Living And Knitting Silicon Beach

Silicon Valley might have a longer history, but Silicon Beach is hot, hot, hot.   For the last three and a half years, the area has be command central for Clan Stewart.

 This was the beginning of my long scarf which is now named Silicon Beach.  Every day, the tech employees can be seen walking, biking, boarding and even driving around sporting neck wear that is wrapped and wrapped into a personal statement. 

Silly me.  I cast on twenty-nine gazillion stitches in lace weight and set out to knit a sideways scarf with one beaded edge.  Well.  The thing did end up long enough to wrap and twist and gather into an expression of the wearer - all 125.5 inches of the thing.  

This is what it looks like all scrunched up.  The Happy Fuzzy lace is in the verdigris colorway which is a natural complement to the copper beads.

There is no real pattern other than my desire to practice a new cast on edge - with a twist and the beads.

All in all, the result makes me happy and fits the vibe of Silicon Beach.

PS - yes, those are Mardi Gras beads under the scarf.  Feb. 9 is fast approaching!

Glistening

The new Multnomah is finished - gloriously so, if I do say so myself.  Here is daughter #1 once again serving as model and proving that a shawl fits all sizes from cute young thing to old mama. 

The specifics:
Multnomah (link at bottom of post) which is a pattern from way back in 2009 .
Needle size 4 US
Tiny crochet hook for beads.
Beads left over from two other shawls.  Please don't ask me to count the beads.  Math is not really my thing, so even counting one row, multiplying and then increasing for the increases causes me to say Yuckie Poo!
Malabrigo Sock.  One skein will make a generous size if you just add additional repeats.  I stopped when the beads ran out.

 Here is the typical back view that shows the center spine and the feather and fan (or mountain and valley?) lace work.  But what you really want to see is how the beads worked out.

Voila!  Straight lines of beads that end in a glistening drip of a beaded picot bind off.  Everything between the drips is just a normal K2Tog bind off.  I use the K2Tog BO for shawls because it provides a bit more stretch.  And I am a yanker.  I pull and fiddle and play with my neck wear all day. 

Check out Yarn Fairy's lesson on this wonderful beaded picot.  It might take a few tries to get the hang of the yarn over method, but it works great.  NOTE:  Lenora only did two YOs (with bead placed) prior to picking up a stitch to anchor the whole thing.  Just watch the video and all will be clear.

COBO - or traveling stitches

It is important to have a "little" project on the needles at all times.  I know better, but this week caught me unprepared when a sudden day trip was offered. 

Oh sure, there is the summer cardigan still in the working pile.  But that is at a point where decreasing occurs on the arm hole edge at one rate whilst the decreasing for the front shaping occurs at the same time but at a different rate.  Not my idea of fun when trying to hold in the elbows, knit and count rows at the same time.

The silk still needs shoulder seams, little sleeves and the bottom edge.  But who wants to sew seams in a moving car?  And then pick up stitches?  PU!  Not I.

What I needed was a new project - traveling stitches that take up just a little room, require no brain work, don't need row tracking and still can bring delight to ones traveling companions.

Enter COBO, a little traveling stitches project.  I'm not entirely sure what it is.  This is either a fringed and beaded edging for some future project that will fit with the color scheme or it is a narrow beaded and fringed scarf that will not keep anyone warm but will cause looks of jealousy and envy each time it is worn.

This is Crystal Palace Sausalito  in the aptly named color: 8107 Fall Herbs. 

The pattern is really simple - just slow going.  But, like all good patterns, it does need a name.  So, for ever more, let this be know as:

COBO
String a gazillion beads on yarn
Cast On 24 stitches
R 1  *Place bead, Bind Off 12 stitches,  knit to the end  (bead will be at end of fringe)
R 2   Knit 12, Cast On 12 stitches.
R 3   Bind Off 12 stitches, knit to the end
R 4   Knit 12, Cast On 12 stitches.
Repeat these 4 Rows.  Bead is placed at end of every 2nd fringe.

All I need now is another road trip!