Quiet Saturday

It's a "loafing around" kind of day here at home. I did my scurrying around with housework earlier and now my time is more or less my own.

I'm trying to get brave enough--or energetic enough-- to attempt to make felted wool mittens and a hat from this sweater I bought at a thrift shop last week. I've gotten as far as removing one sleeve, trying to preserve as much of the lovely fair-isle pattern as possible. I would never have dreamed of cutting up such a beautiful sweater if it hadn't already been partially felted when I found it. No doubt that's why it ended up at the thrift store. But it's been an expensive beauty in its heyday. The label reads "Made in England" and "100% Wool". 

I'll keep you posted on any progress.

Last night I finished another of those ascot scarves (see previous post). This time I decided to try it in stockinette instead of garter stitch. All the little bow-tie scarves I've seen have been in garter stitch, and now I know why--stockinette rolls in on itself! Nevertheless I'm going to see how this works out. 

I've got it blocked right now on a folded-up towel, and when it's dry, I'll post the photo. Blocking is not my strong suit, but after ruining a perfectly wonderful, huge knitted scarf a few months ago by trying to take a shortcut using the steam iron to block it, I've learned my lesson. Like the ruined one, this is an acrylic scarf, and I'm never quite sure how one is supposed to handle blocking acrylic.
   

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Okay, it's several hours later and I've unpinned the scarf. It's still rolling up on itself, but I'll keep experimenting and maybe eventually I'll get it to relax. Meanwhile, this is what it looks like:

Any of you "real" knitters out there, I'd welcome your advice on blocking techniques for synthetics. Meanwhile, if I knit another one, I'll probably just go back to the lowly but practical garter stitch.

In the next post I hope to unveil my latest spangle hat, one utilizing an innovation I'm rather jazzed about--!!  Ah, the joys of retro!!!