The serious-about-continental scarf

I went to a much-loved LYS, Colorful Yarns, both yesterday and today. Carmen was very helpful yesterday, but I didn’t buy anything. I’ve been on a yarn diet and wanted to sleep on it. So I did, and I woke up knowing that I needed to return to the store and exactly what I wanted to buy.

I don’t go to my LYSs often because everything is too tempting, and I’m really trying to reduce my stash. I still haven’t knit up the last yarn I bought from Colorful Yarns but have ordered the pattern for that yarn.

Along with my ongoing projects, I’ve been working on a continental knitting swatch. I dabble in continental, thinking my fingers will get it, but so far not much luck. This is my current continental swatch:

Yarn is Knitpicks Merino Style, color is Hollyberry.

But I’m starting to get a little bit of continental rhythm, so I’ve decided I’m ready to make a continental scarf. Since my worsted stash yarn is already dedicated to certain future projects, I was forced to visit Colorful Yarns again.

Yes, it was tough, wandering through that delightful shop, surrounded by the most beautiful yarns and colors you’d ever want to see. I looked for a skein of soft but sturdy worsted that would be gentle and forgiving enough to propel me through the throes of continental. I settled on this:

Yarn is Dream In Color Classy; color is Cool Fire.

The scarf pattern is one I adapted from Barbara Walker’s Moss Stitch Border Diamonds. Her diamonds were larger than I wanted on a scarf, so I pared them down a bit and created an Excel chart to knit by.

While I was at Colorful Yarns today, I passed a certain skein of yarn, and passed it again, and again. I touched it, then stroked it, then carried it around, then put it back. It’s the falling-in-love process that most yarn shop owners understand and are patient with.

Yeah, I bought it. And I’m glad.

Yarn is Handmaiden Casbah; color is Blackberry. It’s sock yarn, but I’m not using this yarn for socks. It’s too beautiful to be hidden in a shoe.

Until I find the right pattern I’m going to just walk around the house with the hank draped around my neck. It’s very soft (80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon), and the colors are luscious.

Two days ago I wore shorts and a tank top. This morning I woke up to this:

You can see the snow balanced on the new leaf buds of the tree branches:

And the early morning light cast a gentle blue glow over all.