Finished

Last week my knitting post was all about UFOs; this week I'm going to talk about FOs (Finished Objects). Fortunately, neither of these projects got to the point of being relegated to the UFO spreadsheet.

The first project is my Spring Showers Scarf. This was in danger of becoming a UFO, but thanks to my Tuesday night knitting group, it got finished instead. You see, back in February, we all decided to knit the Churchmouse Classics Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf as a group project. I started it back then, but got bogged down after making numerous mistakes, which I left in, as I wasn't going to tink back on a 450-stitch row. Once I finally figured out what I was doing and started to make good progress, the scarf got set aside while I was on a three-week vacation. Then, about three weeks ago, Sue, one of the group members, accepted a three-year position to teach at an international school in Vienna, and will be leaving for Austria on July 28. Before she leaves, we plan to take a group photo of all of us wearing our scarves, so that lit a fire under me and was my impetus to sit down and finish the scarf. Thanks, Sue!

Even with my mistakes, the scarf is beautiful! Linen stitch is comprised of a knit or purl stitch—depending what side you are on—alternating with a slipped stitch, and after every stitch (all 450 of them!) moving the yarn to the front or to the back. The resulting fabric is gorgeous, much more like weaving than knitting. The pattern calls for three different colorways of Koigu hand painted yarn. I decided I wanted a neutral, a medium and a bright tone for my three, with the predominant color being purple. I picked three nice colorways that fit this scheme, but I never imagined just how wonderful they would look when combined. My fellow knitting group member, Jacky, compared the colors to a spring rain shower, which is why I named the project the Spring Showers scarf. 

I am also really thrilled with the way my photos of the scarf turned out. I had to do some artful arranging to avoid showing mistakes, but I think that adds to the images I got. The first photo shows off the texture of the linen stitch, and I really love the bokeh on the fringe in the second photo!

There was one other project that got finished this week. This time it was a quick, one skein, Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth, started on Monday and finished on Wednesday. Sometimes you just need instant gratification!