Just A-Knittin' And A-Thriftin'

These are based on the Climbing Leaves Cowl pattern set from Constantly Knitting at 200 Shawls Project. My first lace project! Ok, not a lot of lace, but that's what makes it a good first project. That and it's a wonderful pattern.

The pattern set has several charts. Being a coward, I chose to use only 4 repeats of a wider chart instead of 5 of the narrower. I also staggered the lace repeats instead of stacking them. While practicing the decrease stitches, I found I like the way they form a kind of swagged drape effect when you change directions like this. I also decided to do a shorter cowl of only three rounds of lace patterns, so I'd have enough yarn for matching mitts. The original short cowl pattern has four rounds of lace, plus a lovely cable section.

After finishing the lace section of the cowl, I kept the stitches live, and started the first mitt from the other end of my yarn cake. They have half the pattern chart on the fronts (still staggered) and plain stockinette on the backs. There are just slits for the thumbs. I was going to tell you that one is shorter because I ran out of yarn, but it was really just me counting wrong.

When I got to the end of the second mitt, I just totally blew it. Cast off, end woven in and put it next to the other and ... it's two rows of stockinette and two rows of garter shorter than the first one I made. The gauge is also tighter for some reason, so it's not as wide either. Oh well, they're still pretty in my twisted world view (more about that later). And I had lots of extra yarn to finish off the cowl with a wide garter band.

The yarn is Plymouth Galway I dyed back in 6/08.





Hanging:
1 Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, 100% Superwash Merino, 4 oz, 420 yds, Birches cream, greys, greens, blues, pink GORGEOUS!
2 Lane Borgosesia Baruffa Cashwool, 100% Extra Fine Merino, 100g, 1460 yards, 1 White, 1 Dk Chocolate Brown

Left Column:
1+ 71g Sirdar DenimUltra, 60% Acrylic/25% Cotton/15% Wool, 100g, 82 yds, Discontinued Color 503 Slate Blue navy/grey
1 Knit Picks Comfy Worsted, 75% Pima Cotton/25% Acrylic, 50g, 109 yds, Sweet Potato
2 Knit Picks Essential, 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon, 50g, 231 yds, Buckskin
1 Knit Picks Gloss HW, 70% Merino/30% Silk, 100g, 164 yds, Masala
3 Knit Picks Get Away, 35% Tactel/35% Nylon/18% Cotton/12% Acrylic. 50g. 82 yds, Wading Pool
2 Lion Brand Ruffles, 50% Merino/50% Acrylic, 50g, 21 yds, 1 Cream, 1 Black
1 SWTC Vickie Howell Collection ROCK, 40% Soysilk/ 30% Wool/30% Hemp, 50g, 100m, Prince purple multi

Right Column:
3++ Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, 86% Acrylic/10% Wool/4% Rayon, 170g, 108 yds, 3 + 143g Wheat, 116g Cream
2 Caron Country, 75% Microdenier Acrylic/25% Merino, 85g, 185 yds, Dk Grey
2+ 42g GGH Aspen, 50% Merino/50% Acrylic, 50g, 57m, Color 3 from the 2004 chart, discontinued 2005. Yarndex says Tan, I say Pumpkin
1 Ornaghi Filati Stripe, 55% Merino/45% Acrylic, 50g, 100 yds, Color 20 self striping purple multii
1 Lion Brand Cashmere Blend, 72% Merino/14% Cashmere/14% Nylon, 40g, 84 yds, Charcoal

Tray:
Labeled:
2 Malabrigo, 100% Merino, 100g, 216 yds, Applewood
1 Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, 85%Wool/10%Silk/5%Cashmere, 50g 147 yds, Cocoa
1 Lang JA Woll Color Aktion, 75% New Wool Superwash/25% Nylon, 100g, 420m, Color 132.0205 - self striping black/blues

Partial Noro Iro, 75% Wool/25% Silk, Color 94, 60g (out of 100g)

Unlabeled: BT(A/S/P/B) - Burn Test (Animal, Synthetic, Plant, Blend)

Browns:
Brown/Tan/Grey, Noro-esque self striping, 50g, BTA
Brown/Tan/Cream, ragg/marl, 39g, BTA
Dk Brown, worsted weight, 46g, BTA

Blues:
Navy, textured double-wrapped single, 120g, BTP*
Navy, fuzzy boucle w/multicolor tufts of eyelash, 38g, BTS
Cobalt Blue semisolid, single, 48g, BTA/PB
Baby Blue, 6 ply sport wt, 50g, BTA/SB (hiding behind fuzzy boucle)

Greys:
Dk/Lt Grey, about 24 inch color runs, 26g, BTA
Dk Grey glossy semisolid, thick/thin single, 11g, BTA

Greens:
Forest Green/Lavender, sock wt, 24g, BTA
Avocado, bulky single, 33g, BTA
Avocado, sport wt, 50g, BTA
Pale Chartreuse, bulky single, 9g BTA

Purples/Pinks:
Wine, thick/thin single, 100g, BTA
Dk Purple, lighter weight version of first navy, 49g, BTP
Purple/Pink/Mauve, glossy single, 52g, BTA
Ice Pink, squishy sport wt ,32g, BTA
Lavender, 6-ply sport wt, 18g, BTA

Oranges:
2 Light Orange, 6-ply sport wt, 52g each (incl att'd knitted portion), BTA
Tangerine, single, 17g + 22g separate knitted portion, BTA

*By double wrapped I mean a thick single is wrapped by two single threads, running in opposite directions. Hope that makes sense.

"So Kitten," you may be asking, "what's with all the Wool-Ease Thick & Quick? I thought you learned your lesson. Remember the Intarsia Clothesline Vest?"

Well, it was like this. There were five bags of colorful, wonderful yarn staring at me. Each bag was priced $3.49. SCORE! One of the bags had a partial skein of Wheat W-ET&Q, and I thought "Gee, I've got a couple skeins of that at home, plus at least another skein worth of bits and bobs of various colors. It's all left over from the Clothesline Intarsia Vest. If I get this bag I'll have more, but still not enough for a sweater, and I'll feel like I have to keep picking up W-ET&Q until I do."

That's when I turned around and spotted the bag with the other 3 skeins of Wheat and the partial Cream. "But Kitten" says my Evil-Alter-Ego-Yarn-Buying-DIS-Enabler-Guy, "you can't spend $3.49 for that W-ET&Q yarn, no matter how well it fits into your twisted world view."

But this bag was priced at only $2.49! So I grabbed it. After all, I did like the yarn ok, it just isn't the best choice for Intarsia. And it would make a nice bulky hoodie, which could do a homeless person a lot of good (or me, until I make the other 6 hoodies I've got yarn set aside for). World view successfully tweaked. You have now taken a short walk thru the scary mind of a thrift shop yarn junkie.

You may also have done the math and come up with a total of $19.94 for this haul.

What it looked like in the shop.