New on the needles

Several years ago, I did a fair amount of knitting for charity. Earlier this week, I decided to renew that effort by dedicating every Friday to charity knitting.   I already have lots of projects on needles, but setting aside one day a week just for charity knitting will be good for me, and for my stash! 

I went "stash diving" to choose a yarn, and then I remembered that when I moved house in the spring, I gave away most of the yarns that I would have used for charity knitting ... those that were acrylic or acrylic/wool blends. I HAD to shrink my stash because the new place is much smaller than the old one, and there simply isn't room to store all the yarn I had. It was a tough decision for sure, one that literally made me cry. At the end of the day I'm happy that I decided to keep the yarns that I love the most but in hindsight it would have been good to keep some of those other yarns. While I'm not sure that 100% wool yarns are the best choice, I decided to go ahead and use what I have. Hopefully I can find a place that will accept items that have a high wool content. 

First charity project for 2016 is a simple ribbed scarf knitted from Lamb's Pride Worsted in a color called Turquoise Depths. Easy to knit: cast on 26, and do 1x1 ribbing to desired length. I got approximately 12" knitted this evening. 

Tomorrow I'm planning to cast on a scarf in these yarns:

This is a secret gift project. The yarn is Wool Ease by Lion Brand, and is an 80/20 acrylic/wool blend. Now the task is to find the perfect pattern. I think I might attempt double knitting an argyle pattern like this http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/uncle-argyle-scarves. Double knitting takes me a long time (at least it did last time I tried it in 2008!), and while there is no real deadline, I'd rather do something that isn't so tedious for me. Suggestions? Note to self: if you end up doing double knitting, use this slip stitch edging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-BLtYkAfa8. 

I'd better try to sleep. It's been a pretty restless night but at least it's been kind of productive. I am on track with weekly blogging!

Good night, um, morning!

-mz

P.S. I think this is the pattern I will use, but I will knit it to scarf length, in the round. It'll be PERFECT! https://www.imperialyarn.com/sites/default/files/errata/F01%20Argyle%20Cowl.pdf

P.P.S. Cast on as if you're knitting a toe-up sock.  That way you'll only have to graft one end together.