Frogging in my future

Believe it or not, I have a backlog of FO's to blog about; I think the reason I have been so quiet is that I feel compelled to write about them in chronological order. That means I need to say something about my attempt at a cowl/infinity loop.

It is just the right blue: a greyish, dark-ish, denim-ish semi-solid from Koigu, bought during my trip to New York last April. My hotel happened to be located across the street from a lovely yarn store and treasure-trove of Koigu yarns, and I walked in with the specific mission of finding the right blue to wear with jeans, having discovered that my blue scarves were just too blue and not really attractive when paired with jeans. What, me, obsessive?

Anyway, the yarn was found, three skeins were procured and I cast on during the summer. Having already knitted an infinity scarf for Celeste, I figured that it would be a versatile accessory and a change from traditional scarves for myself.  I cast on over 300 stitches and knitted in the round, in a half-linen stitch pattern that I knew works really nicely with variegated yarns. Two problems soon emerged:

Problem #1 was an instable dye which turned my hands an ugly blue tint during every knitting session. I had to be careful not to knit while wearing light colors or sitting on a light-colored sofa. I had knitted with cotton denim yarn before and had seen it turn my bamboo needles blue but this was my first encounter with a problem dye in a Koigu yarn. Soap and water were no match for the excess dye; I went through a whole tube of Neutrogena face scrub during the days it took to knit the scarf. On the plus side, my hands had rarely felt this soft...

Surprisingly, once I gave the finished loop a good, long soak, there was hardly any color-bleeding. I still added vinegar for good measure, then lay the soggy piece on my blocking board, where problem #2 became apparent:

Rolling edges. Yes, in spite of the several rounds of garter stitch at each end, the loop wanted to roll, and roll, and roll. No wonder my model was confused when she tried it on. No wonder I didn't attempt to model it myself.

Another problem, now that I have let the scarf sit in a corner for a long while, is that I may not be an infinity loop person. I would never wear the scarf as Lola does; all tat length feels like unnecessary weight hanging from my neck.  I might wear it tripled, as a cowl, but it is a bit too narrow and skimpy to make a good-looking cowl. I do love the colorway so the plan to make some kind of neck-throat covering that would work well with jeans remains on the agenda. Which must mean I need to stock up on facial scrub.

Comments

[Barbara]

I know what you mean about unnecessary weight around the neck. Sometimes heavy cowls bring back memories of my dad's old home remedy for sore throats: vicks vapor rub on the neck and a cloth pinned around it---probably to keep the vapor rub from getting on the sheets at night while sleeping. Love the color though. Your grand daughter is simply beautiful! I hope I have one to knit for someday!

[Cathy]

Oh wait...you talked about knitting? I was busy being charmed by Lola. What a cutie!! I'll have to go back & look for something knit.

[Sylvia]

One of your funniest posts, and one of your most beautiful models!