I really didn’t realize when I started my Sky Scarf 2013 what kind of
knit-a-long project I was diving into. I thought, 5 minutes a day knitting the
color of the sky, how bad could it be?
Well … the project sat out in front of my eyes everyday staring me
down. If it could talk, it would be
saying this to me, “Are you seriously going to work on that project when you should be doing the past week’s sky? Oh … ok,
you took notes but still I think I am more important than that project that
you’re holding right now.”
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| How I kept up to date on my Sky Scarf |
And I was really excited to work on the scarf because in 2012 when
we moved here during the springtime, it was sunny and at the start of the
summer there were these fantastic thunderstorms. Then 2013 started and it was like Mother
Nature knew that I needed these sky
days and they all went out the window. I
had a friend made the comment about March being gray. The nice thing about the sky scarf was that
you needed to use 2 colors a day. So
yes, March had a gray strand in it but was the other color to be used? If the sun came out, I used blue. If it didn’t, then white was used with the
gray.
Re-reading this post, it reads like I’m complaining. But I’m not!
For me, I always pay attention to the weather while living here. But what I realize is that I actually pay
attention to the temperature of the day rather that what is actually seen
outside my window. I actually enjoy the
weather here, in Basel. Remember, I lived almost 8 years in Arnhem, The
Netherlands. Anything was going to be a
step in the right direction after living there and seeing nothing but gray
skies in the winter. Side note: The
Dutch say the same thing. I think this
is why they are so well traveled.
So my next comment might be viewed as negative, but bare with me as
it ends in a positive. I didn’t like the carrying of the strands up the side of
the scarf. I didn’t really pay attention
to this until Mrs. Tanqueray saw it and called it out; and I liked that she
pointed it out because I took this as a challenge to improve my edge. But it
was more than that.
When I thought about how much the Sky Scarf kit was to knit (about
$40) I thought this is too much money to have such an edge. So even if I did walk away from the project I
told Olive I didn’t know what project to use these colors. Then Olive told me how she was doing her
edges. Olive cut the strands and therefore as she has told me that she has to
weave in the ends. I followed the directions, and Olive didn’t.... typical J
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| The Sky Scarf edge before the crochet edge |
So Mrs. Tanqueray had me thinking on and off throughout the year
about how to cover these trailing strands. So I thought about different edges,
like an I-cord. But the thing about an
I-cord is that it doesn’t hide the trailing strands; it lies on the edge like
an attachment. So you would still see the trailing strands. So I messed around with needles and yarn and
then I went to Google. I found a really
nice book about crochet edges. Though I like this book, Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman, and I even stuck it in my
Amazon “shopping cart,” I decided to go with a simple crochet edged and it
worked beautifully! Naturally I picked
the brightest color.
But the best thing about this project, aside from Olive and I comparing our skies to each other, was that this project was started in 2013 and finished in 2013. No carry over. Woo Hoo!
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| The new edge |
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| Check out all that blue in the middle! That was the summer and the reason why I like staying in Europe in the summer months |
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| Upon completion I was talking while Vermouth took the pic I know, shocker! |
Happy 2014!
The Martini Knitter
