Only 1040 Rows to Go!

The first of eight sections of Soumak is finished. 

I am happy with it overall, but I wish I had either picked different colors or arranged them differently. Too much red and orange for my taste. And the brown looks like baby diarrhea to me. (What is WRONG with me that that is what came to mind?) But I'm hoping that when all eight sections are completed, the whole will be more than the sum of the parts. Something like that. 

Anyway, I'm knitting on. It's fun to knit because it's easy to knit, and it changes colors often enough to keep boredom at bay, so far.  

And, only 1040 rows to go, plus two ending rows, and 144 stitches per row.

I am not doing the math on that. Until it's finished and then I'll be impressed.  And relieved. 

Dead Easy?

I am making this:

Soumak Scarf/Wrap by Rowan

out of this:

and it currently looks like this:

It is the Soumak Scarf/Wrap from the Rowan Knitting & Crochet Magazine 54 and it requires ten different gorgeous colors of Rowan fine tweed.  

And it is, as the Yarn Harlot sometimes says, "dead easy."  

What does that mean?  That it's so easy, a dead person could make it?  I hardly think so.

But nevertheless, consequently, nonetheless, by the way, and by your leave, it sure is EASY!

There was a bit of whining (maybe on my part although I was knitting with others, so who really knows?) when I first started working on this because it's so easy that it was way too easy to make a mistake.  Especially with the lavender color that I kept knitting in where it didn't belong.  I blame that on the yarn.  It was misbehaving.  But now I've got the yarn and the spreadsheet all organized and I am speeding along.  It is 900-some rows long, so I'll be at it for a long time, I know.  

I just hope I don't get tired of it. I won't be able to blame the yarn because I LOVE the yarn. Unless I get tired of the yarn. Which I won't. Because I ...

Never mind.

So There We Were,

Sallyknit and I, sitting in our usual spots at last night's knit-night, minding our own business, swearing at knitting away on our Spectra scarves, when out of nowhere came a voice.

Have you seen, it said, what so-and-so's class is making?  It is beautiful.

We looked up long enough to say, No, haven't seen it.  What is it?

Dangerous question.  

This is what they are making:

And the shop has all of the colors in the yarn called for, the voice continued.

So, about two hours later, and after much discussion and changing of minds on colors, and did we REALLY want to make one?, Sallyknit and I (and a couple of other people) each ended up with our own collection of Rowan Fine Tweed yarns. A quite large collection.This is mine:

ooops.  Photo includes two of same color/missed one skein

Ten colors, several in each color.  

The pattern appears to be very simple, and last night we thought it said that there were only 132 rows in the whole wrap.  On size 3 needles.  We should have known better.  A closer reading today reveals that there are many repeats of the 132 rows, so, SURPRISE!

When we teased Candi, owner of the voice, about her successful evening of selling yarn, she said that "selling" is the reason she is there.

But we think she enjoyed the "enabling."