(scarf) size does matter

  

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 2x2 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 sportweight alpaca the third freaking yarn I actually purchased for her a try.

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 2x2 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.