Knitty FOs: Yorick and a Knuck

Over the weekend I finished and felted my yorick scarf and embroidered my one knuck (still need to make the other).

Pattern: Yorick by Kate Kuckro
Yarn: 1 full skein (I used every last inch) of Cascade 220 in #8011 Light Grey
Needles: #10 1/2. The pattern calls for #8 but I wanted to make sure the stitches weren't too visible after felting)

Notes: This project went really quickly, especially since I used larger needles. For some reason when I made the first skull my brain kept screwing up and forgetting to do all of the increases/decreases in a row so I kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches and had to rip back. So I definitely started counting my stitches at the end of every row.

Felting: I felted this by hand in my sink and bathtub (we live in an apartment building and the washers are sort of expensive). I had very hot soapy water (dish soap) in the bathtub and ice water in the sink, and I would switch back and forth between the two pretty often. I also used a wash cloth to speed along the felting. I ended up felting it over two nights, in part because after it dried the first time there was still quite a bit of stitch definition (it's hard to tell when it's wet). But damn are my forearms strong now.

Before felting it was about 66" long (I'm guessing because it was longer than my tape measure) and afterwards it's 59" long.

Oops: I realized when I went to sew the two ends together that when I made the second half I ended up with one more stitch than the first half. But after felting I can't tell the difference.

Things I would change if I knit it again: As is habit for me, I slipped the first stitch of every row, and the next time around I wouldn't do that because it made a weird ridge on each side on the back of the scarf (because the slipped stitches tend to curl around to the back). I tried my best to get rid of the ridges but I couldn't, but it's not really that big of a deal.

I think it goes well with Johnny Cash.



Pattern: Knucks by Pamela Grossman
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style in Hollyberry
Needles: 2 16in #4 circulars

Notes: This was another quick knit. As other people have said the only annoying part is knitting all of the fingers. I still have to make the other one. I suck.

The design I embroidered on it is the symbol of the air nation from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I suppose the fire nation symbol would be more appropriate for the color of the yarn but oh well.



Here it is next to one of my passionflower vines (passiflora belotii) that bloomed the other day.