What’s up, party dudes?!  This post is a bit out of the ordinary for me– finished knitted garments, what?!  I haven’t done much knitting in the last couple of years, but when I started taking the subway to work a few months ago, I had an itch to pick it up again!

A long time ago, I started up a sweater in Quince & Co.’s Lark in “Honey”.  I didn’t really like how it was turning out, so I frogged it and let it sit.  In my haste to start knitting again, I grabbed this yarn and cast on for Brooklyn Tweed‘s Guernsey Wrap without checking the gauge or anything (bad girl!).  As it turns out, I was knitting at about 20.5 stitches/4″ (instead of the recommended 14 stitches/4″), so my finished width is only 13″ after a serious blocking.  Since it was immediately clear that this would be more of a scarf than a wrap, I added an extra repeat of chart A and chart C for some additional length, making my final scarf 77″ long.  I toyed with the idea of seaming the ends to make a cowl, but it’s nice to be able to wear this as a scarf so I can wrap it tighter or looser depending on my mood (and the weather).  Maybe someday I’ll knit another one to the correct proportions, but I’m not at all disappointed in the outcome with this one.  I was just so excited to start knitting and didn’t want to waste any time with math and calculations!

The yarn was an internet purchase, and I was a little disappointed in the color when it arrived.  That was the main reason I frogged the sweater– I thought the olive-y color looked gross next to my skin tone.  So here I am, two years later, making a hat and scarf to wear right next to my face… go figure!  The only thing I can think of is that maybe it looks better on me now that I’ve started working indoors– I’m much paler than I used to be, and less green! It’s not the most flattering color in the world, but it looks nice with both my grey and my navy coats.  For more inspiration in this color, check out Gail‘s gorgeous sweater here!

Guernsey Wrap is a really nice pattern and was a great one for jumping back into knitting.  It’s a charted pattern, but it’s easy to follow.  It looks really lovely and complicated, but the stitch patterns consist of only knit and purl stitches (great for commuter knitting– no pesky cable needles to deal with!).  I didn’t realize it was so simple when I downloaded it, but I’m so glad I did.  It’s really pretty!

After I finished the wrap, I wanted a matching hat, so I knit up Brooklyn Tweed‘s gorgeous Bough pattern.  This pattern is so cute and was really fun to make, so much so that I made a second version for my sister in Malabrigo worsted for a Christmas gift (forgot to take a picture of it on her, but it’s really nice in soft, fuzzy Malabrigo!).  I didn’t make any changes to the pattern at all and I really like it (although I might cast on fewer stitches for the ribbing next time around… it’s a tiny bit loose…).  The tree of life pattern is really cool– I’m hoping to make the matching cowl at some point.  I finished off both hats with pompoms made using a large Clover Pom Pom Maker.  I’d never made them before and heard that the pom pom maker was really fast and easy, so I picked one up.  I made huge, fluffy pom poms in just a couple of minutes!  So fun!  I kind of want to make 100 of them and tie them to the pugs!

Gah! Look at that bobble! I love it!

Now that I’ve started knitting again, I’m totally hooked!  I’m midway through a sweater and can’t stop thinking about future knitting projects!  What about you?  Knitting anything things days?  Want to learn, but not sure where to start?  If so, I recommend (again!) checking out Gail’s blog– she did a great series walking you through the (FREE!) Miette cardigan pattern from start to finish.

Major benefit of a 6.5′ scarf– you can go full ninja on the coldest days!