattern) for 9" of rib knit, hold first section on a stitch holder, and knit the second section to match the first section.

Return section one on larger needle and kitchener stitch (graft) both sections together.

Cut yarn, weave in ends.

(I'm still working on my grafting...)
Wrap and gift or wear and enjoy!

need some help please

Here are two pictures of a vest that I started at some point for my Mom. But I can't find the magazine that it is in to finish it. Anyone got a clue here? I'm guessing it's probably a Knitters or Interweave Knits issue from a couple of years back. The original is done in a light pink color and then felted pockets were added onto it. This is driving me nuts. I've been going through all my stuff and can't figure it out. I can't even find it online to re-order it so I can finish it. Driving me nuts.

I finished my niece's hat for Christmas to go with her scarf that I left in Michigan. This is a much better look at the colors. It's the School Colors Hat with Lion Brand Wool-ease yarn.

Thanks to Ravelry I found these coffee cup sleeves there. I'm using leftovers from Mom and Dad's sweaters/vest for them. While mall walking back there, they love to get a cup of coffee down at Target. However, even with the cardboard sleeves on the cups they're too warm for them to hold at first. Hopefully, these little puppies will sold the problem. Now, on to practicing cables without a cable needle some more!

Cautiously...

The doctors are saying that Mom is now....

'Cautiously' CANCER FREE!

Sayin' AMEN from here!

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma...you've been kicked to the curb!

finished!

Here's the finished sweater, both the front and the back views.

The details are:
Nellwyn Cardigan, size small, from the Cable Confidence book,

"Too Teal" colorway from Paton's Classic Wool 7skeins to allow for the redo of the neck/button band.

Bottom, button band, sleeve rib in 2x2 twisted rib rather than garter stitch modification, 5 larger buttons rather than 7 smaller per Mom's request.
(US) 6 (4.00mm) needles for bottom and sleeve rib

(US)8 (5.00mm) needles for remainder of sweater

Here is what is left of the first neck/button band. Well, part of it anyway. I pulled it off while Mom watched apologizing for me having to redo it. I tried to get her to understand that I was happy to re-knit it because I wasn't really all that happy with the first one. With her request for fewer and larger buttons, it would make us both happy to pull that first one off. However, with my deep fear of yarn ends pulling out, trying to get the ends out that I'd put in, showed me that they wouldn't easily pull out! *Note to self, next time I have a question about keeping a part in a sweater, don't weave in the ends before making the final decision.

After reknitting the button band in a size (US) 8 (5.0mm) needle with 85 stitches on each side, rather than the (US) 6 (4.00mm) needle with size 73 stitches we went over to Joann's to get the new buttons. They were one button short of matching the original buttons in the larger size! Drats!!! So, we picked up these which are very close in the Celtic Knots design, but lay flatter than the first.

Mom is so much happier with the size of these buttons. She keeps telling me how much she just can't do the smaller, fiddly buttons anymore and they just really frustrate her now. How glad I am that I have the ability to fix that for her. It really didn't take long at all to make the sweater into something that she will be able to use now without frustration. All I had to do, was to knit up 4 rows in a 2 x 2 twisted rib, figure out where the top and bottom button would be and divide up the remainder of the stitches between the remaining 3 buttons, which gives you 4 sections.

Not long after The sweater was proclaimed finished, my Uncle came over to wish Mom and Happy Birthday. We loaded him up with extra birthday cake and other goodies to take back for them to share.

This was back in March, don't you agree, that Mom and Dad look so much healthier? My how a few months in a year can really change things! Both went through chemo and radiation, both on now on the 'healing' side of life. Dad and Mom both lost a lot of weight due to the side effects of all the surgeries, etc...they've been through. On Wednesday, we'll get the results of all the recent testing Mom's had. Here's hoping for an 'all cancer clear!' diagnosis!

Remember, too the huge pile of snow from last March that the residents were guessing when it would all be gone before summer? Well, guess what...

This may be the start of this year's pile.

Yesterday, before I left, the slushy stuff was all around. I just hope it all dries up before it freezes. However, today, Mom reports that they're expecting some single digit weather later this week. Good thing they both have something hand knit woolly to wear now!

It's always hard to leave 'home', has been since I got married back in 1980. Now, it's bitter sweet knowing that I can't wait to go back and help where I can, but knowing that I'm not bringing little kids to Grandma and Grandpa's house anymore. And that Mom and Dad have been through so much that partly comes with age, and partly from health issues. I did bring a lot of hugs, new baking knowledge, which I'll share shortly with you all! and ...

One of Dad's many books to start reading. He has books, like I have yarn! So you KNOW that there are going to be many books to be read yet! Since the DVD set of the HBO series is a 'bit' out of my reach, I'll start with the book that started the series.

