Home Alone

My son and husband are finally back to school and work after a couple of days home. They both had Monday off, and both took Tuesday off sick.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had brilliant sunshine and cold weather. It got up to about 31 degrees F. Some of the ice melted, but not all of it. I took a picture when the sun finally climbed over the red pines at the top of the hill and hit the ice-covered branches of the sweet cherry tree outside my studio window.

Overnight the temperature dropped down into the teens, and the optimistic leaf buds that had started to break on my rosebush froze.

Knitting News

Getting the blue waffle scarf off the needles inspired me to pick up my Sampler M, which has been languishing since it got put down in the pre-Christmas rush.

These are patterns 18, finally finished, and 19. Pattern 25 has just been put up at the Yahoo group, so I have to get knitting to catch up!

Once again the pattern repeats are separated with purl ribs within a pattern, and purl welts between each pattern. I like the stability this gives the Sampler. Although my knitting is not always perfect, I am learning a lot!

Blue Waffle Scarf Pattern
On a knitting board (=double rake), use stockinette wrap. I used a total of 32 stitches, equivalent to 16 on each side of the knitting board. My scarf used 74 grams of Red Heart Symphony yarn.

On knitting needles, cast on a multiple of four stitches. The scarf was knitted on US size 11 (8 mm) needles. It would have been faster to knit on a knitting board, but right now I don't have one with thick enough pegs.

Knit each group of four as follows, passing the yarn between the tips of the needles after every stitch, as if you were knitting a K1-P1 rib or single moss stitch.

1. Knit one
2. Purl one
3. Slip one with yarn in back
4. Slip one with yarn in front

Stitch 1 is the front layer, 2 is the back layer, then you skip (slip) the next front and back layer stitches. You can see the yarn zigzagging back and forth in the purpley-red sample on my earlier post.