Surprise Project Update, Yes this means knitting talk

Well the surprise for TGF is no longer a surprise. About two weeks ago she was asking, oh so gently and sweetly, if the next scarf I make her could be a bit thicker and longer. I just had to show her that I already knew, as lovely as the first scarf is, it's more of an accent piece than a protect from the winds off the bay piece.

Here is a shot of the first scarf, lovely soft alpaca in a beautiful colour (colour board 3, Heather Violet) that I never can capture on the camera, damn it!










So I whipped out secret project number one and she.....LOVED IT. Yeah!

I bought this yarn (scroll down, I think it's 8886 - deep dark purple) before she left town and when she left I search for the right pattern until my eyes were bleeding from examining websites. This one looked promising and I did a swatch. Lovely pattern but not right for this yarn. Frogged away.

In my searchings for a pattern I found this stitch and loved it. It’s a very easy pattern to memorize.

Now I have delved into the third hank and it is looking a bit more like this...

















It's been much easier to make serious progress on the scarf now that I don't have to knit in secret. Here is a fuzzy shot, for purposes of comparison of size of the two scarves. Note, that the lovely, soft, delicate scarf is 100% alpaca and has been blocked (though not as well as I had hoped). The one on the needles, obviously is not blocked, 100% wool, though not superwash, so hand laundering will be necessary. I am hoping there will be enough yarn left when it has reacher her desired length to make a hat. I would love to be all fancy schmancy and incorporate the Waterfall stitch into the hat. Thinking 3-4 rows of 2x2 ribbing, then about 2-3 repeats of the 6 row pattern and some sort of decreasing thingy.

I am still working on Secret Project #2. In addition I really am itching to start T'Mane's outfit. An acquaintance on another list just lost her partner of 26 years (can you imagine!) and a group of us are making blanket squares. I am seriously fond of this person and since she was so sweet to reach out to me during the heat of Sunny/Cancer/Chemo Hat fiasco, I am determined to do this. I am thinking of using Li*n's Brand Homesp*n since I remember her having a soft spot for this mass produced acrylic yarn and I have some in my stash. However it is considerably more bulky than the advised weight for this project. Sigh. I'll think of something.

On another list, a member is losing her hair due to her chemo treatments so I am contempleting a hat for her as well. I think I know what yarn I want to use, I just need to decide on a pattern. Hm, maybe I don't know what yarn I want to use. Somehow I think I could get more whimsical in my choices with her, but I don't know that my skills are good enough for such things. This one is intriguing to me. This is possible. This one is beautiful but perhaps to eyelet-ish.

Oh, actually I have a third secret project in mind! Yes, my fingers will be busy for weeks and weeks!