Knitting Disaster and a New Project

I currently have one wool jacket - it's a wonderful jacket that nets a whole whack of compliments and "I gotta get one"s. It keeps me comfortably warm in temperatures ranging from -5 to -30 (Celcius, mind you). There's only one draw back - it's red and black. Which means that half the sweaters in my closet either clash or make me look like a Christmas tree. 

So, I decided to get a black wool jacket - it'll be a bit longer, but it'll be solid black. That means it's a more professional looking jacket with more colours to match with it. In light of that, I wanted to make a new scarf - a thin, stockinet-stitch scarf. For those unfamiliar with stockinette stitch, it's a stitch in knitting (it looks like a whole bunch of little 'v's).

After watching some amazing videos from Howcast - a great little website with a whole bunch of how-to videos for everything from crafting to relationships to life hacks - I caught up on my knitting and grabbed my knitting needles and the spare yarn I had from my first ever scarf (a long, wide black-and-white block scarf). 

How to Knit the Purl Stitch - Howcast video by user Chez_Kimberly

(I highly recommend her videos if you are just starting out knitting. They are so well-made and the instructions are clear and simple.)

I thought that I had quite a lot of yarn left over - I mean, it was a huge mass of yarn, but it turns out it was far from enough.

My new thin black scarf ran to the end of it's string about three-feet in. It's long enough to make a really stubby scarf, but I want to be able to wrap it around a few times, so I'm going to have to scrap it. However, that gives me the chance to pursue another project!

Project Details

Name: Simplistic

Type: Knitted Armwarmers

Needle Size: US 10

Yarn: Red Heart Soft Touch Black

Complexity: Basic

The inspiration for this project is The Running Yarn's Free Pattern - Punk Rock Corset Gloves. But because I only have a bit of yarn, and I'm not yet experienced enough to attempt to make those awesome looking gloves - I'm going to experiement with the stockinette stitch. 

While I was knitting my unknowingly-doomed scarf, I noticed that the stockinette stitch curled inwards. I had read that it would happen, but I thought that it would simply roll up and in on itself. Instead, my scarf rolled into a sort of thin tube. As I was knitting the scarf, I stumbled on the Corset Gloves, and I was struck with an idea.

I would make simple stockinet armwarmers - with thumbholes! Everyone loves thumbholes, right? Yeah! And then I saw the corset style stitches on the Corset Gloves and I was sold. So, the basic plan is to knit only one armwarmer (I've only got that much yarn) and knit it in all stockinette so that it has a natural curl to it, leave a gap on one side of the warmer and stitch in the corset stitches to make it look awesome - and to secure the warmer.

Here's to hoping it works! I'll post the entire process to The Presses once it's finished - I promise pictures!

Ah, then I can do my Knitting Squidoo Lens at the same time! Yes!

Waste Not, Want Not!

Cheers,

Clarise