Remember way back in August when I started thinking about my friend’s November birthday and what I might knit her? Well it’s next week and I just got started (for the last time) this weekend.
I’ve cast on for 2 other scarves for her, and added maybe 7 balls of yarn to the stash in the process. None of them were sticking. I ended up going for a bulky weight Alpaca from Knit Picks. It’s a very loosely spun 2 ply (that loves to split since Alpaca doesn’t really stick to itself like lamb’s wool).
I spent half of yesterday casting on a variety of stitch patterns. I started out with brioche, thinking a simple pattern would showcase the lovely yarn at its best. But the bulky weight yarn just looked so big done up in brioche. So I frogged it. This process went on all morning. I’ll spare you the blow-by-blow but to give you an idea at one point I had 7 stitch pattern books sprawled around my living room. don’t laugh i know you do it too!
The one you see above is a 2×2 rib, but every row the stitches are twisted (a RT or an LT). I’m twisting on both the knits and purls, giving it a zig zag effect*. I like the stitch pattern but it’s making one bulky scarf. If I were the type to jump from one project to another I might wonder how it would look in a sport or fingering weight on bigger needles. See that measuring tape up there? It’s a solid half-inch thick. I know scarves are supposed to be warm but this is New Jersey, not Siberia. I really think a sport weight might be the way to go.
But, since I’ve already bought this yarn, and her birthday is next week, I’m going to stick with it. The next pattern I’m thinking about trying is Daisy from Rowan 38. i have some cream colored sport weight alpaca in the stash that i could dye up real quick It’s done up in Kid Classic so I’d have to cast on fewer stitches. The flowers may add too much bulk too, but I still want to give
The scarf on the right is the Here n There scarf from Scarf Style. That’s one skein of Silk Garden and it’s only 13 inches. I bought 4 skeins which will make a 52 inch scarf if I don’t fringe (and I really wanted to fringe). I love the texture of Silk Garden all by itself so I think the fringe is one of the best parts! I didn’t get the yarn locally but I may have to see if I can get another skein (I think the color is 211). The scarf if one of those patterns that look a lot harder than they actually are. It’s a 2×2 rib except for every 7th row you do a little cable magic. Since the repeats are an odd number of rows you end up getting cables on both sides.
* see those needles? they’re circa 1983 boye. i’m glad my mom had the forethought to pack away my needles when i got to the age where my brain told me knitting wasn’t cool. strangely enough, it’s the same brain that told me prime numbers and programming languages _were_ cool.
Wow – that’s really neat! You have one lucky friend.
I like both of them, but the Silk Garden scarf is marvelous. I don’t think that I have seen anything like it.
I love the Silk Garden scarf. It has me jonesing to make one, actually, and since you’ve figured out how long it would be per skein, it’ll be less work. Another project for the queue. Thank you!
I laughed, but yes, I do it too.
Both scarfs look great, but the Silk Garden one is absolutely gorgeous. The colors are beatiful and the transition really brings out the cables. Plus, Silk Garden feels soooo good.
My bday is not until January, though. 😉
LOVE the “Here n There” scarf in the Noro. YUM! I might just have to drag out my book and make one now!
Hmmm, that is one THICK Scarf….what about a River? Heh heh – weak attempt at humour as I haven’t made much progress on mine…:)
The Silk Garden scarf is gorgeous! I’m not usually a Noro fan, but the colors really flow well with that pattern.
The other scarf seems really, really thick to me as well. Good call on switching patterns.
I love the zig zag scarf, It is really cool.
I LOVE the Here and There cables – its such a fun knit. You can block it to make it a bit longer when you’re done so maybe you’ll have some leftover for fringe!
Love the yarn, love the pattern. Wonderful stuff. One way of elongating the scarf would be to play with the beginning and end in such a way that you narrow down both ends. You might need to make a chart for the increase and decreases to do this evenly. I would stay “in-pattern”, and just space out increases and decreases to kind of go with the cable…or maybe improvise a little with the cable structure on both ends. You would end up with “leaf tip” type ends that might look really nice with a pin holding the scarf at the neck, or just dropping down. I’m excited to see you finisht his one. Good luck.
i love that noro here and there scarf… i can’t stop thinking about it
must resist urge to purchase yarn and start new project!!
I love the Noro too! I love how the colors fall on the here’n’there-ness.
I think I have some needles from the ’80s, too. I love really old “stash.” It makes the compulsive hoarding seem worth it.
that zig zag looks really interesting from the texture point. But I cant figure out what you mean by twisting your stitches LT or RT (I figure L=left R= right and T=twisting, but the only way I know to twist a stitch is to knit it through the back and that doesn’t have a L or R factor to it)
And I second all the points on Noro. VERY cool!
Okay ~ Now I have to make the Here and There cable scarf! I love every one in that book
Yours looks great.