Branching Out (FO)

Way back in February, you might recall that I said I was taking part in the Knitting Olympics.  I never posted the one finished object (and I'll probably never post the needs-to-be-frogged unfinished object) because it was part of a swap.  Leah over at Yellow House organized a swap and it was just a lot of fun.  We were supposed to pick four things from a list and send stuff to our swap partner.  Leah really encouraged us to re-gift and generally not spend money.  I was matched with the lovely Josie from England.  Josie is quite thoughtful and far braver than many of us in allowing us in to "watch" her introspection on her blog.  

For my package I decided to send:

• Something handmade                                           

• A book

• A favorite recipe or two

• A beginning

It was so fun putting a package together and very much a team effort.  Partner donated a book of Jewel poetry, A Night without Armor.  I copied out my recipes for Macaroni and Cheese and Moroccan Chicken salad with Couscous.  Josie had told me that she'd tried knitting but hadn't got the hang of it, so I started a dishcloth and wrote out a pattern and gave youtube links with knitting techniques.  My friend Kat actually gave me three sets of needles to send along that she won at Stitches West!  Hopefully it will be a re-beginning!

For the final gift, I decided to make a scarf.  February was supposed to be a scarf month, according to my very loose knitting to-do list of 2010.  I also wanted to do the Knitting Olympics, but knew I needed something small.  So, I went back to my 2008 Ravolympics not-started project of Branching Out.

Knitting for others can be a bit nerve-racking at the best of times, but it's made worse when you barely know a person.  I made a guess that from the colors of Josie's blog that she'd like a vibrant blue yarn that I had.  I received two skeins of yarn from the lovely Rima last year, one of which was already turned into a watch cap for my BIL. The other was a vibrant turquoise mohair/acrylic.  The pattern calls for a much lighter weight mohair and I've never knit with mohair before, so sizing was a problem.  I started with US 9s, but it was hard to see the pattern for the fuzz.  After a group effort on Facebook, I tore out and started over with US 10.5.  I believe this picture is with a the US 10.5 and after I'd wet blocked it. 

 I really didn't realize the amount of subtle color changes in the yarn until I started working with it, but what a great surprise!  About nine inches in, I realized that the scarf was just too wide.  I kind of cheated (shhh!)  I'd ripped the mohair out once and it was a bear.  I decided rationalized, that nobody would notice the difference between US 10.5 and US 10, so I just shifted needles and hoped for the best. I'm probably right, and most people won't notice (just watch, Josie's best friend will be a master knitter).  You can see when it's blocking that the first repeat or so is a little wide.  Some people call it lazy, I prefer design element.

 

               Beckerman completes a quality control inspection

 I was a little apprehensive about mohair and I didn't know how the acrylic would feel, but I'm actually
quite happy with the results.  It definitely stuck together, but on the plus side, it's nearly impossible to have a dropped stitch unravel.

 
 
 You may see this pattern again, perhaps even in the green I'd originally picked when I was going to
knit it for myself.  Admittedly, I did this on large needles, but start to finish, it took 8 days!

Details:
Pattern: Branching Out (rav project)
Yarn: Erdal Clouds, colorway 41
Needles: US 10.5 (for the most part)
Yards: 210

And on the other side of the swap, look what was waiting for me when I returned from Russia:

Look at the lovely mixture of colors of the paper!  The book she included is as thoughtful as Josie, The Spirit of Silence.  The book is about being more spiritual and coming into greater contact with the natural world through silence and making space for creativity.  Partner quickly commandeered it, which only seemed right, given it was his book that winged it's way to Josie's hands.  In fact, the description of the book is his words.

Her handwriting in stunning and she carefully had printed out four of her favorite poems, each very moving and evocative.  She also included three of her favorite CDs.  I haven' heard of any of them and it's going to be fun to discover new music.  We listened to a 1995 Horse McDonald album that was great (and apparently hard to find) and I'm looking forward to discovering Brian Carter and listening to Josie's Desert Island discs.

This was the first swap I've ever done and I'm glad I took a leap of faith.  It took us awhile to get our swaps swapped, but it was worth the wait - at least on my end, and hopefully on hers!  Thank you for the thoughtful package Josie!

Knit yardage total 2010: 884

Comments

[melissa]

gorgeous scarf! i'm sure your swap recipient loved it!

[Rebekah]

Oh I love your branching out scarf. I know that was all the rage years ago, and I never really was enthralled with it, but yours is gorgeous. It must be the yarn you choose or thickness, but you can really see the leaves clearly.

[Josie @safetycomfort]

Yay! I haven't written about the swap yet, but I shall do soon. I loved reading about the process of putting together the beautiful package you sent me - and also that the scarf was inspected by your cat, who looks most cuddle-able. I'm very glad I took a leap of faith as well, and thank you for these lovely words :-) blessings to you.

[Rachel]

Beautiful scarf...I've always loved that pattern! And yay for good swaps! It's such a fun thing to do when they actually work out!!