As a former Engineering student, I came across Nikola Tesla often in my studies.  I’ve also run across him in fiction (it is rumoured that H.P. Lovecraft’s Nyarlathotep is based on Tesla), on TV (I love Murdoch Mysteries), and in video games.  Never did I think, though, that I would knit Tesla.  But I did, out of lovely Silk Seacell yarn from Dye-Versions.

Wearing Tesla

(Oh, what an unflattering, headless picture!  Can you believe I actually posted it.  And you can even enbiggen it by clicking on it.  The humanity! And what a bad sunburn too.  Yikes.)

Tesla is a reversible lace scarf from the Summer 2009 issue of Knotions.  You can find the pattern here.  It is lovely, with a beaded cast-on edge and a diagonal ruffle along the cast off edge.  The yarn I picked is soft and was a pleasure to work with.

Tesla Ends

The problem?  Well, first, green is not my colour at all.  Second, I hate skinny scarfs.  I hate anything around my neck, including turtle necks.  In the winter, when our frigid weather demands scarfs, I always wear them very loosely.  Skinny scarfs, by their nature and by fashion, are worn tight around the neck.  After wearing this for two minutes, I knew I would never wear it again. What a big fail.

Goodness knows what I’m going to do with this.  At least I have enough yarn left to knit a lacy, non-skinny scarf that I will wear.  I’ve already got some possibilities lined up, but I think I will leave the yarn to mellow in my stash for a little while and work on other things.

These, however, I did not fail with.  They are four simple dish cloths from Kris Knit’s Autumn/Thanksgiving Dish Cloth set.  They were knit with Lily Sugar n’ Cream in Jute and Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Terra Firma.  They are small (29 stitches wide) and knit tightly with a 3.5mm needle, and I like them much better than the large dish cloths I’ve done with more stitches across and large needles.

Fall Dish Cloths

Now I’m working on a Christmas gift, and thinking about which pair of socks to knit next.  Maybe these Mermaid Socks. (Ravelry link)

Strangled by Tesla is a post from Reflections in the Pond

If you follow my Twitter feed (@silverlotus152), then you will know that I had some problems with the modified rice stitches for the summer portion of Once Upon a Tree last night.  I did them over 4 threads instead of 6, and wasted some silk.  This morning, with a clearer head and a better frame of mind, I was able to get those stitches in right, and now the summer tree is finished!  Once Upon a Tree will now happily hibernate until the next issue of JCS comes out.  (The design is stitched on a natural coloured linen.  The colour variation is caused by the poor morning lighting I have here.)

June 22^nd was the new moon, and the day I was supposed to post my Totally Useless Stitch Along picture.  Of course I forgot, and then I didn’t get around to it yesterday.  But, here it is now:

There are a bunch of bits from Once Upon a Tree and some fabric and sewing thread from a piece I finished into a bellpull yesterday.  (Pictures of that coming soon.)  Below the fabric are a whole bunch of bits of yarn from all those dishcloths.  (Pictures of them coming soon too!)

As for what is on my knitting needles, I am still plugging away on my pink sock.  I’m working on the leg now and will hopefully have the first one of the pair done by the end of the weekend.  (Plain stockinette is not inspiring too me, so I’m not working very hard on it.)  I’m also working on Tesla from the Summer 2009 Knotions.  The yarn is a silk and sea cell (product of seaweed) blend from Dye-Versions in colourway Moss.  It starts with a beaded long-tail cast-on, which was boring to do but looks fabulous.

If I like the finished product, I may make one or two for gifts.  Possibly using the Dye-Version yarn (which I have to go to the other side of the city for) or with the called for Handmaiden yarn (also a silk and sea cell blend and carried by my LYS).

I’m currently stitching a small Canadian flag designed by Lynne Nicoletti, and will be trying to get caught up on Castles in the Air over the next week or so.  July, I have decided, will be mainly about getting Baby Man’s stocking done and (hopefully!) getting to work on Lynne Nicolett’s Velveteen Rabbit for him.  And, maybe, getting a start on Heirloom Stitching Sampler too.

TUSAL and Summer Tree is a post from Reflections in the Pond