Knitting Marathon

Besides a couple of trips to visit my mom in Phoenix, we made an overnight visit to Palm Springs. Sadly, another bookstore there was closing. In the back was some artwork. I noticed this rolled cloth and took it out. It's simplicity, bright colors and skilled tapestry weaving drew me. But I put it back, because there was no price and I figured that it would cost about $300-350.  It kept calling to me. So, I took it up the cashier. $40. The cashier/store owner tells me this was made by a 70-ish weaver from Jocotepec, Jalisco, Mexico, by the name of Leticia Seniara. I hope the owner remembers to relay my appreciation and respect and thanks.

With all that driving, there was knitting. A knitting marathon. My daughter's friend has been asking "where's mine" for Years. Because part of the proceeds for this particular design goes to PBS, I ordered a kit instead of just buying the pattern. What I didn't realize, was that this pattern was sized for a child. 42 inches long is just not adequate for an adult. I didn't know if there was enough yarn in the kit to lengthen the bird's body, so this is the second one I made.

While I was waiting for the kit, I got this pattern online from the same company. My daughter's friend was planning on visiting her in a month. So, I thought I had plenty of time to finish the coat and two...make that three scarves. Oh, but did I say that I'd run out of yarn for the coat? And after calling all of the yarn stores in California and Nevada and Arizona that carry this yarn, we ended up driving an hour each way down to Long Beach. Luckily, the dye lot they had was close enough to do for the plackets and scarf. But the scarf with two purple and one multicolor braid, or even the other way around, had the look of "Oh, you ran out of yarn?" So, I went back to the first yarn store and bought another skein of the multicolor.

Now, let's talk buttonholes. Vertical? Horizontal? Vertical goes with plackets, horizontal doesn't pull. I knitted up samples of both. Vertical was more work and looked like a gaping hole. Horizontal  looked like a cut in the fabric. Then, I had a lightbulb moment. Can you see it? At the top of the buttonhole, I twisted the stitches like for cable! This solves the problem of gaping and mirrors the pattern!

Just a little FYI here, I don't knit the plackets and then attach them. I attach them as I knit them. I knit the last stitch of every other placket row together with one edge stitch on the garment. It's invisible on the right side and not as boring as knit 10, turn, knit 10, turn, etc. And if I've marked my button holes, it's a whole lot easier getting them in the right place, too. Since I wasn't a fan of the attached, braided scarf (and what happens if I run out of yarn after I've attached it to the hood and am on the second side of the scarf), I decided to continue button holes onto the hood placket. This way it can be worn with or without.

Just to make things more fun, there were only three of these perfect buttons at the store. My husband (bless him for the enabler he is) said to go ahead and order the other five I'd need. Have I said how much I appreciate JoAnne Fabrics coupons? These buttons were $12 each!

Finished! The eggplant color is pretty close, but the scarf is NOT! It has orange and khaki and other red-head colors. It is Not this raspberry ish.

Her smile is the Best part of this picture!