This time I’m going to… Hey, what’s that?

This post was going to be all about the hat I started last night and how much fun it is, and how well it’s going, but then it stopped being fun for one tiny little second and I switched gears faster than a sixteen year old can wreck the mood at dinner.  I put down the hat, picked up a scarf and I haven’t been able to put it down.

lucyscarf1 2014-04-30

It’s the Emperor’s New Scarf, and the construction is fun and clever and easy (so far, there’s a bit of crochet at the end that I’m a little worried about. I’m not really bi-craftual) and from the minute I picked it up, I’ve been obsessed. Completely obsessed.  The yarn I’m using is Elsebeth Lavold Angora, and it’s totally discontinued, and Lucy and I stood there in StevenBe and absolutely agreed that three skeins would be enough and you’d think between the two of us we’d know that there’s a sub-rule of discontinued yarns that says that if only three skeins are available, three skeins will never be enough no matter what maths you do, and well… lucyscarf2 2014-04-30

Maybe it will be. Maybe.  I’ve got a bad feeling, and you know what you should do when you’re worried you don’t have enough yarn? Knit faster – like it’s possible to outrun the yardage, and that’s what I’m doing.  Maybe I can squeak a little more out of it if it all happens so fast the yarn doesn’t see it coming.

(PS. This is a rookie mistake. What can I tell you.  I was tired.)

67 thoughts on “This time I’m going to… Hey, what’s that?

  1. I can’t be sure from the picture, but if the color you’re using is Bronzed Green, I have 18 skeins of it. If you do run out, and if it is the same color, I’d be happy to part with a skein or two or three for you.

    • I took her class once and that’s exactly what I thought! Plus she can really, really read stitches. Even little tiny ones that are all wrong. (Don’t ask how I know.)

  2. I just looked at the yardage for the pattern. You think you’re going to have enough? Man – not to be a negative Nellie, I think you’re living in a dream

  3. No! It totally makes sense!! The faster you knit, the tighter your stitches are because you’re a little tense and therefore the less yarn you use. LOGIC FTW!

  4. I was thinking it would be cool to have a contrasting color on one end……then I read that it is knit sideways. #i’mnohelp

  5. I have just remembered that angora is typically put up in 25 gr. balls. I vote, quit now and plan a sweater for Myrie at Christmas.

  6. What colour do you need? I have a few skeins left over from the sweater I just finished. Mine’s a green somewhere between lime and olive.

  7. Its funny, I always try to knit faster when I’m nearing the end of my yarn for a project, but somehow end up going slow, like I’m going to magically grow more by moving slowly

  8. Oh, that is one great pattern. You always share the neatest stuff with us, thank you. I’m adding that scarf to my Ravelry favorites, and I don’t even like scarves much.

    I do hope you either have enough or can acquire enough yarn to finish it. Perhaps 1/2 in green with white edging and 1/2 in white with green edging? Sortof reminds me of the two black-and-white gentlemen in the Star Trek episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” (Yes, I had to look that up.)

  9. What’s life without a little adventure? The very first sock I ever made (it was the pretty lacey pattern in Knit Red) ran short of yarn just before I finished the toe! But hey, I learned how to make a sock, & the dreams of wearing pretty, lacey, crimson socks tucked in my Maryjanes to the bookstore was wonderful while it lasted. Sometimes you just need to knit more than you need the finished project. But that scarf is awesome! Nice pick!

  10. I love the pattern and will definitely be doing this. If you are feeling unsure about your neatness with the crochet chain the substitute method I use is to pick up and knit around, then when I come back to my first stitch I immediately cast off. This gives a result almost identical to crochet chain edging but is knitted. I feel I get a neater finish as I am a much better knitter than crocheter.

  11. can you weigh what you have left to see the proportion to what you’ve already done? (that’s what I do… that, and knit faster…)

  12. I am confident that all will be well. However, it is true that in the marvelous mayhem that is lunchtime at Steven Be’s emporium I didn’t take the time to look up and check the yardage in the pattern. All will be revealed when Stephanie reaches the halfway point of the pattern, which at her prodigious rate won’t be long. With fingers crossed in Chicago. Lucy
    PS. In the event of reaching the halfway point of the yarn before the halfway point of the pattern, you can always mirror image the holes at this time to assure sufficient yarn albeit a slightly narrower scarf!

  13. The “knit faster” theory is the same theory that propels us to drive faster when we’re low on gas and close to home! 😀 Love the scarf… can totally see why it won your attention..

    • I don’t drive faster when I think I might run out of gas, but I *always* turn off the radio in that situation — I guess running the radio must use extra gas… or at least that’s how my brain thinks!! 😉

        • Is that like waiting 5 minutes when you flip the breaker so all the electricity drains out of the wires? I do that. I don’t know why Durwood teases me about it, it makes perfect sense.

      • BTW, just before you run out of gas, if you step on the accelerator and the car slows down, you are just about out of gas. I’ve never run out but have been very, very close.