And of course, another project on the needles. A hat to match my niece's scarf. Onto the next set of projects. But I'll bet I'll be pulling Too Teal snippets of yarn out of lots of nooks and crannies for awhile yet. I was hiding them all over the place left and right. And no, she didn't have a clue that the sweater was being knit.

And that's her story and I'm happy to stick to it!

It fits, but....

What's one more little section of 'redo'? We had cake (Duncan Hines Carmel with Carmel frosting - her favorite) with little ice cream before the big reveal.

The buttons picked were the first ones, the Celtic Knots. They went the best with the cables on the sweater. However, to quote Mom, "when you get to being this age (81) your fingers don't work as well with little, fiddly buttons." So, it was a good idea NOT to use the hearts. I'll keep those for Kitchen Towels or baby sweaters.

And here's another picture.

Here she is in the sweater, before I redo the neck/button band. I think we're going to add in a couple of more stitches, make it a wider band for her, and she wanted fewer and larger buttons. If I get the knitting done tonight (thank GOODNESS I don't have to wait until she goes to bed!) I'll take her with me tomorrow to pick out her own buttons. *sigh* all that stress. Oh, well, since it's a sweater for her, I'm much happier to have her input on it anyway. Nuts, I should have taken a picture of the back of the sweater while she had it on. It's a perfect fit in the back! Very nice to know I picked the right size when I wasn't here to measure her or her other sweaters when I had gotten started. Oh, yes, she loves the sweater. After she opened it her first words were, "I love cables!" Now, they both have sweaters/vests with matching cables.

Now, check out the earrings that Dad gave her tonight! See? This is why I couldn't have worked on it in front of her and told her it was for someone else. We all know it's her favorite color! The earrings match perfectly!

Oh, and it's started to snow outside and it should last for about 24 hours. Who is taking bets on my flight at dinner time? Right now, it's all slushy and the temps are dropping. Syracuse daughter is praying for a snow day. She's trying to finish up her papers. Snow-good for her? Not so good for flights.

I know it's blurry, but I was taking it through the screen and didn't want to go outside and use a flash...

2:05 AM-Hiding a sweater

At 2:05 AM, I cut the last thread and then went to lightly block the sweater. The front button band is a little tighter than I'd like so over night I hung a pair of scissors to pull it down. If it doesn't 'feel' right after she tries it on, I have no problem pulling it out and reknitting it. I won't have to wait until midnight to get started on it. I'll be able to do it at 6pm. However, the next step of the drama here, was how to hide the sweater.

Mom gets up several times a night and since I was crawling into bed around 3:00-4:00am on a good night here, her 6am wake up time was wayyyyyyyyyyyy too early for me. That meant that I had to find a place to hide the sweater after I'd used the spray bottle on it to 'encourage' the lengthening of the front button placket. I couldn't lay it flat on the dryer or on the dinning room table. And since she likes to come into the bedroom while I'm still asleep to get things out of her desk I was left with only one solution (there is no closet in that room...)

What appear to be ordinary very dark drapes really are terrific hiding places. Can't see the sweater here? Look again...

I retook the pictures today in daylight. The sweater is hanging from the center frame of the window, behind the blinds. Then I pulled the curtains shut and while it was still dark outside, you couldn't see a thing! Sneaky huh?

Next time, I'm starting the sweater 6 months before her birthday. Not 29 days.

Oh, pa-lease...Stop laughing...who am I kidding?

Now, here's where I need some help. I'm too tired to think this one through. While they're still at church for a 90 year old's birthday luncheon, I came home early to bake her cake. I need to sew on buttons but can't decide. Help?

The first thought I had was for the Celtic knots going well with the cables ..but then...

I found the hearts. Hearts are always pretty for girls, but wasn't so sure they'd be easy for her to manipulate. Her hands were a today, I noticed. bit shaky in church this morning.

The last ones I found were these hearts. They're really pretty, but would they be 'too busy' a pattern on the sweater with all the cables?

Click on the pictures to make them bigger to see. I have until 3PM EST today to make a decision. And my brain is a wee bit tired....

Sleep is for Sissies

While I'm waiting to make sure Mom isn't going to get up again, so I can hopefully finish her sweater, I bring to you my niece's scarf. That I was able to finish before dinnertime sitting here with Mom and Dad. The hat, well, hopefully she won't come over before 4pm tomorrow, so I can get that done before leaving on Monday.

This scarf is proof-positive that I love the kid...it's in her high school colors of purple and yellow. They were my high school rivals back in the day. *sigh*...if only they'd kept my high school opened...this is like a U of Michigan fan (that would be me....) knitting in OSU colors, or a UCLA fan, (me again...) knitting in USC colors. True love for my niece I tell you..true love!

Here's a close up of the scarf. It's on a rocking chair that is quite old. I wanted to 'pose' it in the picture as it's leaving Mom and Dad's house soon for a new life at my brother's. What's so special? Well, it was our 'toddler' rocking chair when we were little. But, not just ours. It had also been not only ours, but our Dad's and his Dad's toddler rocking chair as well. Don't you wish everything today was made as well and last over 100 years like this has? No, my niece didn't get to use it much growing up (she's 14 now..) because of it's age. So, brother thought it best to wait until she was older for it.

