A Good Frog

Pardon me for letting this Frog Tree Alpaca get into this sock yarn stash photo. This is not sock yarn! This is lovely, delicate stuff born to be some lace. However, I used it to make some dainty little gloves, seen here. This is a new pattern for Figheadh--just a simple cable glove. I had too much fun working them up, but the alpaca puzzled me at times. If I had gotten a sharper detail of the palms...





you could have seen the slight laddering between needles #1 & #2, a problem I don't usually have. This yarn is less forgiving, and even the k2 p2 rib is a little wonky for it (you CAN see that). I am sure these little imperfections could be smoothed by blocking, but I have no glove blockers at present. I would love to find some mannequin hands when Fred & I go antiquing next month. If I do, I'll be sure to show and tell. I also plan to do my next gloves on 2 circulars, at least until the finger parts. My background here is a little garter stitch keyhole scarf I did last year with Plymouth Alpaca Boucle in color #20. It turned out perfectly matched to the little gloves! The scarf is a tad scratchy, but these gloves are soft & warm.


Now, since the Frog Tree seemed perfect for lace, and I still had about 230 yards left from the gloves (which only took about 200 yards), I cast on one of the samples in a set for another new pattern. I am experimenting with a fairly simple lace scarf knit in four different weights & fibers. Really having fun with this one--so much fun that I finally gave myself permission to splurge and try the Muench Touch Me I've been eyeing and fondling for months. Luscious. What more can I say? But back to the Frog. Already, in this lace project, the Frog Tree is behaving differently--more sproingy & definitely a candidate for blocking because of scrunching up. With the glove project, the stitches got too stretched out and loose. The gloves were knit on size 2's and I am just using the same ones for this little scarf, as you can see. This yarn likes my Crystal Palace bamboos better than my other fave--Addi turbo circs. The alpaca needs the bamboo to grab hold--it kept slipping off the Addi's.

As for random life comments, I think I charmed the weather with my last post. After complaining about all the rain here, later that very day it cleared up and we actually got sunshine! Yes, the sun came back for a somewhat brief visit. He was with us most of yesterday as well. Today, however, I think he slipped out of town under cover of fog. Love the fog, though. Great for knitting! I think I'll go make some oatmeal for breakfast, get a cup of tea, put on the Celtic music and get back to the Mavis Scarf project & finishing a sweetheart of a felted tote (another future show & tell!)

Figheadh Sona Dhut!