Marble Scarf

I found this yarn in San Antonio last summer, when I was visiting Froggy.  At the time, I was thinking that it might make a good scarf but it was such a fantastic yarn that I bought it without really knowing what I wanted to make.  It was $13 for the skein, which is a little higher than some yarns but in the grand scheme of yarn-related things, it's not a bad price.  It was a larger ball and in colors that I don't normally wear - oranges & pinks mostly, with some blue, lavender and cream colors.  But it was very soft and fluffy and I knew it was coming home with me as soon as I saw it.  I have since seen the brand in the local yarn specialty store, but they don't have a large selection of it and didn't have any colors I really liked.  Yesterday, I finally made up my mind and decided that yes, it was going to be a scarf.  I made it in one day, it took me a couple of hours and my shoulders & hands are still sore and cramped - but it was so worth it!  I haven't fringed the ends and I'm not sure that I'm going to.  I still have plenty of this yarn left.

This is the yarn, after I made the scarf.  It's hard to tell the size, but there is still quite a bit left.  Sorry that it's blurry, it's also on the brown leather couch so it might not look as bright as it actually is.

It's the "standard" size I make, about 60" long.  5 rows, triple stitch.

A close-up of the stitches, again sorry it's blurry!

The yarn is by James C. Brett.  Brett uses a number as opposed to a color name, this one is MC4.  Brett is based in Yorkshire, as in England.  I'm not sure, but I think the yarn is a relatively new yarn to this country.  Or at least I haven't seen it before.  I found it in SA months before I ever saw it in my area.

The specific style is Marble, chunky weight.  It's 100% acrylic, but it feels like silk.  It's about the softest yarn I've ever found that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and works well with crochet, although I think it's probably intended for knitting.  It's machine washable, which is nice since some yarns just don't work in the washing machine.  It's lovely and I'm seriously considering using it for the afghan I have planned for the (very) near future.

Black & White Crocheted Scarf

 A while back, the middle of the summer actually, Otter asked me to make her another scarf.  After several trips to look at yarn, she finally decided on black & white.  But she wanted sideways stripes instead of lengthwise.  I started the scarf and then realized that I'd forgotten to count stitches and after several rows of black & white color changes, I wound up frogging the entire thing and starting over.  And this time, I made sure that my rows were al lthe same size!  It was a pretty basic mistake, but it meant that Bill's blanket would be getting some black & white yarn on it since I now had several pieces of black & white yarn in varying but small sizes.  Here's the finished result of the second attempt:

Close up of the stitches.  There are 15 across and it's 3 rows of each color.  Well, it was supposed to be - a few of the sets are actually more than three rows because I wasn't paying attention!

This picture was taken before I got finished tailing it.  Tailing means that all the little end tails are woven back into the body of the piece so that they don't show.  Tailing sometimes takes longer than the actual work to make the piece, especially with small sections like this.

A slightly better close up of the stitches.  It's all single stitch which is fast and easy, but smaller.  Otter didn't want fringe on this one.  I enjoyed making it, but I prefer the lengthwise, triple stitch scarf that I usually make.  Just because it's easier!  But I did enjoy this one and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Once I got my brain engaged, that is.