One last look at the scarf on Grandpa's window rocking chair.
Here's the particulars:

Flaunt Your Colors Scarf pattern (<---over there)

Lion Brand Wool Ease, worsted weight

Purple, 3 skeins

Buttercup, 2 skeins

(US) 8 (5.0mm) needles

73" x 7" finished size

took me far too long to knit, between everything else. But is a perfect 'cover' knit in front of Mom while trying to get her sweater done.

Now, speaking of the sweater....

While they were at the mall today, I got the other sleeve finished, faux seamed the 2nd side and started picking up stitches for the neckband/button band area.

Another good reason to get the skills of continental knitting down. It's so much easier to pick up stitches that way!

Up the front...

across the back....

When I started it with a fresh strand of yarn, I made a slip knot on the end and have it clipped to the bottom ribbing of the sweater. Last thing I have time for on this marathon knitting quest would be to have the yarn come loose and pull out all 172 stitches at 2am. That would not be good.

Here's what the sweater looked like before starting to pick up the stitches. Now that I THINK Mom is sound asleep, for heaven knows how long before her midnight trips to the bathroom...I'm going to try and teach myself how to count once again. Evidently, I've forgotten how to count past 20. I went up the right front and across the back just fine, but can't figure out how I came up with 2 extra stitches on the left front. I'm trying to mirror the pick ups stitches on both sides, by counting in the same rows. They came home from the mall when I was nearly finished. I begged Dad all day long to take her to dinner. But nope, she wanted soup for dinner tonight and wasn't going to budge. I tell you, helping your very independently minded parents some times, is enough to make you nuts! Church is in the morning, and her birthday dinner is at 4pm and I still need to make her cake. At this point, all I can say, is that sleep is for sissies.

However...

Tuesday, I'm sleeping in!

Ahhhhhhhhh....so much better!

It's almost like being able to move again after you've eaten Thanksgiving Dinner. That ability to move and breath without pains in your stomach.

I enlisted Dad's help last night. He was so cute about it. While sitting in the living room after returning from my brother's house, Mom disappeared into the other room for awhile. I had hoped that maybe she went to lay down for a nap. Nope not so, but Dad went to investigate. He came back and said that she'd been looking for a recipe. Darn I told him, I need her 'out of here' so I can work on the sweater. OHHHHHHHHHH...he said..OK...

Little while later, when she went to get ready for bed, he came back out tip-toeing to the living room and in his best stage whisper he says...'OK! The coast is clear!' and then he made movements with his hands like he was knitting. ahhhhhh..teamwork! So, here are the sleeves all fixed! Oh so much better. (sorry for the blurry pictures. Tried to go no flash to keep from waking up my parents)

The next step was to attach the first sleeve. Now that it's not 3am here, I found one little spot that wasn't making me happy with the mattress stitch. The beauty of taking pictures of your knitting. It seems to make those 'blips' pop right out, at least it does for me. (The perils of seaming at 2:30 am with less than stellar light.) With a bit of yarn I've been able to go back over that section on the right shoulder and it is much closer to my liking. Again, like on my Dad's vest, I'm so thrilled with the way the mattress stitch works up! All those years in the past that I never knew about it. Thank you Internet groups and y-tube! You're making my knitting much better! It's beginning to look like a sweater now.

After attaching the sleeve to the shoulder, I seamed up the sleeve again with the mattress stitch and went down my 'fake seam'. Remember, I knit this sweater in one piece from the bottom up. The first picture shows the two edge stitches knit side by side between the ribbing. Can you see it?

Well, it certainly made it so much easier to pick up and mattress stitch the seam. It will give the sweater a bit of stability on the sides to have the seam in there. The beauty is, that if the seam should ever pull out, which I'm sure it won't but I'm a worry-wort over that type of thing, the sweater will not unravel!

Now, can you tell where the seam is from this angle? True, I have more to learn and practice but I can see improvement here. And that makes me happy.

Here are the insides of the two sleeves. The one on the left is attached to the sweater, the right one is the next on my list of sneaky knitting things to do.

When I went to attach the sleeves, the first thing I did was to measure out stitch by stitch and row by row each section (front and back) into fourths. I used those clip stitch markers and it lines up really easy and it all falls into place.

Now while Mom and Dad are out shopping I'm going to take advantage of the time to knit in the front window with great daylight helping with those mattress seams I need to get done. Here's hoping that they find a lot of GREAT things to look at! Can you believe I'm sitting here with a stack of coupons and I'm not shopping? Ahhhhh...knitting in daylight...who'd have guessed it would make your eyes see stitches oh so much easier!

Whoda thunk?