On to New Projects!

I love casting on a new project!  Now that I am done with my wedding blanket, I can cast on new projects without guilt. 

I've started a Gathered Scarf, which is funny enough called "Gathered Scarf for your Mother-in-Law (or not)", since it's for my boyfriend's mother for Christmas.  It's a nice, easy, fun knit.  I got through one of five balls of yarn in just a weekend, although I then had to frog half of it out because it was bunching the wrong way.  Here is a picture of the front so far:

Here is a picture of the back.  Here you can see why I couldn't just leave it when the scarf started to bunch the wrong way.  It looks like you can just push the ruffles back, but you can't.  

I am using Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Plum Wine.  I have five skeins set aside, and measuring what I have done, that will be plenty.

I have also started another "Surrounded" blanket!  I'm glad that I still enjoy this pattern enough to make another blanket!  This time, though, it's a baby blanket.  I just found out that someone I know is about six weeks along, so I'm not going to say who it is, but I've started a blanket for the baby.  It will be about one-fourth of the size of the wedding blanket I made, and since I understand the pattern I will have less trouble knitting it.  I'm making it out of Bernat Baby Coordinates in Iced Mint.  I have three skeins, and will need a fourth, but I'm not afraid of not being able to get the yarn.  Here is a picture of my beginnings:

It begins with an i-cord cast-on, which looks difficult, but really isn't.  The only advice I can give when doing this pattern is to make sure not to make the i-cord too tight for the convenience of picking up the stitches for the first row.  It shouldn't be very loose, but I'm a tight knitter, so when someone tells me to make sure it's tight, it's TIGHT!  That made the first row very difficult to do.  Now that I'm past that obstacle, it's smooth sailing now!

Here is a close-up of the cast on edge:

I also made sure to use stitch markers to mark both when I cast on, and then later my stitches in the pattern, so it is set up as before.  This helped a lot when I was trying to count out over 100 i-cord rows and stitches.  


Happy Knitting!


Emily