A sixth scarf.... and a little OOPS!

I made this scarf in two days, basically. It could be made in 2-3 hours, really. It's the same pattern I used for the green and gold scarves, but I made this wider. I told the friend I made this for that it reminded me of a muppet. Good thing she loves Cookie Monster! You can't tell in this camera phone pic, but it's blue.

In other news, as I was binding off this scarf I quickly noticed that I had bound off too early. I had three stitches left and no yarn to bind it off, let along to finish. Yikes! Usually I have a little too much left. SO I put the yarn to the side and tried to think of how I could fix it. The solution actually took a while for me to come up with, which is embarassing. Basically I frogged two-three rows and then put it back on the needles. It got a little twisted, which was easy to fix, and then I was able to bind it off correctly. Shew! Crisis averted and scarf number six is now in the books!

Keep on knittin'!

Oops - another one!

I forgot to post this pic of my friend Olga's scarf. The cell phone doesn't do it justice - very pretty yarn. I hope she likes it :). This is actually a wine colored scarf - hard to tell from this. Various shading, though, as you can tell. It's a cute pattern. It didn't pick it up well in the photo, unfortunately.

Scarf five.... finito!

I finished the scarf for my friend Colleen. I hope she likes it. I originally had some fancy black yarn, but it shed too much I knew she'd be unhappy. I think the silver will look great with her black coat. Crossing my fingers that she likes it...

Another One Bites The Dust!

I made this scarf for my coworker, who made me bread and gave me some soap that he had made the last time I had to travel to the midwest for work. He liked the color from this picture (even though he originally requested blue). I tried to tell him you don't need a blue scarf with a blue coat. He'd look like a smurf.

Admittedly I shared that information with him because I was almost done with this green one. Hee hee. I am waiting to find out if I need to block it or not, then I will send it on to him.

Keep on knittin'!

Another FO

I finished my second scarf while sick today. I had about an hour and a half where I felt OK, and finished the scarf. Otherwise, I knew I was sick when I didn't want to knit!

This scarf was incredibly easy, knit on huge needles and only 12 stitches wide. It only took one skein of yarn, too. Talk about instant gratification. Hooray for Lionbrand! I might keep this one for myself.

Keep on knittin'!

My First FO

As evidenced by the picture below, I have my first knitted FO (finished object). In normal people talk, I've finished my scarf!

Finishing the scarf was both exciting and scary. Exciting because I finally finished something. Scary because I wasn't exactly sure how to do it. When you finish something, you 'bind off''. This is basically just knitting in a way that removes the stitches from the needle. You're sort of knitting the stitches together, so that the scarf can't come unraveled once it's off the needles. This is all fine and dandy, and I learned how to do it via a video on youtube. Can we just pause here now and give a big shout out to the wide, wide world of web? Without the internet I'd be single and would have yet another unfinished scarf in the closet. So thank you, internets. Thank you.

Back to finishing the scarf...

So I did the binding off, and you're stuck with one last stitch on the needle. I looked at it and really had no idea what to do. I tried to find a video about it, but I believe the answer was so simple they won't even put it on youtube. I finally found someone on the Ravelry help chat that told me what to do. Basically, you cut the 'working yarn' (the yarn that's attached to your project and that you use to continue knitting) a couple of inches after the last loop and pull that through the last loop to create a sort of temporary knot.

This is not as easy as it sounds. Why? Because cutting the yarn was terrifying! You can't tink or fix or add anything to your project once you've cut that yarn. There's no going back. I told the ladies at work it was like cutting an umbilical chord. That scarf was my baby! I was nervous, but I played the role of a new surgeon and asked hubby to hand me my scalpel (scissors). I took a deep breath and then I cut. I took the last loop off the needle and pulled that extra long few inches of yarn through it.

I had a scarf! Hey, look! A scarf! I immediately stood up and started an impromptu celebratory dance. I danced, and then I added a sing-songy "I finished the sca-arf, I finished the sca-arf" to the mix. I put the scarf around my neck and took a picture. I put the scarf around hubby's neck and took a picture. I put the scarf around my dog's neck and took a picture. Good thing the cat was in hiding somewhere.

It was such a rush. I made something that someone could actually use... and it looked pretty good! I finished something! I totally understand the addiction to starting lots of projects. The more you start, the more you can finish. I think a lot of people don't finish what they've started, though, and that's the real shame. The finishing part is the biggest thrill. It's the reminder of why you spent so much time doing something. Sure, it's relaxing to knit. It's something you can do while you're doing other things (traveling, watching tv, etc.) so you feel more productive. But the finishing. That's the really awesome part.

Keep on knittin!

Finished Object (FO)

I did it!