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This one's a gift, so the post is behind the cut...

pattern my own
yarn springwater fiber workshop handdyed wool silk bought at MDSW 2005 (yay for stashbusting)
needles US #8 / 5.0 mm knitpicks options, plus a size H crochet hook for the crochet cast on
techniques crochet cast on, suspended bind off. the edges look pretty similar, but not identical. the suspended bindoff retained as much stretch as the knitted area so i could stretch it out as much as i wanted.

I am inordinately happy with this little scarf.

It all started out with the desire to knit something that looked like it was knit on the bias, but was actually knit straight across. I tried a bunch of stitch patterns before coming up with the really simple one on my own (although it's too simple not to be in some stitch dictionary somewhere).

It's patterned every row and I think that adds to the drape. Even though you have to yo and decrease every row, it's simple enough that I didn't find it too hard to do while chatting or watching TV. To add to the TV-ability of this knit, I made all the decreases k2tog and p2tog because I find them easier to knit than ssk and (the snail's pace decrease) p2togtbl.

The edging took quite a few tries before I got it right as well. I borrowed liberally from two edgings in one of my lace books, merging what I liked best about them into one edging, and then fudging the numbers so they worked for my scarf.

My little mistake of starting out with an edging that was too short ended up being a good thing. I got to knit both edges to live stitches, instead of knitting the first edge and then picking up sts along one side to start knitting the center. There's something really addictive to that whole k2tog tbl to merge the edging with the center scarf. If I knit another one of these I think I'll cast on provisionally so I can do that again.

To finish it off, I soaked the scarf and smoothed it out on an ironing board under a ceiling fan to dry. I didn't pin it out at all. If I were to knit this in a laceweight I would block it more aggressively (especially the diamond points on the edges).

I kept pretty good notes while knitting it. If there's any interest I can put together a pattern for it -- let me know.

One of the great things about my latest revelation is that I get to go shopping in my stash. It's a great way to get my creativity going.

I've had this yarn since MDSW 2005. It's so old it's not even in the fest stash sidebar! I think when I bought it the Clapotis craze was at a high and I envisioned this as a second Clapotis. But I've learned by now that there are *very* few patterns I will choose to knit more than once. Still, this yarn is *gorgeous* and I'm shocked it's stayed in my stash for two and a half years.

I still wanted the bias look and the single strand of yarn showing through, like it does with the dropped stitches of Clapotis. I must have tried six different stitch patterns before settling on the one you see here. It's patterned every row so the yarnovers show as single strands, and the offset k2togs give it a bias look too.

I do like the way the back looks, although I think the RS is the star with its strong knit stitches forming a diagonal. Still, I'm happy that the back looks acceptable, since a scarf will inevitably show its WS when you least expect.

Christy have no fear, there is something I do want to change (I don't like to disappoint you!). The edge is all wrong. It's not deep enough and it may also be too dense. I do like how it flares out a bit though, as well as the knitted cast on and the few rows of garter at the edge.

Once I'm done knitting the center portion I'll snip off the edge and figure out something else. Which, if everything goes as planned, should be later this week. I want to get past the 30 mark in number of skeins decreased in the stash during November.