The Scrumble Project: Project #1- Sweet Baby Jane's Scarf

Now that the New Year is here, the first thing that comes to my mind is cleaning and reorganizing my work studio. I usually do this every 6 months, and it takes lots of discipline on my part to finally do it! I was preparing to "clean house," I came across an old bag of swatching yarns that I always seem to move to a different shelf, often wondering what do with them. The idea of tossing perfectly exquisite pieces of 4 x 4 inch swatches of yarn seems sinful. I've often thought- just hang onto them to use them to make one big Afghan-- yeah sure. I've got lots of extra time on my hands for that and making small pieces is so much more appealing! So, instead of something such as an afghan that will lose my interest in a minute, I came up with my "Scrumble Project." What is scrumbling you ask? Well, it's knitting or crocheting in a free form way, allowing whatever flows off the needle to be part of the project. Also, using various other materials or methods are allowed too! Basically, the idea is to treat your projects like little works of art. In this case, my leftover swatches being the paint palette!

My first project will be a dainty scarf, which will be a spin off of one of my best-selling igottknits patterns: Sweet Baby Jane, pictured to the right. I used Colinette Tao Silk, 100% silk, color #67 Copper Beach. I also used Rowan Wool Cotton, color #SH965 as an accent yarn in the wave edging and eyelet band as you can see in the photo to the left. Since designing this pattern and making the sample, I've had little bits of yarn and several large swatches hanging around. How could I possibly get rid of these delicate little gems?

As I was digging around in my old swatch bag, I hit the jackpot! I found an old Ziploc bag filled with various stockinette swatches, and pattern stitch swatches, with the wavy pattern piece below, calling out- "Make me a scarf!"

The generously-sized swatch measures 7" x 18" making this a perfect primer for a scarf. My plan is to pick up stitches on each end and create a wave pattern and knit and purl ruffle, echoing the Sweet Baby Jane Skirt Edging.

Luckily, with the collection of swatches I found, it looks like I'll have just enough Tao Silk to work the larger knit and purl rib sections as shown in the Sweet Baby Jane skirt, and just enough of the Wool Cotton to use and an accent for the wave pattern.

Hopefully my calculations are correct, and there will be enough yarn to complete Baby Jane's Scarf!

Next Post...

--catch me picking up stitches along with rectangular scarf to create the knit purl and wave edging.

Time to get busy!

Fun With Beads- Part III

Interesting how things turn out. Sometimes some great unexpected things....and sometimes not quite as planned!

It's amazing how felting really does have a life of its own. The original pillow if you remember back from Part I, was made in Lamb's Pride yarns, which as it turns out felted much differently then the Cascade yarns that I used for this version.


The center part of the pillow came out smaller, and the ruffles did not shrink down as much as the original, and in my opinion, there's too much ruffle which takes away slightly from the pillow and hearts in the center, and you cannot see the defined mitered edging effect either.

Back to the drawing board just to "tweak" things a bit, but at any rate this will add to my eclectic collection of pillows on my couch.

© Copyright 2007 Kara Gott

http://www.karaknits.blogspot.com/

Felted Heart Bag Progress

It's been a few days now since I've shared my progress. I've been so busy with a design submission, so things got off course a bit.

Here's the pillow right after felting, still wet and drying outside on the porch as I write this. Here's the picture of all of the pieces before Assembly, along with my toes!

I decided from the beginning that I would only sew the ruffle onto the back panel first, then sew the other pieces after felting. Yes, this will be tough, and as Elizabeth Zimmerman may have said: "just get a sharp yarn needle, and keep your whits about you!" I decided to do this because I was afraid that if I felted the hearts after they were sewn in place they may look uneven and sloppy. I know this is a bit unorthodox, but I think it is the best way.

Stay tuned for the finished piece!

Fun With Beads- Part II

More "pillow talk" for you.......

As promised, here's part II of my "Knitumentary." Up to this point, I've assembled all of the pillow pieces, and everything is ready for the fun part.... felting!


Since the panels and hearts are worked in stockinette they curl quite a bit. Lightly blocking before assembly makes life a little easier. I prefer a steam iron for quick blocking. Just press the steam button, and keep the iron close to the piece. It's not a good idea to lay a hot iron directly on your knitting because it could crush the stitches. If you prefer, you can also use a damp cloth and place it over each pieces, and allow to sit for a few hours.

My next step was attaching the 4 ruffles using a mattress stitch to the edge of the large back panel. To make sure that the ruffles are placed evenly along each edge, you can "ease" them in place by pinning one end and then the other end, then ease in the middle. Here's how I did that:

To add a little glitz, I decided to add crochet edging around the ruffle using Berroco's Classic Heather Mohair.

The mohair accent really gives the pillow a softer, more billowy feel.

As an afterthought, I decided to add the same accent to the edge of the smaller panel, helping to echo the ruffle accent and to balance the overall design.

Now we're ready to felt!

Stay tuned for Part III.....

© Copyright 2007 Kara Gott
http://www.karaknits.blogspot.com/