busy weekend, and nice weather at that.
In between sock knitting and starting up with the lacey mitts I've had in my knitting bag a project that I started with some yarn that I picked up in Alaska. In August of 2005 we went on a one week Holland American cruise leaving Vancouver, BC.
Throughout the whole cruise I was on a mission to find any kind of product that was produced locally, and finally in Ketchikan I came across this hidden jem The Bead and Yarn Shoppe. Besides carrying yarn there was fabric, and beads, and a wide selection of notions for any fibre artist. It was a beautiful shop with stained glass windows, and lamps, and artwork from area artists. It was on the second floor of a tiny mini mall right next door to a quilting shop.
It was too bad as I only spent maybe half an hour there. I could've stayed for a lot longer, but there is only so much time that you're allowed off the ship when docked in port.
So the fibre I picked up is a 50/50 wool, and soy. Hand dyed. Colour: Jacobs Coat. It's produced by Rabbit Ridge Designs out of Anchorage Alaska.
I knew I wanted to do something special with it, and I thought a long scarf would be a good memory of the trip. The pattern I'm using is from a gorgeous book Knitting on the edge by Nicky Epstein. I didn't count but there's got to be a couple hundred borders/edges for knitting as well as several nice patterns included.
The pattern I chose is the embossed twining vine leaf. I thought it made sense to pick something that could be winding the whole length of the scarf, and with the embossed knitted effect it's a unique look. Nothing that I've ever done before.
