Project Name: Ruffles Scarf
Designer: Amanda Blair Brown
Pattern Source: Scarf Style
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Silk
Yarn Source: Borealis Yarns
Date Started: 6/10/06
Date Completed: 7/18/06

Comments: I bought this yarn on sale at Borealis after admiring it for a few months. I absolutely love silk and this is a very luxurious yarn. It's similar to Fiesta La Luz. The colors are gorgeous and it's very soft. Like all silk, it does have a tendency to get fuzzy and look "worn" almost immediately. I've come to terms with that tendency and just accept it as the properties of this yarn, but it can really bug some people. It feels really amazing against your bare neck, though.

This scarf is shaped by continuous short rows. Because silk has no memory, the short rows did stretch out the stitches, so I think it would look more even in plain stockinette stitch. Two skeins was plenty to knit a nice and long scarf.

I knit this as part of the Project Spectrum knit along - a blue project for June. I like how it turned out and consider it a very versatile knit. You can wear it just hanging around the neck and looking pretty:

Or you can wrap it up:

Or throw it over your shoulder:

Project Name: Nora
Designer: Berroco
Pattern Source: Berroco Leaflet #224, Fashion Focus
Yarn: Berroco Cotton Twist
Yarn Source: Elann and Perfect Touch Yarns
Date Started: 5/11/06
Date Completed: 7/27/06

Comments: I bought this yarn from Elann a while ago and decided to knit it up for a Project Spectrum project for May (green). I needed a lot more yarn than the pattern called for and it was at Elann because it's a discontinued shade. Luckily, I found more at Perfect Touch Yarns and it was even the same dye lot. I bought more skeins than I needed at PTY, just to be on the safe side, so I pretty much doubled the cost of this project. Oh well, I'll be able to knit some cute baby stuff with the leftover yarn.

This yarn is beautiful, with a nice sheen and a drapey hand, but it really splits a lot. I'd use it again, though. I made the ribbing narrower because I don't need deep ribbing around my middle. I also changed how the sweater wraps. The model had a cute buckle that the wraps tied around, but I couldn't find anything like that. Wrapping the ties all the way around my middle was very unflattering - cutting me in half and looking very wide. So I ripped out a substantial length of the ties and just tied it on the side in the front.