Project Notebook: Bamboo Stitch Table Runner

Sometimes you start a project and, before it’s done, you just get tired of it. Or maybe you need to be knitting something else so you put it aside for a while, with every intention of getting back to it soon.

So it was with my Bamboo Stitch Table Runner, which the archives at About tell my I first published in October of 2008. At the time I knit what I thought would be about half of the pattern, enough to know how much yarn it would take to make it as long as I wanted, and enough that I could take a picture where the knitting needle in the end wouldn’t show.

And then it sat. It was in a folding basket that got packed up when we moved to this house almost exactly four years ago.

I just unpacked that basket a few weeks ago and decided it was time to finish the project.

In the intervening years (more than six, egad) since I started the project I either lost some of the yarn or used it on another project, because while I have a bunch of the gray and a decent amount of the cream color, I couldn’t find any more of the gold yarn anywhere, other than the part of a ball that was with the project.

So when I was about to run out of that yarn, I bound off, with a much smaller project than I intended, but it does fit perfectly on the table in our entry way. So I guess it all worked out after all. Eventually.

Any good projects on or recently off your needles? I’d love to hear about them!

Next Pattern:

I happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, but I know we have a lot of Southern Hemisphere friends, too, who are heading into the cooler months as we are warming up. Whichever one of the seasons you’re in, you might want to stitch up this sweet little hood.

This pattern by saskie&co is called snug hood and it uses two colors of yarn to make a close-fitting pixie style hood (almost a balaclava but it doesn’t cover your face, though there is a neck covering portion to keep you a little warmer). You can use the fingering weight wool and mohair held together that are called for in the pattern, or use a single strand of DK weight yarn.

The neck portion and the edging around the face are worked in ribbing in a single color, while the body of the hat includes an allover colorwork flower pattern. The project is worked both flat and in the round and there is colorwork that is knit flat, which means you’ll have to purl in colorwork (which some people don’t like; also, you can’t see what you’re doing as well on the back of the work).

The pattern comes in one size and the colorwork is charted. Testers noted this is a quick and easy project and a great way to learn some new skills (chart reading, working stranded colorwork flat) if you’ve never tried those things before. They noted the hood is cute, comfortable and warm, and a few said it didn’t take as much yarn as the pattern suggests, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to use stash.

Speaking of the pattern notes, check out all the cute color variations in the projects on Ravelry. From pink and red to blue and white to gray and cream, there are lots of great options to think about.

You can buy this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: saskie&co]

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