Lili Marleen!

Bad news in the inbox yesterday - Knitty decided not to publish my boa pattern, so my dream of finding true love, escaping the drudgery of my day job and ultimately moving into a solar-powered hovering castle, all by designing and knitting fabulous objet (while simultaneously vermicomposting, fixing bikes, finding found art, cross-stitching pithy quips onto old paper bags and, of course, finally learning to tat!) has been deferred until at least the spring issue. My loss is your gain, fan club! I knit brushed alpaca in August just for you!

Meet Lili Marleen!

What if a feather boa could keep you warm at night? I’ve been obsessing over fringes for a while now, and came up with this stitch while goofing around -- why fringe the edge and not the center? Frills in all directions make this scarf wickedly fun to twirl yet seriously warming when wrapped, and bulky as a lion’s mane. Perfect for the glam gal or brave boy you adore.

Yes, this is knitted! It’s basically a big tube of I-cord worked in alternating colors, with periodic rows of fringelets. The fringe is similar to a picot bind-off, only without binding the whole way off – you use a third needle to make each fringelet by casting on and binding off stitches mid-row. It’s really fun and addicting to make. About the yarn – I used a bulky brushed alpaca (I love it, it feels like butter only fuzzy!) but anything bulky with some fuzz to it will do the trick.

The pattern is available as a free download at my website - www.moltingyeti.com.

I'm also ironing three knitting scouts badges onto my sash - the I got turned down by Knitty badge (obviously) the I will crush you with knitting-math badge (for anemone) and the Knitting got me through my divorce badge (for penelope - close enough)







Update June 11 '08: Knitty published Autogyro today, so I'm ironing my new knitty-published-me badge over my old knitty-turned-me-down badge. Yay me!



p.s. if you couldn't tell, that rambly bit at the start was bravado - leave me a comment and cheer me up!

p.p.s. the model is Beyonslay!

p.p.p.s. if you like my boa, check out my squid!