Insanity Continues!

The insanity continues.

If you are at all like me, you get fairly bored if there isn't something happening all the time in your knitting. I need increases, decreases, yarn overs, and bits of purling thrown in amongst the knit stitches to keep me from tossing it aside and going in search of something a bit more fun. Holy smokes, does the Helix Scarf provide this or what?!?!?? I think on every third pattern repeat, a loud curse word follows yet another instance of knitting to the end of the second row instead of stopping after ten knit stitches, wrapping, turning, and knitting back to the edge from whence I just came. My mind wants to go into auto-pilot but the pattern isn't ready for that. 


It's never ready for that!


I decided to add the little filip of a dangly bit just before each pattern repeat and that makes this busy pattern even busier. But it helps in that at least you can tell where you are in the pattern. Garter stitch is really good at obscuring everything else but the color and its own ridges. The little filip consists of knitting on 5 more stitches and then binding them off as soon as you turn the work. The problem you sometimes have here is knowing when to stop binding off. As you can see in the photo to the left, I tried using movable stitch markers to keep track of just which stitch was the real first stitch in the row, indicating where to stop binding off. The markers get in the way when you need them and are easily forgettable until you need them again so you have to count anyway to move them to the right place. Ugh! I like the effect though I wish I had done just three stitches instead of five. This would be really fun with a bead at the end of each dangly bit.

The yarn ended up being three balls of handspun from some lovely roving I'd bought on a trip to Colorado when we visited a few years ago. It's from Lambspun in Ft. Collins. I love, love, love their blended rovings. They're candy for my spindles! Sometimes I buy enough for a sweater but usually just 4 to 6 ounces, enough for a pair of socks or a small scarf. I may end up wishing I had more of this in order to make the scarf longer but I'm determined to be happy with what I get out of it! This one is a wool/silk/and maybe mohair blend. (Note to self: be more diligent about attaching a bit of roving to the tag or the tag to the finished skein!) I spun it on a drop spindle. Who knows which one?! I'm sure it was the favorite of the day! I plied it on a spindle too since I'm often too lazy to get my spinning wheel out just for that. Besides, wheel spinning requires sitting upright, not lying on the couch or sitting all curled up, or better yet, lounging with my feet up!