Touch Me

Come on, come on, come on, come on now
Touch me babe
Can't you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that she made


I just love this song; definitely a classic by The Doors, but it is also the name of the yarn I used on this easy scarf that was then felted.

Lilly, Jo and I did one of our field trips which typically consists of lunch and a trip to a LYS. This time we visited Renaissance Yarns in downtown Kent. I knew I wanted to make a scarf out of this yarn ever since I admired the display hanging in the shop. When it "touched me" I felt the softness of it, like velvet, only better. Plus it has a lightness to it and feels weightless, yet warm, when wearing it. The big decision was not "should I knit it?" or "do I need it?" but "what color should I get?" Once I spoke those 5 words out loud, Lilly and Jo started going to town grabbing balls of yarn and holding them up to my face. I felt like Mary Kay was draping me to get "colorized" as either a warm or a cool, Autumn or Summer. Jo and Lilly were in their element and were not about to let me get out of that store with a boring neutral color to which I am naturally drawn. Not that I'm boring. At least I don't think I'm boring but my clothes are boring and I knew I needed to add some color to my wardrobe. I kept telling myself this is just a scarf and it might do me some good to venture out of my comfort zone. No rules, right? So, Lilly picks up this ball of yarn and just starts cluckin' like she tends to do when she gets excited. By the way her nickname is "mama duck" but more about that later. She grabs me by the elbow and walks me over to the sitting area where a couple of gals are knitting and shrieks, "doesn't this just look beautiful with her coloring?" Well, what could they say? Nothing like putting some poor innocent women who are knitting away on their projects, on the spot. "Hey, by the way, do these jeans make my butt look big?" Geez.

So this is how I came to have this beautiful Touch Me scarf. I must admit it is a gorgeous color, especially hanging around the neck of my boring brown jacket.

Here is the pattern:

Mistake Rib

CO 31 sts
K2, P2, each row ending with a P1
Size 8 needles (I used 7 because I didn't have 8's and I didn't want to follow the rules completely)

I used a total of 4 balls of the Touch Me yarn

Once complete, put inside a zippered pillowcase and felt in hot water in the washing machine on a complete cycle. It will feel like cardboard when it is finished but don't fret. Put it in the dryer and it will soften up and come out ready to wear!

OOOPS! I did it again!

Well, anytime I have a day off, it's almost a guarantee that I will get into some sort of yarn trouble. I got an email from my LYS that they had a new book in, so two minutes after the doors opened I was there to purchase it. First, about the shop. If you live in Washington State, or are planning a trip here, then this is one shop you won't want to miss. It's called , Renaissance Yarns and it is an absolutely beautiful store! It feels very welcoming and the owners and staff are friendly, helpful and make you feel they appreciate your business. This is not your messy little yarn shop. It is beautifully decorated and organized to show it's beauty. I went there today to purchase my copy of "Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs" from Interweave Press. This book is a sock knitters MUST. It has twenty five designs, mostly knit in fingering weight yarn. There are a couple of patterns for slightly heavier weight yarn. I fell in love with each and every pattern. I was especially intrigued by a "resoleable sock". I may have to try that one out! I do want to confess that I also bought two balls of Trekking sock yarn while there. One is the "Neopolitan" colorway, so it stripes in pink, brown and white. Soooo Coooool! I love it, the other was a boring man color, but my husband loves his socks knit from this yarn. I'm taking a class in another yarn shop tomorrow, so I'm sure I will get into some sort of trouble there too. Yes, I'm "sick" too. I guess between Jo seeing sweaters in manure, and Flo standing in the cold staring, and my yarn and rules addiction, well, it tells all of you why we are good friends!

My Inspiration

So I'm thinking of Lilly's sweater while I'm cleaning my horses stalls this morning. It's so beautiful with all the different colors and textures. It's amazing how all those different pieces come together to make something so beautiful and useful. Well I find myself in front of the manure pile. I have always appreciated the manure pile, but today I saw how all the pieces, the manure, the hay and shavings mixed with the red worms, dung beetles, bugs, oxygen and water work so hard together they create enough heat to send steam in the surrounding area. In the end they will create beautiful black organic soil. Perfect for my garden. I walk back in the house inspired to start my sweater project.

Memory Lapse

Since I made my 'pickup' at Lilly's house I hadn't found the time to sit and work on my sock, until last night. I turned the heel and was getting ready to pick up the stitches on the sides when, lo and behold, I had an "amnesic" moment. I drew a complete blank. I held up my sock, turned it this way and that, re-read the pattern, even taking my extra needle in hand hoping it would naturally assume the correct position, all to no avail. I finally did what I do when these frequent episodes strike. I picked up the phone and dialed Jo, speed dialed, that is. I often call Lilly when I'm in a bind but I knew she had worked all day and, besides, I had already called her to tell her about our trip to the yarn shop and the delicious lunch and Mojito we had at Cactus. Jo finally picked up and patiently tried to describe to me in detail how to go about picking up the stitches. I often hold my knitting backwards or upside down especially when knitting a sock so the first priority was to go over the proper positioning of sock and thread. This took several minutes to decipher which position I had it in and which position it should be in and after repeated instructions a deeply buried and dim light came on and I sort of remembered what to do. I quickly said, "oh yeah, I remember now". I hung up the phone and started working on those stitches and realized I was having difficulty seeing the stitches. I'm using a varigated yarn that is on the dark side and that alone is reason to have sufficient lighting. I didn't want to bring down my super duper light that I just had to have because Lilly uses one and she is, after all, a professional knitter. So I turned my attention to American Idol and gave up on my knitting for the night. This morning I decided to get up early and get those darn stitches picked up while I was 'fresh' and capable of focusing. I immediately went to work and picked up both sides, feeling rather proud, I might add. Now I'm ready to do some serious knitting in the round and I can't find my 5th needle! So, I push my dog off my lap, climb out of my chair and start digging in the cushion for my needle. I found candy wrappers, a Dove Dark Chocolate, more candy wrappers, a few coins but NO size 5 dpn. Hmmmm. Now I'm really getting rattled and when I get rattled I tend to break out in a hot flash so I had to go outside and stand on the back porch to cool off so I could come in and re-group. My husband came in from warming up his car, since it is sooo cold these past few mornings and the windows are iced up and all, and there I am standing on the back porch in bare feet staring off into space. He didn't bat an eye or ask me what I was doing. That's a scary thing. My hot flash episodes have become the norm. Everybody goes about their business while mom is standing on the back porch when it is 30 degrees, bare feet, pants pulled up to air off the calves, my face beet red. My knitting project is on the floor, the chair and its surroundings are in disarray from all my digging and searching for the missing needle. Or is there a needle missing? Hmmm, maybe I'm supposed to only use 4 needles since I will be combining stitches from two of the needles? Another amnesic moment. Better call Jo.