Indian Corn, Horace and Trillian - Say, What?

That's probably the most obscure title I've ever composed, but what else can I say about a shawl, a horse, and a scarf? These are some of the knitting projects I've completed in the past six months.

By far the oldest of these projects, I purchased this yarn in Maine and began knitting it at least 10 years ago. My longtime blog readers might recognize the fabric, as it was featured in a blog header last autumn. The yarn is a wool boucle from Mountain Colors, in a colorway they named indian corn. The triangular shawl is knit with garter stitch throughout. On size 7 needles, it took what seemed like forever to knit.

About halfway through, my relationship with the friend I was making it for cooled, so I put it away for what ended up being several years. When I came across it last fall I realized I now have a friend who will appreciate it, so I finished it up. The fabric is very spongy and not scratchy, so it will be a pleasure to wear.

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Meet Horace the Horse, a project I began a little over two years ago for my niece's baby. That baby is now a toddler, and there's a new 5-month-old in the house. I saw them over the 4th holiday, and decided a few days earlier it was time to finish it and give it to my grandniece.

The pattern is from the book, Vintage Baby Knits, and the pattern hails from the 1930's. I chose it because my niece likes horses, and she decorated the nursery with a vintage vibe. This took a fair amount of time to knit, and even more time to sew together, stuff and embroider. Not to mention the mane, which was hooked into the fabric, piece by piece. 

The finishing was rather difficult, as the book gave no instruction on how to do the embroidery, nor where to place it. All I had was one photo from which to make educated guesses. A look at Ravelry told me I'm not the only one who was puzzled by this. The instructions in the book are rather sparse.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to present the horse to my grandniece in person, as there were 3 other toddlers present who would have wanted to play with it. But it was a big hit with the moms (my nieces) who got a sneak peek before it went onto a high shelf.

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Those of you who were reading my blog last summer will recall this scarf, as I started it last July, and photographed it for my blog header over the winter. It is finally finished!

This is Trillian, an elongated triangle that was fun to knit but took a long time. By now you're probably catching on to the fact that I get bored with most knitting projects before completing them. I always have several projects on needles, and I jump around between them. I take the easier ones to my weekly knitting club at my local yarn shop (The Fiber Loft in Harvard, MA), and save more complicated work for quiet at-home times. 

Along with the great stripes of this shawl, I really like the simple lace edging. I'm not a frilly kind of gal, but this bold, geometric lace adds the perfect finishing touch to the scarf. 

This scarf is going to be great fun to wear. I'll be using it to perk up black tops, and tone down purple and blue ones. You can read about the pattern and yarn at my earlier post about Trillian.

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That's a snippet of what my knitting needles have wrought so far this year. I'm sure I missed a project or two, and will post them when I finish another item or two.

I'm so glad I learned to knit! Although it took me away from sewing for nearly a decade, I learned a great deal about fabric and garment construction, texture, and color. My sewing skills helped my knitting skills, and learning to knit helped my design skills. I love having a knitting project at hand for those times when I don't quite feel like sewing.

How about you? How do you create when you're not sewing? Do tell!