Knitting wise...

Made good progress on the Persuasion Scarf this week. Knitted every day on the subway--saw the poster I wrote about last time--to and from work. I'm almost done the first half. It's knit in 2 pieces then grafted together in the center. This allows the design to flow down both sides of the scarf when worn. Luckily I have not had to depend on the life line yet, although I keep moving it up every 6 rows--just in case.

The lace bug has really hit me this time and as of last night I have 2 more lace projects on the needles! I decided not to work on the scarf on weekends since I'm on it every day during the week. Therefore I need something else for weekend knitting, right?

I wanted to look for a lace scarf pattern suitable for a man and lo! I found one. It's called Quercus alba and it's designed by Renata Brenner who is a biologist so I feel assured that the oak leaves in this pattern are the real deal. I love oak leaves and acorns. I remember collecting some when I was a child and pressing them (the leaves) between waxed paper. The yarn I'm using is Cascade 220 (Peruvian highland wool) in color No. 9445 which is a green/orange mix but has an overall brownish look. I'm excited at the prospect of ending up with a lace scarf suitable for myself.

I'm also making a table mat based on the Brighton Lace Doily pattern which appears in Nicky Eptein's Knitting For Your Home. It is illustrated in crochet thread but I'm taking it to a funkier place. With larger needles (size 8) and a colorful lumpy-bumpy cotton, I'm hoping my resulting mat will be large enough to use as a centerpiece. I think it will. 11 rows done since last night and it doesn't look like much yet:

I wouldn't do this one, with this yarn, without a life line. Whereas I've been clear of major difficulties on the scarf, I have had to rely on this one's life line once already! Had to frog back 2 or 3 rows late last night.

This funky yarn has advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side: Because the color segments are relatively short I get many different colored loops on the needles and this is quite handy when slip-knit-knit-psso'ing: the slipped stitch is usually a different color! On the minus side the lumps and bumbs can be hard to pass through the loops, but not impossible. Also, since the yarn is quite textured it takes a more careful look to see exactly what kind of stitch I have to undo--when I have to undo a stich or two--there will be more before I'm through. I'm sure.

This is a fun one and won't take too long to finish. I may afterward knit one in crochet cotton just for the record, and if I like it, I'll make a set.

With all this knitting and music making (started Suzuki book 3 for cello last week, yippee! and started Liszt's Liebestraum on the piano this week) I felt in need of a walk this afternoon. I leave this post with these few pics from my neighborhood springtime juant... enjoy... (and if you open Liebestraum in a new window and get that going, then come back to browse through these few pics while the music is going, the effect is quite nice!)...