The Next Generation

It seems that the busier I get,  the more the family demands of me too.  Anyone else notice that?  But sometimes you have to put family first, and this weekend was like that.

Diane Sullivan re-posted her video for how to make a hair scrunchie on the machine.  It was one of those videos I always thought I'd get back to watch later as I don't see myself as a scrunchie type of gal anymore.  But hey!  I have a daughter with incredibly thick, long hair who always wears it pulled back, and likes to dress it up!  Even better, she's on a figure skating synchro team and has to wear it up, with a team practice dress.  She could make a scrunchie to match her practice dress, and use up some of my yarn!  LOL.  She's done a bit on the machines before and  sometimes asks, but it's hard finding projects young kids can do themselves.

 She used a thicker, silicone elastic.  It was a bit trickier, but she needs heavy duty bands in her hair.

 She started Friday night, and we were done on Saturday.  She did a total of 1000 rows, but was annoyed that the row counter only went to 999!

Can you believe she's about to turn 9?!  When I started this blog, she was 9 MONTHS old!
This is not a big stash buster (8grams, including the band), but would be a great use of those small odd amounts you just can't throw out.  I think this was an old Kroy sock yarn.

She decided she also wants to make a scarf for her new jacket.  We looked at the designs in the manual and she liked ones with flowers, so she's doing card 20 (I think) in blue and white (again, Kroy sock yarns).  I got it set up while she was at practice.  Good thing, cause it took me two tries :)

 Concentration!

 I thought it was neat how when it rolled in, it completed the half patterns on each edge.

 The machine does such an awesome job on fair isle.  I would never, ever attempt this by hand!

Meg asked an interesting question.  What if I had casted on ALL the needles.  Mmmm.  That would turn the work 90degrees, meaning instead of knitting it as long as needed to loop twice around the neck, the needlebed would determine the length...I don't know if it would be a good length or not.  However, you'd only need to knit one pattern repeat to get the width, and when worn, the flowers will be "right side up".  Interesting...

I did wonder, after casting on, if it should have been made double wide and folded over, and then I thought, no way do I want to seam it LOL.  I think it'll be fine with the backside showing.  I'm seeing "inside out" fair isle sweaters in the stores now, so we're right on trend!  Dad suggested doing a yellow stripe at the end, because it's part of the team colours.  She liked that idea, and I think what I will do is graft the beginning and end together with yellow.  This way, if we ever want to take it apart, I'll know where the graft is :)

Earlier this fall, the night before picture day, my older daughter decided her outfit needed something. At 9pm, she started "arm knitting" a scarf in black chunky.  She got it finished, but decided it blocked the view of her hair, LOL.  So I started wearing it.  We weren't too happy with it.  She had used two strands of Shetland Chunky, and it was  too sparse.  After a couple weeks, I ripped it out and crocheted it in treble crochet.  I started with 10 tc, but after a couple rows, determined it was too wide.  Decreased on each side, and kept going.  When I got to almost the end  of my yarn, I increased again at the edges, so the beginning and end would match to sew together.  When I wear it, I either put the wider part behind my neck for warmth, or at the front to cover up  a deep V t-shirt.  I also discovered that I can take one twist and pull it up around my head like a headband.  LOL.  Multi purpose!!  It used 50gr.  Quite an economical gift idea.  Though I think it needed beads :)

A black scarf is perfect for me because I wear a lot of colour, and a lot of my hats and mitts don't have matching mates.

Yarn In:   9074gr
Yarn Out:  58gr + 4175gr = 4233gr
Balance:  4841gr MORE brought IN then out
Costs: 457.63 /308 days = $1.49/day