if you give a mouse a cookie

Just like the beloved children's book "If you give a mouse a cookie" by Laura Numeroff, my knitting has taken a similar turn and has gotten me completely off track. 

 

As the book goes, if you give a mouse a cookie, then he is bound to want some milk, and if you give a mouse some milk, then he is bound to want......and so on and so on ......

It all started with making a hat or rather tam.  To set the record straight, I don't make many hats nor do I wear them.  However Chicago winters pleads that on some days a hat (or tam) is a necessary evil.

For three years at least, I have been saying that I NEED to make myself a new hat..... what is so hard about that? Right?  Well let's just say it hadn't happened....but now the need was FIERCE and a must have.  I decided upon the Gretel Tam by Ysolda in Berroco Ultra Alpaca color 62178 Grapefruit Mix. 

It came out great! Love the yarn , love the color and love the pattern.  It will look super cheery on gloomy snowy days.  BUT.... then realized that I don't have a scarf to match or even coordinate with it. 

So I decided I would design something, of course! 

I didn't want it to be cabled because then it would be one-sided.  I did not want a two sided cable becasue it would be too board-y and wouldn't enhance the beautiful alpaca blend. But I did want something to compliment the Gretel cable pattern.  

I came up with a new pattern that I will name Treillage.  Its a two sided design of a trellis pattern that reverses to a graphic leaf pattern. 

Looks good on either side.  It also looks good whether it is blocked or not, the photo above is blocked.  While I was knitting it, one of my test knitters, Barbara, mentioned how much she liked it and was interested in test knitting it in a lace weight......

So then it happened, ("if you give a mouse a cookie") I decided it would work great in any weight and worked up the pattern to vary the pattern for a variety of scarf widths (depending on yarn weight) and a wrap. I am currently working on a wider version in a fingering weight, shown below, unblocked. 

 

 



 I will offer the pattern on Ravelry soon,  once its finally written with all the additions for the added widths and yarn weights.

Of course, my interruptions (of Gift knitting) has now been interrupted by a hat.    Interruptions are being interrupted, that's funny!  My Ibiza Lace design (working name Lazy River)  is still on the needles and is about 75% complete....will be next up for publication.....stay tuned news at 11.

Happy Knitting!!!!