Greenleaf Center Christmas Scarf

Notes:

(This scarf was knitted as a donation to the Greenleaf Senior Center in Washington, DC.)

Ok, so you know how everything old is new again? Well, it’s kinda that way with this scarf. I didn’t invent anything about this pattern. I just did a sort of knitting mash-up of several things I already know how to do. I bet you do, too. So, let me explain what I did.

The scarf is in three parts. It starts with 8 rows of 2×2 rib, then transitions to a basic seed stitch pattern, with a plaited cable in the center, and ends with 8 rows of ribbing again. All of these stitch patterns can be found in Barbara Walker’s “A Treasury of Knitting Patterns” (the blue one). But I will describe them in my own words, below.

Yarn: Heavy Worsted Weight Yarn. (In my example I used about half a skein of Caron One Pound. Wool would be nicer, but it’s what I had that was washable, which is a requirement for the recipient.)

Needles: I used a size 9 circular needle. In general, use one or two sizes larger than you normally would, so your scarf is a little loose and drapey.

Cable needle

2 stitch markers

2×2 Rib Pattern
Row 1: *K2, P2* across, end K2.
Row 2: Sl first st P-wise, P1. *K2, P2* to last 2 sts. End P1, K1. (this will give you a good selvedge on both sides.)
Row 3: *K2, P2* across, slipping firs stitch p-wise. End K2.

Seed Stitch Pattern
Row 1: *K1, P1* across.
Row 2: Repeat Row 1. (You will be knitting the purls and purling the knits, as they face you.)
Note: Always sl first stitch of every row P-wise.

Cable Panel (worked over 13 sts)
Row 1: P2, K9, P2
Row 2: K2, P9, K2
Row 3: P2, sl next 3 sts to cable needle and hold in front. Knit next 3 sts. Knit 3 sts from cable needle,K3, P2.
Row 4: K2, P9, K2
Row 5: P2, K9, P2
Row 6: K2, P9, K2
Row 7: P2, K3, with cable needle, sl next 3 sts to cable needle and hold in back. Knit next 3 stitches. Knit 3 sts from cable needle. P2.
Row 8: K2, P9, K2

Begin Scarf:
CO 34 stitches. I did the knit-on cast on, but long tail or something similar will do. Knit the Rib pattern for 8 rows (or however many rows suit you… end on row 2 of pattern.)

Seed Stitch/Cable Pattern Setup Row: Follow seed stitch pattern for 11 sts. (your 11th st should be a k.) Place marker, if this helps you. Begin cable panel, P2, K4, M1, K4 P2. (The M1 is very important because it will give you the correct number of sts you will need for the cable pattern.) Place marker. Do seed stitch pattern for remaining 11 stitches, starting and ending with a K stitch. (Note: You will now have 35 stitches on the needle.)

Rows 2 through 8 –Follow cable pattern for center of scarf, and continue the seed stitch on the 11 stitches on either side.

Repeat Rows 1-8 of cable pattern with seed stitch sides until you’ve reached your desired length. End pattern on Row 1, being careful to do a decrease in the center of the cable panel. When you reach the end of the row, you should now have 34 stitches on the needle.

Begin 2×2 rib pattern, starting with Row 2. Continue for 8 rows, ending with Row 1. (This is so the two ribbed ends will match.)

Bind off, and you’re done!

In general, my rule of thumb is to make the scarf as long as the recipient is tall. I made mine about 5 feet because chances are good my recipient will be a wheelchair user.

I hope my instructions are clear. If not, email me at trish@trishknits.com and I will try to help. Happy Knitting!

Shawl progress

One of my biggest faults is that I worry so much sometimes about doing something wrong that I over-study, and over-study the problem, and then that leads to progress paralysis. You’re familiar with project paralysis, right? It plagues every knitter, every writer, every doer of anything creative from time to time. Well, I seem to have an extreme case. I have consulted all of these books for inspiration over the last week:

• Victorian Lace Today
• A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
• A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns
• First Book of Modern Lace Knitting
• Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting
• Successful Lace Knitting: Celebrating the Work of Dorothy Reade
• Crazy Lace:an artistic approach to Creative Lace Knitting
• Folk Shawls
• Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions
• Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume Five: Lace Knitting
• Knitting Lace

That’s an entire library on knitting lace and a practical encyclopedic collection of lace stitches. And you know what? I’m confused! I’ve gone overboard, again.

