Ravellenic ruffles!

First, a little history. Last year at almost exactly this time (July 30) I went to one of my favourite yarn shops for their annual big sale. Usually when I have disposable income during these sales I go a few times and pick up all sorts of stuff I never would have really bothered with just to try it out. On my last visit of the sale I saw a sample of Frill Seeker knit up into one of those ruffle scarves I had been seeing everywhere. 

I. Love. Ruffles. 

So naturally I picked up a skein. They didn't really have a lot of colours left so I picked up a blue. I'm not too big of a fan of blue but I just wanted to play around with it and see if I liked it. 

As soon as I get home I cast on for my beautiful ruffle scarf. Well I tried. After several attempts I eventually gave up and went to the internet for a video. And several hours later I had this:

Pattern: Frill Seeker Scarf  [Helpful video]

Yarn: Estelle Frill Seeker [1 skein colourway Q50905, 65 yards]

Needle size: 6mm

Ravelry Project Page: Ruffles!

Dates: 7/30/11-7/30/11

This is an incredibly fast scarf to make. Sort of. The actual knitting is a breeze once you get the hang of it and into the rhythm. The part that I hate is the yarn. It's kind of a net. And it rolls in on itself. And it gets twisted coming off of the skein after a while. So I spent most of my time pulling it apart and untwisting it as I was knitting. But it's a very quick gift idea and I do plan on making a bunch. 

I didn't really know what I was doing and you can easily tell if you look at it close enough (fortunately it's very forgiving) One end is significantly tighter and less flouncy than the other. My preferred method of deciding when to make the next stitch is pulling on the yarn with my left hand until it can't really comfortably go any further left (about two inches) and then sticking it on the needle. Very scientific, I know. Most people go with every inch or your thumb length. 

So fast forward a year:

I decided to start off this Ravellenics with something really quick to kick me into production mode. After my mother saw my first ruffle scarf she commented on it A LOT. Which means "Please make me one" So I got the yarn for it for last Christmas and *mumble mumble* didn't quite get around to it. 

Pattern: Frill Seeker Scarf

Yarn: Estelle Frill Seeker [1 skein Q50908, 65 yards]

Needle size: 6mm

Ravelry Project Page: Frill Seeker Scarf

Dates: 7/27/12-7/27/12 (7:04 PM EST)

Ravellenic Events: Scarf Hockey, Single Skein Sprint, Holiday Hurdles

Ravellenic project count: 1

So learning from last year, before I cast on I thought "Hey! I'm going to pre-stretch out the yarn and then wind it into a bobbin so it'll be easier to knit!" and then I didn't. So I probably spent an hour just fiddling with the yarn. I'd knit a row, untwist, stretch out. Knit a row, untwist, stretch out. Until finally I could see the end of the yarn. i was getting a little bored  frustrated so I ended up making the ruffles a lot looser towards the end. You can't really notice it though. Or at least that's what I tell myself. 

Black ruffles are hard to photograph =(

Also at the veeery beginning of this project I'm happily knitting away (this is before things started getting twisty and frustrating) and then...it stops. The yarn just stops. I cannot stretch it out anymore because for about four yards it's split right down the middle of the netting into two. At this point I had just started so instead of dealing with cutting the yarn and then reattaching it when it went back to normal I just cut my losses and started over. If this had been my first experience with this yarn I probably wouldn't have bothered with a second time. Also fortunately one skein gives more than enough for a scarf so it's not too bad. Just a little annoying.

As I'm knitting this I'm reminded of a skirt my niece has. it looks exactly like this scarf except in a skirt...and I really really want it but I don't know if I can knit with this yarn for that long. I also anticipate a size 18/20 skirt would be really heavy in this yarn. Research will be done.

So there we have it. My first project in the Games was completed just three hours after the opening ceremonies.