Third time a charm

"What one does is what counts and not what one had the intentions of doing." (Pablo Picasso)

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. Last year I gave him a hand-knit scarf. Or rather I gave him the promise of a hand-knit scarf. I started one with some very tasteful brown and grey sock yarn on Size 3 needles, and never finished it. This year I decided to try again, this time with some Modea Dea Cartwheel yarn that I got in a generous swap package from Rebecca. It's 100% wool in the Misty colorway, which is actually grey, not blue as it looks in these pictures.

I remembered the Irish Hiking Scarf and was just about to cast on for that, when I saw a pattern for a reversible cable scarf called Palindrome (get it--the same backwards as forwards). I knit about 9 inches on that (above) and decided the colors and textures in the yarn, which I love, make it hard to see the cables. This scarf would look nice in a smooth wool, or in the Patons SWS it calls for.

So then I decided to try a ribbed scarf. Andy's a pretty conservative dresser (except for his ties) so I didn't want anything too elaborate. This is a K3-P3 rib, with 30-some stiches cast on. After about 13 inches, I asked my husband if he thought it was too narrow for a man's scarf, and he said yes. I agreed. Plus it looked too casual. I want to do a shorter scarf for a dressy coat, not a long, casual scarf.

Finally I went with a basketweave-type pattern, though I can't remember where I found it. It's 38 stitches cast on, slip the first stitch, then K3, P3 (P4 for last group) for seven rows, then switch. So far I've got 16 inches. (This is a little more accurate of the color.)

This sign greeted me last night when I arrived at my sister's house to spend the night, because the weather was too bad to drive home after class. Clearly my nephew Kevin only wants my son to visit! It was a long stretch for Ed with Sam alone, and I felt guilty enjoying the homemade scones Amy made this morning for Andy's birthday breakfast in bed. I gave Andy a crossword puzzle book. Maybe by next year I'll have finished his 2008 gift!

Movies to knit by: Ed and I watched Pursuit of Happyness on Valentine's Day, after going out for shawarma ($20 for all three of us, home by 6:15--super romantic!) Good movie, though hard to watch. Tonight I'm watching The Naked City (1948) on TCM On Demand while Ed is out with his friends. "There are 8 million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them."