Wednesday 2 January 2008

The Last of 2007

Happy New Year! I hope you have all enjoyed the holidays as much as I did. I can't believe how quickly they've come and gone though.

After the successful completion of my gift knitting (yippeee!) I celebrated by casting on for what would be come my final knit of 2007. It is Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style and proved to be perfect knitting for the season.

The scarf is knit from the long edge (cast on 375 stitches) and decreases 4 stitches every second row. The advantage of this method is that it keeps your motivation up as the rows get shorter and shorter the closer you get to the end.

The disadvantage is that you have to cast on 375 stitches. And because I managed to mess up the first few rows 3 times before I FINALLY got it right - I got to cast on those 375 stitches 4 times. I was in fact convinced that there was a problem with the pattern and searched frantically for an errata to support me. Alas, there was none. I was just incapable of maintaing my focus on the scarf while David Tennant was saving the earth from destruction (in a tux) (gadzooks that man looks fine in a tux) in the Christmas episode of Dr Who. (The champagne with Christmas lunch probably didn't help either.)

But without the distraction of David Tennant the scarf is pretty straightforward, and once you are in the body of the scarf the pattern is very easy to remember. Perfect knitting to keep my mind occupied while I continued to gorge on Christmas TV. (The finale of Extras and The Old Curiousity Shop were particular favourites.) (Although I think The Old Curiousity Shop was over-abridged as the grandfather character had no redeeming qualities that I could see - but I felt I was supposed to like him. I am going to read the book now to find out what they cut out.)


I used Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino sock weight yarn which feels gorgeous. My only complaint with the yarn was that the dye came off on my hands throughout the knitting -- I had blue fingers for much of the holiday!

The finished scarf is warm and cosy and I expect it will get a lot of wear.

As it is the beginning of a new year I've been doing the usual evaluating of 2007 and planning for 2008.

2007 was a great year for me knitting-wise. Kicked off by finishing (after 18 years) the Kaffe Fasset Chinese Rose Coat. Completing the coat in itself was quite an event, but it was also the thing that led to my discovering the vast www knitting world. A simple search for Kaffe Fasett in google one day led to my discovering the UK knitting forum, Knitty board, the amazing world of knitting blogs, Ravelry and more patterns than I had ever imagined.


I went from total scepticism on the topic of socks to always having a pair of socks on the needles and am the happy owner of over 10 books on the glory of socks!! I've made 17 pairs of socks and demand for them seems to be growing.

Herbert Niebling joined Kaffe Fasset as a knitting god in my eyes. I became obsessed with lace knitting and completed 8 scarves/shawls/stoles and 2 lace table covers.

And for a bit of variety I made a few tea cozies, a couple of felted bags, a comfy throw and a lot of Innocent Smoothy hats. (Oh! and some mittens, hats and a cardigan.)

As for 2008 - well, I won't be surprised if I'm a little less prolific. Surely this mad enthusiasm has to wane at some point! Having said that I have a mountain of yarn and a list of patterns I want to make a mile long -- and every day I seem to find another must have yarn to add to the mountain or another gorgeous/challenging pattern to to add to the list.

Hope your 2008 is everything you want it to be!

14 comments:

Kate said...

s Scarf is lovely. It's on my To Do list for 2008. I've got 364 days left to do it. (Hurrah for leap years!)

I sensibly had no knitting and no alcohol to distract me from Tennnant-ogling on Christmas Day. :-)

Batty said...

2007 has been an incredibly productive knitting year for you. I hope 2008 is even better!

I have been ogling Ene for a while now, but it's the 300+ stitch caston that has kept me from knitting it so far. I think I'll just use a marker every 20 stitches or so to make sure I don't go insane. That's still a lot of markers. Oh, and I'll make sure not to watch Dr. Who while knitting!

Modelwidow said...

Ene`s scarf is gorgeous - it looked good in the book but this is even better. You`ve been very busy in 2007, I bet you do just as well in 2008.

Wishing you a happy, healthy new year.

Linda said...

Gorgeous scarf, I am glad you discovered blogging etc so we can see all your fab knits! Have a great year.

Anonymous said...

Ene's Scarf is really beautiful. I have that book too because I made Lady Eleanor. Maybe I need to give this pattern another look! www.paperstarfish.prettyposies.com

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous scarf! I've been eyeing up that pattern, too--nice to see such a pretty finished one.

fleegle said...

As always, your knitting is perfection. And I bow to your productivity!

ps--had to buy the Tea Cozy book, but hate tea. I think they would all make great hats!


And Happy New Year!

LittleBerry said...

Ene's scarf is lovely... but I did exactly the same as you with the first few rows it took me 2 hours to do the 1st row!!!!

I look forward to 2008's accomplishments...

Anonymous said...

That is amazing. It looks beautiful, warm and wearable. Very, very envious.

Your knitting is wonderful, and you manage to be so prolific!

florencemary said...

Ene's scarf is fantastic - another of your truly beautiful lace pieces!

I feel exactly the same about 2007 and how it's meant so much to my knitting life, in terms of the web and blogland. Yippee!! All I need now is David T as my personal squeeze and life is perfect...

The Caked Crusader said...

You did right to focus on TIAT (That's 'Tennant in a tux' to the unititated.) It was a sight worth seeing. Sigh.

Having seen the scarf in the flesh, so to speak, I can vouch that it is even more lovely than in the photos. The same is probably true of David Tennant. Sigh.

cinnamongirl93 said...

Congradulations on 2007 knitting. You finished some beautiful projects!!! May 2008 hold even more fun and excitement!!

Holly said...

What a lovely scarf, Soo! I'm so happy you got back into the knitting fold in 2007 - it's been lovely to read your blog and keep up with your wonderful knitting!

Fiona Reynolds said...

Happy New Year. Gorgeouse scarf, but 375 stitches!!! You have my admiration.