Mindless citron

I keep on with my mindless knitting.. I have a couple of designs of my own that cry for attention but I pretend that I don't hear. I longed for making something more in Malabrigo Lace and decided to give the poplular Citron by Hilary Smith Callis a try. There are nearly 10.000 projects of it on Ravelry! My God. I can understand why it's so popular though. 
- It's made for a popular and fabulous yarn.
- It's a scarf but not the lacy kind. (ie not too complicated).
- It's so versatile. Goes with jeans AND a fancy dress. Add beads to it and you even have a wedding citron.
- One skein will be perfectly enough! (so it says).
- It's so light you can carry it with you and knit anywhere. 
- AND unlike many other scarves you don't have to cast on millions of stitches to begin. THREE is enough!
However, the rows are getting longer and longer... I've seen that the ruffle at the end calls for over 500 stitches a row. And you will need to make more that ten of them. Snooze.

Some of the knitters on Ravelry say that they immediately cast on a new one when they finished their citron and others say that it was such a boring knit that they will never do it again. Remains to be seen how I will feel about it. So far I like it! Here is the pattern if you want to try it yourself!

UPDATE: the pattern calls for two stitch markers. I always try to avoid using markers if I can and in this case I find it totally unnecessary - all you need to remember that the first three and the last three stitches of every row is in garter stitch. 

Little leafy lace cowl - free pattern!

My first fling with Malabrigo Lace resulted in this little cowl. I cannot talk enough about its softness! It's just so ridiculously soft... This is how I turned it into a cuddly cowl/wrap for Isola:

You'll need a little more than half a skein of Malabrigo lace and size 4 mm needles, OR size neede to get a gauge of 27 sts in stockinette sts.

Cast on 170 sts.

Work two rows of k1p1 rib.

Row 3: (right side) *p2, yo, k1, yo, p2, k2, k2tog, k3, repeat from* until 2 sts remain, p2.

Row 4: *k2, p6, k2, p3, repeat from * until 2 sts remain, k2.

Row 5: *p2, k1, (yo, k1) twice, p2, k2, k2tog, k2, repeat from * until 2 sts remain, p2.

Row 6: *k2, p5, repeat from * until 2 sts remain, k2.

Row 7: *p2, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, p2, k2, k2tog, k1, repeat from * until 2 sts remain, p2.

Row 8: *k2, p4, k2, p7, repeat from * until 2 sts remain, k2.

New year, new yarn

Is there any better way to start a new year than with some new fresh elements to your old stash? I've just put my hands on some wonderful Malabrigo Lace. I looked at Malabrigo's website and learned that they make this yarn in an endless variety of colours. To bad that the only LYS in town that carries this yarn only has about seven! Of course, I still had difficult to choose. But I decided to go for this crisp light blue that I think will be nice in this grey winter we have in Sweden. It's called Blue Surf.

As I got home I realized that this was the first time that I had to wind a ball from the hank myself. But with a little imagination I managed to do it with the help of my knees. Yes, knitting involves the whole body! But winding one skein took me over an hour! How long does it take to wind a ball if you use a swift? I will see where my affair with Malabrigo Lace takes me to see if it's worth getting one...