LYS Super Bowl Sale Part 2

I stopped in at Unwind yesterday to see how they were recuperating from the big sale, and to order some of Sweet Georgia's hot red Slayer sock yarn. Yes, I am/was a big BTVS fan, and I've got all the DVDs.) Stephanie said she rang up over 150 sales that day, and it was not until 4:30 that the checkout line was temporarily empty. Yay! I love Unwind and I'm glad it's thriving. Stephanie had a raffle for those who contributed to the Half the Sky charity, and I was one of the winners! I won a copy of Knitting Out of Africa, a lovely book, with beautiful and intricate patterns.

Ahem. Blush. Astonishingly, she had not sold out all of the half-price yarns, so I took a look, since I had not looked at those yarns at the sale. I have no resistance to yarn at a big discount, y'know. I picked up some Encore for $3/skein, two shades of tan for Operation Gratitude, a local group that is sending warm caps to the soldiers. Plus two pretty pinks, a deep rose and a paler shade, which will be caps for the foster kids' group my charity group supports. I also fell for some of Cascade's Cloud 9 wool/angora mix in a great lavender, which will be a vest, perhaps, for our only DGD-by-love, who didn't get a knitted gift for Christmas. I'm glad there's a little girl to knit for, especially since she loves pinks and purples. ;-) The photo of the browns, which are sort of mocha. is color-truer than the pinks. The Cloud 9 is not; it's a true pale lavender, not a pinky shade. Your monitor may vary.

I finished the little shawl I was making from Lang's Mille Colori yarn (thanks, Curlerchik!) and blocked it yesterday. I wanted it to be proportionally wider than the usual 2:1 ratio, and I couldn't find a pattern I liked. Fiber Trends' Versatile Scarves pattern was close, but I didn't want quite that much curve - the pattern comes out in a sort of 'angelfish' shape. The Shape It! Scarf from Sally Melville's 'The Knit Stitch' was also close, but still not quite right. So I improvised, and I'm pleased with the result, though it's still not quite as wide as I had in mind.

About the 2:1 ratio, for those of you who don't know what I mean: usually a simple shawl's proportions are that it is approximately twice as wide across the shoulders as it is deep from shoulder to the point. When you start it from the shoulder, generally you make one increase at either side, and two in the center, often on each side of a stitch or two, with the increases only on the right side. This makes a nice eyelet design along the triangular edges and up the middle. When you start it from the point and want the eyelets in the middle, you decrease to offset the yarnovers.

To get a wider shawl, I knitted the 2:1 ratio for 4-5 inches, then began making increases at the sides on both the right and wrong sides. This turned into a shape somewhat similar to the Versatile Scarves pattern, which is achieved by knitting on separate sections at the top. You could also get this design by short rows, I think. Measured along the entire top edge, this is 40in, with a depth of 18in. If you measure straight across the top, it's 33in. I used 2 skeins of yarn, about 200yds. This is color 06. There are shades of lavender, green, teal, and brown. The second skein had only a little bit of lavender, but I don't find it to be obvious, since the additional width makes the color sections run only a row or two. Now that I've knitted this, I think I'd have been just as well off to have used the Versatile Scarves pattern. But, y'know, I've learned something I may use in the future.

Today I'm going to start learning mattress stitching, sewing up my Ribby Cardi. Send positive thoughts, please??