I am Biased

Gentle Reader, as anyone who has visited this vicinity with any regularity will know, the Knitty Pilgrim is strongly biased towards anything Noro. A quick review of recent postings will attest to this fact. Indeed, four of these last five musings have been devoted to Noro creations of one stripe or other.

There is something so satisfying in the knitting of a Noro yarn: a kind of quaint homespun-ness in its varying thicknesses, its pleasing scratchiness that, upon further manipulation, softens with time. Most of all, there is the outrageous inventiveness of Mr. Noro's ever-changing colorways. One feels that even the simplest of garments knit of Noro yarn yields unique and eye-catching artistry.

Thus, have we here, a new Bias Scarf, this time knit using Noro Kureyon Sock yarn on US #3 needles. Best of all, the entire adult-length scarf was knit using a single skein, making it not only lovely to look at, but economical as well. Well suited to these turbulent times, don't you agree? Well suited indeed...

Bias Scarf

Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn #S236

US #3 circular needles
1 Skein and lots of little garter stitches

Crazy Mixed Up Sox

Pleased, as ever, to share with you, Gentle Reader, my latest finished object - the Crazy Mixed Up Sox, knitted from a single skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock. As you may surmise, the Pilgrim wound the skein into a single center-pull ball, and then pulled alternately from each end of the ball to achieve the playful alternating striping.

As ever, one is amazed by Noro's colorific drama ever-unfolding. With the completely random alternating stripes, one never knows what one will get. Delightfully so.

All hail Noro.

CrazySoxyCool!

Finished Object - Noro Blanket

The Pilgrim is quite pleased to report that the new Noro blanket is now complete. I will admit that at the outset I was a tad worried that the Kureyon might prove to be a bit scratchy (the Pilgrim has worked mostly with Silk Garden until now), but indeed it is not. It is, in fact, quite soft and cuddly and, therefore, perfect for throwing over the legs as needed.

Enjoy the above photo, depicting the finished object in situ. I believe it "works," no?

Noro Newness

Once upon a time, some of you may recall, the Pilgrim embarked on a blanket project dubbed the Piggyback Throw. It was an auspicious start, and a lot of fun to watch it grow. Sadly, that effort ended badly, a casualty of the great neighbor renovation debacle of 2007 which, as previously reported, soiled much of the Pilgrim's stash with a thick coating of plaster dust rendering much of it, including the Piggyback Throw, hopelessly, irretrievably unusable.

And now, nearly a full year later, the Pilgrim once again embarks on another big blanket journey; this time with a beautiful Noro Kureyon (#164) colorway purchased in bulk and on sale (!!).

It is truly a delight to behold the shifting tones as the color-changing drama unfolds. It seems to make the knitting go faster; and indeed perhaps it does, as one never wants to put it down until the full skein has finished. Once completed, one feels it will make a right proper throw. A right proper throw indeed.

Don't you think of anything but socks?

Shhh... an admission: the Pilgrim is a socks-addict. Indeed, he is obsessed with the Long-Suffering Other's longstanding obsession with stipey socks of any sort. To feed this need, one recently discovered the lovely Lorna's Laces Sock yarn. Yes, one knows he has arrived quite late to the cotillion, but oh, what a delightful dance it is!

Pilgrim's first Lorna's Laces Socks!

So pleased was he with this initial experience, that ... well ...

Yes, a delightful splash of Lorna's has been added to the increasingly large Pilgrim Socks Stash. Lots of splendid socks-fueled highs ahead....

Sock Porn!

Diagarter Scarf

A while back, you may recall, the Pilgrim shared a stash-busting experiment -- the Diagonal Garter Scarf, which was a playful way to use up some lovely Noro Silk Garden that for many months had been hanging out in the limbo land of the yarn closet.

Well, it is finished, and I believe the auspicious start proved right. Tis a scarf a Pilgrim will wear with some satisfaction, should winter ever decide to come.

Sadly, or not so, the Pilgrim has been on a spree of late, and, as a consequence, the yarn closet is once more expanding beyond its seams. What, pray tell, is a Pilgrim to do?

Only what one can do, one supposes.

Pick up sticks.

And knit.

How one spent one's summer vacation

Gentle Reader, be it known far and wide that the Pilgrim has returned from his long summer holiday. And quite the jaunt it was, hither and thither across European soils: time spent relaxing with family, and friends, and people not known to one at all, including, one might say, bizarre close encounters with a female member of the United States Supreme Court (at an adjacent dining table), and a certain very blonde head of a famed Italian fashion house (in the airplane seat just opposite on the return journey home). And her little dog, too...

Indeed, wonderful diversions all, and now, alas, I am back.

And although it was a terrific trip for the appetite and the soul, one cannot state that it was great for the knitting. Nay, one might say that the Pilgrim experienced a most frustrating time with the garment he chose to bring along.

Not so very long ago, some of you may recall a certain "hoodie" the Pilgrim knit up for his nephew, the young and exceedingly polite Matthew. Well, the Pilgrim has dreamt of just such an item for himself long since - but in cotton rather than wool.

To start, one found a fiber he was willing to try - Cascade Yarns Sierra Pima Cotton / Merino Wool 80-20 blend in a suitable shade of gray. He decided to forego the undoubtedly modern Noro striping, and settled instead upon a contrast of the same fiber - in black, of course. It was at this point that the trouble began...

False start 1:

Although the Pilgrim spent much more time than that to which he is accustomed testing his gauge and whatnot, after knitting the hood (back and forth) and then shifting to in-the-round for the body, he discovered, much to his dismay, that the gauge too had suffered a shift. The back-and-forth section was a at least two needle sizes larger than the in-the-round! And so, alas, there was nothing to do but to frog the frigger and start anew.

False start 2:

At our second destination along the trip, all was going well. One had compensated by knitting very tightly on the purl side of the back-and-forth hood section, and switched to a larger needle size and a looser knit for the in-the-round. Blithely did one knit...and knit...and knit...round and round and round and round. Happily adding a stripe here and there, varying the pattern with whim and whimsy. Oh what fun. That is...until one decided actually to try the blasted thing on. TOO SMALL. Ridiculously so. And so, the Pilgrim frogged the so-and-so, and frogged and frogged some more!

At our final stop - at our friends' lovely home in the Dordogne - one screwed up one's courage, took needles in hand and started again. And so far, so good. Sharing herewith, the current state of things.

Until next time, very fond regards from a somewhat relaxed and exceedingly long-winded Knitty P!