not a lot of knitting

Knitting has not been at the forefront of my fiber life lately, but last weekend I did pick up a project that has been in the works since winter sometime.  

This pattern, Technicolor Scarf, and the yarn (sorry, I can't find the yarn label to tell you what it is, but the pattern recommends Liberty Wool by Classic Elite Yarns) were gifted to me.  By someone who also likes knitting, and knows that I do!  It's a fun present to open with pattern and yarn together.  It's made from 2 colors of yarn, in my project, one is lime green and the other is that purplish-green-blue mix that you see in the lower half of the picture.

The scarf is made with something called a Brioche stitch.  I've linked to a video about it.  Not sure where that name came from, but it has nothing to do with brioche bread.  Maybe because it leaves me hungry for more?  Each row I do makes me want to do the next one?!

Anyway, it's not a difficult pattern to do, just a rectangular scarf.  And the yarn looks and feels great, all soft and cushy.  The stitch pattern repeats over a set of 4 rows, and ends up making a nice reversible-looking scarf.  The stitches are basic:  knit, purl, yarn over and slip.  The yarn seems heavier than worsted weight but not as much as bulky.  I'm no pro at knitting, so some of these yarn variations in size and weight leave me wondering.

The only problem I have encountered with it is correcting mistakes.  Yes, I make mistakes!  Even though I always think I'm doing it right, I sometimes miss something and don't find it until the following row.  This project has 224 stitches in a row.  I have had to "unknit" more than once because unlike some other stitch patterns, this one is a bugger for me to repair as I go.  I get the yarn overs crisscrossed with slips and knits and purls, and it makes a mess.  Carefully removing 224 stitches takes some thought!

Here's an ugly tangled mistake that I thought looked OK on the reverse side.
Not so much.

Last weekend, I knit this while riding in the car to go to Nisswa to visit some friends at their lake home.  It's about 2 1/2 hours away.  On the straight parts I can easily knit without getting nauseous!  But it's not always the best positioning in the seat, a bit cramped, so it's easy to slip up on the pattern.  I now find myself at a mistake that I tried to fix, but it's not a good fix.  So there's some unknitting to do again before I can move on.  It probably didn't help that I also did some of this while we were playing 500 out on the deck at 9PM as it was getting dark!  I think that's where the mistake was made!

So I will have to set aside some time to focus on this in a few days.  Right now I am engrossed with a new quilt pattern that is on a deadline to be done soon, so knitting is on the way back burner!  Someday I will have a finished project to show you!