Linen Stitch

I came back from Knit 1 Oxford in Oxford, MS with several new yarns and knitting patterns.  That pretty much happens every year - the Knit 1 people are incredibly talented and giving of their time and energy.  The first thing I did when I got home was knit up two cowls that required me to knit continental style with my left hand and English style with my right hand.  Well, actually, I could have knit the cowl using only my right hand to throw the stitches but it would have taken me twice as long and I wouldn't have learned a great trick.  I'm really thrilled with how they came out although it's no great surprise that the second one was better than the first.

My current knitting project is a scarf using the linen stitch.  The stitch makes a very flat fabric with far less elasticity than a knit/purl stitch.  The scarf is knitted in the round.  When it's finished, a section of 28 stitches is dropped, unraveled and cut in half to make fringe.  I'm of two minds.  I love the idea of not having to weave in ends no matter how often I change yarns but I hate to knit all those stitches only to tear them out once I'm finished.  I'm using a sock weight MadelineTosh yarn that I love.  I'm not generally a fan of super wash wool - why can't you just leave the wool alone to be fullable and/or feltable as it wishes? - but I love MadelineTosh.

I'm almost finished with this little scarf and will have lots of yarn left over.  I think I'll weave a similar sized scarf on the Cricket loom and maybe knit one up using a totally different stitch.  It would be a nice test to see what this yarn looks like when it's handled several different ways.

I'm weaving on my kitchen towels too but more on that tomorrow.