That Knittin' Feeling

I have been quietly adding rows to the two active knitting projects. I started an alpaca scarf the day before Dickens festival. I wanted a nice, easy pattern in a lively color as some "comfort knitting". This is some millspun alpaca yarn dyed in my "twisted spinster" colorway. It is a "broken rib" pattern; simple and textured. It is a very narrow little scarf, but the ribbing has "take up" about 1/3 of the width. I only have 200 yards to work with, so I am putting length ahead of width in the finished object. It took a long time to get a handle on how the colors pool in this skein, but I am pretty happy with it now. It will coordinate with, um, nothing I wear, so I figure I can wear it all the time. The pattern is: cast on any number divisible by 4, plus one. On every row: K2, P2 to 1 before end, P1. Offsetting the alternate rows gives great dimension to the fabric. I will try to play with the zoom on my camera some day when I have natural light.

The next project is actually for someone else. There was quite a kerfluffle around the office after I finished my wristwarmers and I have a waiting list for them now (in exchange for cans of cat food, of course).

The yarn tag is in the other room, but this is some bamboo / nylon sock yarn in a nice light lavender. The softness is nice, the stitch definition is nice, and the grist is nice. This is on size 1 needles. There are 3 cables running up the back of the hand and the rest is ribbing. I think the second set will be fraternal twins to these; maybe narrower cables, maybe an eyelet pattern. I don't think I can eke out 2 sets of mitts and socks from one ball, but I bet i can get at least 3 sets of mitts out of it. And after 6, I will be Mistress of Thumb Gussets.