Back after Summer Hiatus

I know that its been a while since I've last blogged, but that's because I've previously made the decision to put down my knitting for the Summer. The hot, humid weather that blows through Charlotte, seeing as it sits in a big valley of sorts and that kind of weather just settles in, made knitting next to impossible, and frustrating to no end.

Since I don't handle frustration well, I just gave up until the cooler fall weather would settle in, which it has, hence my resuming my blogging. I am still working on that lavender garter stitch scarf, and have since picked up a new UFO from Knit One, Stitch Too, my LYS. Its another garter stitch scarf, but this time, its made out of a cotton/acrylic yarn blend that has many different blues in it. The yarn is just gorgeous, and reminds me of the ocean, with the aquas, and deep navy blues it has . In case you want to drool over it too, here is a picture!

Can't you just feel the ocean breeze?

And for those of you who have been wondering where my original work is, and what it looks like now, well, wonder no longer!

I've since learned that blocking one's FO (Finished Object) is a must, to make it look more uniform, neat and to correct tension issues in the work. I've asked my mother about blocking and she says she'll teach me how once I am done with the lavender scarf, which is what I am working on now, more so than the blue scarf. Since I am using acrylic yarn for this scarf, I have to block it a little differently than if it were made out of wool or cotton. I'll need to use steam to block it out, and hopefully I won't kill the yarn. That's when you steam it to death and it looses all its elasticity. It is, however, a desired look sometimes, but not for this scarf!

 I'll get into that in more detail in my next post where I will show how to block work made out of acrylic yarn.

One other thing I am considering, is buying a set of interchangeable circular needles, and I think I've found the set I want. I found the set on Amazon (Knitter's Pride Trendz Deluxe Set), which are acrylic, much like my straight needles. I find that as I learn more about knitting, that I will need a good circular needle set to make things like sweaters, cowls, and other projects that have a lot of stitches in them. I plan on making my chihuahua, Noelle, a sweater one of these days, after I get done with a scarf, or both (or not). Again, I'll post about that in the future.

Well, now my right hand fingers feel this sensation of the yarn still being in them, I guess you could call it phantom knitter's hand? I don't know, but they are itching to get back to knitting. So, I guess I'll finish up here and resume my bouncing between knitting and browsing Ravelry and other knitting sites.