How Does My Garden Grow?

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Do you remember that nursery rhyme? I have a garden, too. My garden is a Noro Silk Garden and it is growing. When I knit my husband the Noro Striped Scarf last year for Christmas, I KNEW I would be knitting it again. For who? For me! I spent the summer combing the internet to locate the exact colors that Jared used in his infamous Noro Striped Scarf. I found the most obscure skein from a Raveler and made her an offer she couldn't refuse and she accepted it.

Although Jared says he holds no claim to designing this scarf, he most certainly has influenced its massive production. As I write this post it is the second most popular scarf on Ravelry. There are 2,390 projects in 2,519 queues!

Why is this scarf so popular? Why does it mesmerize so many knitters? I think partly due to a rapture of colors. The subtle color transitions in the Noro Silk Garden are spectacular. When you alternate two different dye lots in this simple ribbed scarf you find that you are addicted to watching the mystery colors unroll. The yarn itself is wonderful. Silk Garden is an Aran 10-ply silk, mohair, wool blend and is ever so soft.

My Noro Scarf is restricted knitting designated to be knit only as I read through blogs. Up until I started this project my blog reading had suffered serious decline. But now you will find me lurking around YOUR blog and checking Bloglines more frequently to see if anyone has posted.

So, how long will my Noro Striped Scarf be? Well that, my friend, depends on how frequently YOU post on your blog.

WIP Wrestling Event - Nordic Mittens

In the spirit of the 2008 Olympics, I have been contemplating whether it is 'really' a challenge to finish a WIP that was on the needles one month before the Olympics started. When watching the Olympians and listening to their stories I have heard stories of how they have overcome obstacles to become the champions they are. That set me to thinking about my own Olympic challenge to finish the several projects I have on my needles as I watched the 2008 Summer Olympics.

If I truly give myself a challenge it would not be to finish something I was most likely going to finish the next month. The true challenge would be to finish something you were so frustrated with that you actually pulled the needles out of and walked away from, right? I have such an item and it has languised in a basket for four years, the Nordic Mittens featured in the 2004 Winter Interweave Knits.

This issue was the first Interweave Knits magazine I bought shortly after resuming knitting after a forty year sabbatical. I was smitten with Beth Brown-Reinsel's pattern immediately and let Santa know that I wanted the eight skeins of requisite Brown Sheep Nature Spun yarn for Christmas so I could knit my own pair. Nothing like jumping in feet-first into knitting!




The results were not as I had hoped. I knew nothing then about carrying the dominant color consistantly in one hand. I did not know how to knit two-handed with my left hand knitting Continental style and my right hand knitting English style.

But the results before I knew this method were less than satisfactory. This was a Nordic Star pattern and the 'star' seemed to blend in with everything else. The mitten was also too large for my smallish hands. Guage? What is that? So, just short of finishing the tip of the thumb on the first mitten, I put the mitten in a basket with intentions of finishing the other mitten after I finished a pair of socks.

Needless to say, my sock obsession began and the poor Nordic Mitten never had a chance. I've looked at her periodically, picked her up and tryed her on, frowned and put her away again. I even deleted her from my Ravelry Projects, a sure sign that I was done with her.

Now I'm ready for the Olympic challenge with the more correct goal of competing against myself. Bring on the challenge! Can I push myself to love this project again? Can I get back the fire and spirit needed to push through the challenge? I think I can. I've learned some things through other fair isle projects and think I can make that star "pop" now. Can I get the gold metal? I started the corrugated ribbing last night watching Michael Phelps earn his eleventh gold metal. A good omen for me, don't you think?


Corrugated Ribbing is the name often given to the two-color rib stitch used on many Fair Isle garments, particularly the ribbing at the bottom of a sweater. In this instance it will be used for my Nordic Mitten cuff. The stitch is generally a K2, P2 with the knit stitches knit in one color and the purl stitches in another. It is particulary pretty when the purl rows are in varigated colors while the knit row remains one solid shade. I am going to be more clever this time around and use a hair clip to keep all those loose strands out of the way.

As with stranded knitting, no more than two colors are used in the same round and the yarn not in use is stranded across the wrong side of the work or 'floating' across the knitting. There will be many ends to weave in but this time I will stop and weave those in every ten rows instead of waiting until the end!

This ribbing is worked on 2.25mm needles, two sizes down from what the body of the mitten will be worked on. It is not very elastic when compared with ordinary ribbing but it will be hard wearing when it comes to pulling these mittens on and off through the winter snows.

Corrugated ribbing is much easier to work if the knit stitches are knit Continental and the purl stitches are knit English style.

The Two Contenders

At this point they seem to be neck and neck in the competition but when that Nordic Star motif appears we will know who the REAL champion will be!

Ravelympics 2008

Are any of you participating in the Ravelympics 2008 over on Ravelry?

I have entered the WIP Wrestling event. My goal is to finish my plain PI SHAWL. I'm knitting the sideways border right now and casting off a stitch with each ridge knit. 576 sts! My goal is 100 sts a day so I should have this plain PI SHAWL finished in the next few days. This shawl is plain, very plain but it has been a relaxing project and will keep me warm through the long winterup here in the mountains.

Hopefully, I will wrestle with my next WIP soon and get it finished, finally - The Must Have Cardigan. So, which event have YOU entered? And, what Olympic event to you most enjoy watching? I like the gymnastics!

Ravelry

RAVELRY . Wow! That is about the only word I can think of to describe it! It is everything everyone said it would be.

And membership finally comes to me after spending 3 days camping with girlfriends!. Just in time since part of my camping time was dedicated to solitude and prayer. I had lots of time to evaluate many things in my life and one of the areas was knitting. I came to the conclusion that I need more focused direction and organization in my knitting!

I hadn't planned to evaluate this area of my life but after I casually mentioned to my non-knitting friends that I had four sweaters on the sticks that needed to be finished this year the look on their faces alone and their SILENCE (when are women ever silent?) quickly convinced me it was time to examine this area. I felt like some crazed, obsessed knitting fiend who never finishes anything. I didn't digress still further by mentioning all my OTHER WIP and UFO's to them. I could have but did not!

The sad thing was when I got home and made a list of all the sweaters I have purchased yarn for -- lets just say, there were far more than FOUR sweaters, my friends!

Ahh-well, friends are good to us and love us despite our idiosyncrasies don't they? And THAT is a very good thing or some of us in knitting-blogger-land would be committed to mental institutions.

Ravelry seems to be the unorganized knitter's answer. And, I fear, it will also become the conscience of all of us as well. At least for me it will be. It is awesome! Check it out!