Purl Shell Scarf

Here's a scarf that I made for my friend Terry for her birthday. I know. I'm not usually a knitter for other people. But the color was perfect for her (a really soft pale blue, which clearly doesn't show up in these pics...)


Le Scarf

The stitch is Purl Shell from Barbara Walkers Treasury of Knitting which I've renamed Treasury of Torture, since many of the stitches cause me to curse a lot.

Taking a Saturday morning stitch class at my LYS finally had me master it. It's really not as hard as I first thought, but definitely one of those stitches where you have to pay attention when knitting.


Up close look

I used four skeins of Merino Big Superfein from Lassa Grossa, which was 520 yards of yarn. This stitch is a bit of a yarn pig, as I didn't think I'd need the 4th skein, but used almost all of it.

All in all worth it because I think the scarf looks pretty unique. I've already started a purl shell scarf for me with different yarn. (Yes, for me. I know. Shocking.)

Inspired Again

I've been a little dismayed by my knitting lately. I have SOOOO much yarn and SOOOO many patterns to make, but my last sweater attempt has left me gun shy.

As I mentioned here before, I'm sick of making scarves and yet another kitty pi. But it took the monthly knit and wine at my LYS to get me back into action.

I obviously couldn't go there with nothing to knit, so I scrounged around my stash and found some yarn I bought before the summer started. Nashua Wooly Stripes. One of the other knit and wine participants made a great mistake rib scarf using this yarn, alternating two skeins every two rows.

So I gave it a whirl. I'm pretty pleased with the results.


Broken Rib Wooly Stripes Scarf

Now if only it would cool down enough to wear said scarf!

The pattern:
Multiple of 4 plus 3 sts
K2, P2 across row. End with K3
Repeat this row throughout

Cables Are Not So Scary

Since I've taken up knitting, most of my subscribed-to magazines collect dust. So I figured if I subscribe to Vogue Knitting, I might actually read one of my magazines for a change.

My first issue, Winter 2005, arrived, and it featured this sweater and scarf pattern:


The scarf kind of blends in with the sweater here...

I had just purchased some super soft Blue Sky Alpaca that had no specific project associated with it -- so I decided to make the scarf. (Let's not be crazy -- taking on the sweater might land me right in the looney bin.)

I adjusted the pattern a bit to make the scarf less wide. The original called for about 120 cast on stitches -- I adjusted to 62.


Here's what I've got after one skein: 11 inches

The cables are really easy and the bobbles are truly not so hard. Knitting the four final stitches together is a bit annoying, but there's only one bobble in a 16 row repeat, which means there will be 30 bobbles in the finished scarf. Maybe by bobble 28 I'll be the master of K4tog!

One skein down. Four to go.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to New York

I saw a "feather and fan" sample scarf in my LYS that I just had to make.

It was made with Bouton d'Or Melody, which is a mohair yarn. The only other time I knitted with mohair I mixed it with a straight wool yarn and it was really easy to knit. I was soon to discover knitting solo with mohair was a big pain in the ass.

The needles were small, the yarn was both lumpy and hairy. This pattern has a lot of K2tog's -- and the lumpy-ness and hairiness of the yarn made really difficult to see what the hell I was doing.

I started the scarf and loved the way it looked, but absolutely hated knitting it. Using my F-Factor rating system, I gave it an F-5.


Pretty. But so hard to knit...

I was leaving on a 10 day trip to NY and decided that the only knitting project I would bring with me was the Scarf of Hate. I had a 5-6 hour plane ride each way and the assumed down time during the trip. My reasoning was that if this was the only project with me, I would be forced to knit it.

And while I easily could have bailed on the project (given the trazillion others patiently waiting to be started), I didn't because I knew what the completed scarf looked like and I really wanted it.

So off to NY I went, me and my Scarf of Hate.

I knitted on the plane. Knitted and knitted. I knitted occasionally at my hotel when I had a free moment. And somewhere about day 5 of my trip, I got used to the hairy, lumpy yarn. My scarf was moving along nicely and I no longer felt the same level of hated for my yarn. You could even go so far as to say that I started to enjoy this project.

Even with a NY yarn store visit and purchase (ie: new project!) -- I continued knitting the scarf formerly known as the Scarf of Hate.


A Blurry Image of Completed Scarf of Hate No More


Close up of Feather and Fan pattern

Feather & Fan is easy. I'd like to try it next with a less fluffy yarn because I'm thinking the pattern would be even more visable. Here's the pattern if you'd like to do it yourself:

CO mult of 18 + 2 (the scarf I made was 38 on size 8 US needles)
Row 1: K
Row 2: P
Row 3: K1, *(K2 TOG) 3x, (YO, K1) 6x, (K2 TOG) 3x; REP from * to last
stitch;end K1.
Row 4: K
REP these 4 rows.

It helps to place a marker after 1st stitch and before the last stitch. This way, you can easily keep track of the 18 stitches of pattern repeat.