Sheep On My Stuff

Scarves are a constant last-minute Christmas gift. They're fast, they're easy, I can crank out one in an afternoon. This year, I'd actually been knitting scarves to use up the last of my Wool-Ease since the summer. I thought this was a brilliant plan -- I'd be done before Christmas hit!

I think I sent out only one of my pre-made scarves. Oh well.

So here are the scarves I finished in the last month or so:

* * * * *
Yarn used, from first to last: Patons Soy Wool in "Natural Earth", 3 skeins (primarily because I wanted to match colors seamlessly), size 4mm needles.  Schaefer Yarns' "Little Lola" in Georgia O'Keefe, 1 skein, size 4mm needles.  Lion Brand Wool-Ease Sprinkes, Green Heather, 5mm needles.  Cascade 220 Quattro, 2 skeins (with lots of leftovers), size 4mm needles.  Cascade 220 Superwash, 1 skein, 5mm needles.  Patons Classic Merino in Forest, 1 skein, 4mm needles.

Lest you think these are all the scarves I'm working on, I also have one "traveling" knitting project on needles and one garter stitch scarf I'm doing as a meditation/knitting project.  Oh, and I finished another scarf, whose picture has not made it into this colleection.

The stitch patterns: Farrow rib, 2x2 rib, garter, 2x2 rib with pompoms, broken rib, 2x2 rib. The traveling project is triple rib.

The sheep who are being so kind as to model my projects are, from first to last: ÜnterSchëpenfloppen, a Steiff sheep from Las Vegas; Twinkle Sheep, who has a wind-up music box in her back; Agnes, from the Auckland International Airport; Sweetest Softest Lambie, from Bath and Body Works in the Redmond Town Center; Lavender Sheep, an aromatherapy sheep with a warmable pouch in her tummy, from the Discovery Channel Store in Bellevue, WA (before it closed); and Woolo, who hails from somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. All of these are cherished parts of my sheep collection. :)

Scarves are awesome for travel knitting. A pair of needles, a ball of yarn, and I'm off to the races. I can crank out one in an afternoon (the finished one not shown here is one of those), and they often don't require a lot of attention. A 2x2 rib scarf is a perfect thing to take to the movies; the last of those scarves was knit almost entirely during "I Am Legend". (No, I don't need light to knit by for a project like that.)

I travel-knit when I'm out to eat, when I'm at the movies, when I'm over at a friend's house, when I'm on a long car ride, on the bus, or any other time I know I'm going to need to fill more than a few minutes. The only trouble with using scarves for this is that it tends to leave me with a lot of new projects, which sort of goes against my New Year's goal. Still, I've been keeping that goal, having finished four projects, thrown out one WIP I was never going to finish, and started only... counting the travel knitting, right?... five. I'm at parity!

Giving myself permission to toss WIPs I'll never finish is really handy. I'm hoping to do more of that in the upcoming weeks. Who knows -- it might clear out enough of my stash closet to get the yarn currently living on the craft room sofa into the closet itself. Maybe. >_> <_<

Five recently finished projects and some chat about them:
1.
Yarn used: Wool-Ease, 80% acrylic/20% wool.

"Hoosier Fan Scarf", as modeled by Not-A-Blanket Sheep. One ball of Cranberry and Fisherman Wool-Ease, this was part of the ongoing Get That Wool-Ease Out Of My Stash And Make Christmas Presents Early For A Change project. The scarf is about 6' long and was made on 10mm needles (from Lantern Moon, which are beautiful and nice but damn, they got heavy in the long run).

Not-A-Blanket Sheep is one I picked up in my local yarn store, Ben Franklin. I was in the checkout line when someone behind me pointed at him and said "You're not going to cut him up and make him into a blanket, are you?", sounding very defensive of the sheep. Horrified, I clutched the sheep to me! "No!" She seemed satisfied.

2.
Yarn used: Wool-Ease, 80% acrylic/20% wool.

"Stripey Hat", as modeled by Godiva Sheep. 5mm needles. Leftover bits of Dk. Rose Heather and Rose Heather Wool-Ease, part of the abovementioned project. Coordinates with a scarf I finished recently.

Godiva Sheep was picked up at a Barnes & Noble in the U-District after one Easter. It originally came with a small package of chocolate which I did not eat, because at the time I was clearly insane.

3.
Yarn used: Wool-Ease, 80% acrylic/20% wool.

"Blue And Navy Ragg Scarf", as modeled by Deathbleat. The scarf is simple, 2x2 rib on 5mm needles.

You may be wondering how such a cute sheep got the name "Deathbleat". Deathbleat was (is, if I ever return to it) my first-person shooter name. This was the sheep who sat on my lap while I played such games -- she was new and cute and cuddly and who doesn't like to have a sheep in their lap while they flak their friends to death? (Don't answer that. I know, I know...) Anyway, her name according to the manufacturer is not very dignified*, so I rechristened her Deathbleat. She continues to keep me company when I play violent video games.

4.
Yarn used: Lily Sugar'n Cream, standard kitchen cotton.

"Random Dishcloths", as modeled by Not-Blankets-Either Lambs. This is pretty self-explanatory. The lambs were found at the same Ben Franklin, only this time I picked up both the one with pink hooves and the one with blue hooves.

5.
Yarn used: Lily Sugar'n Cream, standard kitchen cotton.

"Finished Half-Pique Washcloth", as modeled by Gund Sheep With Rattle. I'm still not that thrilled with this washcloth, but I will pawn it off on someone for Christmas. The sheep is one of the ones that tends to live on or around my desk, and he has a rattle in his tummy, making him very difficult to pose!

* "Jiggles".