New projects out of old[ish] yarn

It's so sad that as a crafting/knitting/crocheting blog, I have a distinct lack of photos. I even have a digital camera now....what can I say? Call me lazy, I guess. :P

Anyway, as my star blanket reached critical mass and became too large/bulky to carry around with me in my [new] purse, I started thinking about how to use up the yarn in my stash. Actually, I started out by looking at the patterns in my Queue and thought about what I could make with the yarns already in my stash.

Athenian Scarf in broomstick lace

I've been wanting to make something in broomstick lace, and even if I couldn't start the Hourglass Jacket, there was an Athenian Scarf that looked very nice and basic. To figure out a yarn for this scarf, I thought about the qualities of the original scarf that I liked. What was it that drew me to the scarf?

• Bold stitch definition
• The way the broomstick part crosses
• Solid coloring

With this I could determine what yarns in my stash would be able to fulfill these qualities. I wouldn't use any of my laceweight yarn. I wouldn't use any variegated yarns either. I wouldn't use the fuzzy yarns. I also had to make sure I had enough to make a scarf with. In the end I decided to use my Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends in Peony (pink). I had 2 balls of this, in case I needed that much. Each ball is rather large to begin with, and the yarn is a bulky 2-ply. Although slightly fuzzy because the plies are loosely spun, it's got a very nice luster to it and has nice definition. The effect is slightly different from the original Athenian Scarf in which an 8-ply yarn was used (Debbie Bliss Cathay).

My only issue with the way it's turning out so far is that I would prefer the broomstick loop part to be a little more open. The holes seem a little too small right now, but I don't have a knitting needle large enough to achieve this. I may stop by Michael's today to pick one up. Alternatively, I could create my own "broomstick", loop holder thingy out of paper taped together to be stiff. I do have plenty of that lying around on my desk.

My So-Called Scarf, a slip-stitch pattern

I've wanted to create something that utilizes a slip-stitch based pattern. Slip-stitches show off variegated yarns beautifully, and they add texture and stitch definition while still looking refined. I could be pulling all of that out of my ass, but it sounds better than saying "slip-stitch purty!" It's actually a stitch pattern from a pattern book, repeated in scarf shape, but distributed by the people at the store, Imaginknit, in San Francisco. The pattern can now be found on their website at here.

Looking over everyone else's photos of this scarf on Ravelry, I came up with a few guidelines for myself regarding the yarn for this scarf.

• Single ply
• Shine factor (from silk, soy, bamboo, etc.)
• Multi-colored (striping or variegated)
  

I decided on using my Paton SWS. Since I only have 1 ball of Natural Crimson left, I may turn that into a skinnier scarf. People seemed to typically use 2-3 balls of Paton SWS for their scarves. I may use my Natural Pink with this pattern as well, alternating the rows to create a sort of mixed up striping pattern.