Thinking

Since it's been so hot, I am naturally thinking about cowls, wrist warmers and sweaters.

I made the wrist warmers from Last Minute Knited Gifts a couple of weeks ago (but can't remember if I blogged about them), and was mentally knitting a sort of cowl thing with short rows that allow it to transform into a hood (until I got distracted...). In my head, the short rows created enough extra fabric to cover the head and mouth if it's especially chilly, but not so much that it seems weirdly bulky when worn just around the neck. I have no idea if this will work in practice, but I was all set to try (using some turquoise-y and purple-y handspun I made a few months ago), when I discovered the Dragon Scarf by Vilma Vuori (on Ravelry and on her blog).

In her version, the ridges/tabs are all knitted individually. I think I'm too lazy to weave in all those ends, but I wonder how it would work if you knit that section end to end (so you'd cast on and bind off stitches to form the tabs, without cutting the yarn), then picked up stitches along the straight edge and knit the ribbed portion? You'd be knitting the ribs reverse (she started with the straight edge and worked towards the tabs), but I think that would be okay. But what stitch would I want to use in the tab portion?

And sweaters: I bought a gigantic skein of laceweight from Spunky Eclectic at the MA Sheep and Wool Festival. I'd planned to make a gigantic shawl, of course, but then I noticed that it coordinates very well with some solid laceweight I also have. I swatched them together, on size 6 needles, and I really like the fabric. So they may become a sweater together, instead of 2 shawls separately.

Or, I may just knit more socks.