knitting in the dark

As tomorrow is the beginning of December and the questions regarding what I want for Christmas are starting to come in from the extended family, I thought I’d post some ideas here for reference (my family doesn’t “do” gift certificates - no matter how brilliant a gift “free” yarn at the LYS may be). There are a good number of knitting books I’d like to own (rather than borrowing from the library, which is what I usually do) - some of these are already classics and some will surely become classics - and books are some of my favorite things to receive as gifts (if I can’t pick out my own yarn).

1. A collection of stitch patterns, either Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (and Volumes 2, 3, and 4)

or the new Harmony Guides (Knit & Purl, Lace & Eyelets, Cables & Arans)

2. The Knitter’s Book of Yarn to go with my newly found obsession with designing my own patterns

3. These beautiful pattern books that I’ve had the time to browse but not yet the money to buy

4. And one that I have not yet been able to see in person

If you have either the Barbara Walker or Harmony stitch guides (or Vogue, I suppose), would you recommend the collection you own or do you want a different set?

It’s done! The Henry Scarf from the Fall 2007 Knitty for my friend Alex’s birthday; I hope he likes it.

pattern: Henry

yarn: Louet Gems Fingering in Indigo

needles: ADDI turbos in 3.25mm and 4mm

started: 27 September 2007

finished: 12 November 2007

notes: I made each row 500 stitches instead of the 450 called for in the pattern. And it still came out shorter than specified! The finished dimensions: 56″ x 6″. I had some extra yarn left from the half-pound cone, but I didn’t really feel like knitting another 24 row repeat (that’s 12,000 stitches, folks!). This is the only thing I’ve worked on during the past six weeks…

I think I mentioned this in my last post, but I like the back better than the front of this pattern!

Let’s have one more shot just for good measure…

And now I can move on to other projects that I planned out in my daydreams while working on this one!

Henry Scarf progress:

I am getting so close! The birthday of the intended recipient is Wednesday, but I won’t see him until Thursday or this weekend, so I think I might just make it. And if it isn’t done this week I’ll just give it a little late. This scarf has taken a LOT of hours to complete and I’ve been completely monogamous about this project - no socks on the side… each row is 500 stitches (I modified for extra length) and takes 20-30 minutes to complete! Is it wrong to like the back better than the front side of the stitch pattern?

The color of these is all wrong, but I’m not getting outside again today before the sun sets… so this will have to do for now.