  14. Huh. I have three skeins of THAT VERY YARN in my stash. I’d hold on to them in case you need them but it isn’t the color you’re using. SO I will follow this closely to see if I can make the scarf with this. Have the pattern and am a bit concerned regarding the crochet as well.

  15. Nanette had a good suggestion for avoiding the crochet. Or you could just find a friend who likes to crochet and beg them to do that part for you. And it looks like you won’t have any problem obtaining more of that colour if you run out. It’s a very lovely scarf and a unique design.

  16. Sounds like a plan…I’d start searching (stalking) Rav to see if anybody is selling. Man, yarn is like crack when you really need some more! Ops! So did not mean to mention that for you up there in Toronto with your mayor!

    • Hey, Presbytera, remind me where else we recently saw a project where there was a bit of a yarn miscalculation? A different colour, though, right? Sort of a burnished, dark coppery colour? Linen, I think…

      I think we might need some good red wine, too.

    • Feet up– check. Wine in hand — check. Tip o’ the hat to Presbytera– check. (Sorry, been checking my sister out of the hospital for knee replacement — good for knitting, bad for reading. Glad SOMEone is driving. )

  17. That is such an intriguing pattern that I’m sure you’re gonna make it after all, even if it isn’t with that yarn! (Remember to throw your tam in the air the next time you’re in Minneapolis.)

  18. The authorities think that running the radio, the a/c, the fan, or the interior lights will use up gas, so you’re not alone.

    • I know that’s true for the A/C — not sure about the other, purely electrical stuff like the radio — however, I know the reason I turn off the radio if I might run out of gas is so that I can hear if the engine starts to sputter and know I have to pull over right away!

  19. Of course it’s a Lucy Neatby design! I was fortunate enough to take a day long class with Lucy several years ago at Yarns Etc. in Chapel Hill, NC. She is absolutely fantastic and I can’t believe how much I learned in one session. This one is going in my queue.

  20. It’s so nice to know that the knitting faster when the yarn is running low thing is so universal! I always love the blog, but the comments are great too! Must be a synergy thing we all have going!

  21. You’ll do great. We’re all a little bi-craftual. It’s a spectrum. I got nothing to help you with the yarn thing.

  22. I am bicraftual, and I can tell you that knitting and crochet have an awful lot in common. The most important thing is that they both involve dragging yarn through a hole of your own making to make a loop. It’s just that knitting uses two needles and crochet uses one hook. The rest is all plain simple mechanics, and instructions are easy to find.

  23. Reading all these comments makes me so happy….sometimes I feel pretty alone in my crafting obsessions. Have a great weekend, everybody!

  24. Love that you instantly got help re the number of skeins there. And I’m laughing that your verification test requires that you either type fast (if you dragged the airplane before the comment) or retype more succinctly.

  25. Last time I tried that I needed literally a yard of yarn to finish a Semele! So now I need to make another lovely grasshopper green something out of a skein of Tosh sock with 1 yard missing. This time it will be an end to end pattern I can fudge.

  26. Clicked to see the scarf pattern, what a fun looking scarf, looking forward to seeing the finished project. Oh and teenagers, meh, they turnout alright, eventually !!!

  27. My Dearest Stephanie,
    At Stevenbe, discontinued is only a state of mind, Hard to tell from a picture but I’m pretty confident we have more if you need it.

    most sincerely,
    Michael – Stevenbe Inventory Ninja

    • Your comment had me laughing from the start. I think I have to persuade my husband to make your store our next vacation destination.

  28. I bought that pattern two years ago at Blackberry Ridge, enticed right out of my comfort zone. Maybe not, however, as it still sit sun knit with some lovely yarn in my yarn cabinet.
    Good luck on “enough”!

  29. That pattern is incredible. Way beyond my abilities. I’m looking forward to seeing your finished results. Even though it’s something I wouldn’t try, I can totally see how it would be addictive. Running out of yarn isn’t necessarily a tragedy; that’s when it’s time to get creative. Good luck.

  30. I just experienced this same problem….and turned to Ravelers to bail me out. I found two people who had partial skeins left of the yarn I’m using and sent them a message promising money, yarn trades, or gifted patterns, and both of them responded that they’d send me the yarn as a “pay it forward”, not even allowing me to pay their postage. Knitters are awesome.

  31. I really love reading your posts, as do your other legions of fans. So please, the correct grammar is, “how embarrassing it would be for both Lucy and me if this didn’t work”, because you would otherwise say, “how embarrassing it would be for me if this didn’t work,” wouldn’t you?

  32. oh – same problem, different solution. i’m currently slowing everything down on a project (also a scarf) with a finite amount of (discontinued) yarn (rowan scottish tweed dk). my approach is to eke as much knitting out over as long a period as possible – bit of denial there – like i do when the diesel in my car is running out and i drive more efficiently, i.e. slower, to improve my “miles to the gallon” (or stitches to the meter) stats. i’m currently knitting barely a row a night (nearly wrote “knight” there), but the truth shines through every morning. it’s not going to be enough.

  33. Loving that word “bi-craftual”! You never cease to amaze with your knitterly language, Steph 🙂
    Hope you do manage to finish it though, it looks lovely!

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