Worth the Wait

Two new finished objects are making an appearance today...one knit by me, and one not!

First, my swap scarf arrived safe, sound, and absolutely gorgeous.

 

I cannot begin to say how much I love this scarf.  Participating in a swap always carries its risks...will your partner flake out? Will she send you something hideous?  Not this time.  I love the colors, I am such a sucker for deep, rich jewel tones, and the yarn is rayon, so it just seems to glow under the right light.  I love the leaf pattern, I love the tapered ends!

 

And though I don't have too many scarves of the long-and-skinny variety, this one is the perfect length to wrap once around my head like a headband before wrapping around my neck.  I nearly always have my hair up, so I could get used to that!

A huge round of applause for the scarf's wonderfully thoughtful knitter, Gypsysoul!  And from me, many, many thanks, I will wear this scarf with a warm neck and a warm heart.

On to my own FO....at long last....Wisteria!

Pattern: Wisteria, by Kate Gilbert

Yarn: Elann Limited Edition Kashair, in Blue Cascade

Yardage: ~1100

Needles: US 6

Size: 37.5"

Would I knit this again?  Well, since I had to knit the body twice, I feel like I already have!  But setting that aside, the pattern is extremely well-written and clear, the charts are excellent, and despite the complicated cables, this seemed like a quick knit.  If I hadn't had to frog, and if I hadn't also set it aside multiple times to get other things done, I'm sure I could have turned this out in less than two weeks instead of two months.  The second sleeve only took me four hours or so!

Bonus question...would I use this yarn again?  Oh, my, yes.  This is a 38" women's sweater at a worsted (almost aran!) gauge.  It weighs a mere 300g.  Yes, you read that right.  It took just shy of six balls of yarn at 50g each.  This thing could practically fly away, it's so light.  Did the yarn look a little weird and matted in the ball?  Well, yes.  But it blooms nicely, and the texture makes the stockinette sections of the sweater visually interesting.  Can't beat the price, too, the actual cost of this for me was $21 plus the shipping.  (I bought two extra balls because I was originally making a larger size, but hey, bonus, I have enough left over for a nice shawlette or something!)  If there's ever a bag sale of this stuff, I'm all over that.