I’ve narrowed the field to a few criteria, but I have to go through the stitches again to find things that I think will work. Here are my thoughts:

• It has to somehow fit into the area that I want to knit it into, not exactly, because I can use filler stitches and rows, but close enough.
• It should be different from, but not clash with, the stitches that are already there, and the ones that follow (as if I know what that means yet)
• The stitches have to be just complicated enough that they will keep my interest, but not so complicated that they make my brain hurt or that I can’t learn them, or read them from my knitting, after doing a couple of repeats
• I’d like my stitch choices to be something that adapt easily to garter stitch
• And they have to be beautiful, without looking too much like “old lady” lace, whatever that means. I have purple hair, for goodness sake, and I’m going through a bit of a midlife crisis. Not that old fashioned lace can’t be simply stunning, I’m just not sure it’s me.

So, have I driven you mad with my craziness? Does anybody out there have any thoughts on this? HOW the heck do I sort this all out? I feel like I’m only taking my first, tentative baby steps with lace knitting, and yet, I’m seeking a master’s degree straightaway. I am nuts, and I know it. For now, I’ll keep knitting, since I still have another 14 or so rows before I must commit. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Help?!?

As always, I thank you in advance.

Knit Happy mug

I got this adorable mug from Knitting Today earlier this week. In fact, I got several of them. They come in six colors, and of course I picked purple to show you. I don’t plan on using the mug for tea; I plan on keeping one on my desk at home, one on my desk at work, and giving the other three as gifts. The little sheep is adorable, and I love the saying on the front, “Knit Happy.”

The ironic thing is that I don’t feel like I’ve been knitting happy at all lately. I’m surrounded by yarn and a plethora of patterns and books, and everything is all neat and organized and I can actually see what I’ve got now. Except that now that it’s all neatly put away it’s like I don’t want to touch it. I wish I could just dump all my yarn out all around me and go diving for something fun. While I’m great at making the kind of mess something like that would involve, I’m not so good at putting it all away without help. So in the boxes it stays, and at times I think I forget what I have.

Maybe I should bite the bullet and go to my trusty box of Cascade 220, and ball up some yarn and knit a hat. Hats used to make me knit happy. But you know what? I haven’t made a hat in a looong time. Maybe that’s the cure. The hat I’m dying to make most is Vivian, by Lisa Cruse. The showier, the better. Big hat, huge flowers.

Or, cables? I have a fabulous pattern for a cabled scarf that came with some cashmere I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The cable pattern looks pretty complex, so I told myself I should practice it on something else before tackling the cashmere.

Or, Girasole? I know I mention that project a lot. But one advantage to that one is that the alpaca yarn I have for it is right behind me in my active projects bin, waiting. Maybe I should just cast on for that.

Tomorrow is an interim meeting of my knitting group. Our official meeting isn’t until September 12, but lots of folks have been itching to get together and knit. I’m going, and I guess I better decide by tomorrow what I’m going to knit.

Wish me luck deciding! I’ll check back in tomorrow.

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I think I’m there. One of the other boxes that came this past week was from Webs, and you see, well, they’re having a huge sale on Cascade 220, and that is a weakness of mine, and, well… look:

Cascade 220 in various colors (photo by Diana)

I got a bunch of single skeins in lots of different colors. Some of the things I’m planning to do with them include:

• Boot Toppers
• The Tulip Cardigan
• a Dr. Who Scarf (my own color combo, of course!)
• Lots of colorful hats (with motifs from my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs book
• Elfin Booties for the whole family

In short I guess there are lots of things I could do with so many colors. I like collecting large amounts of many colors. It allows my creativity to flow!

dark eggplant colored yarn

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So, I thought I’d post an update on another project I haven’t shown in a while. I haven’t actually touched my mitered squares blanket in a couple of weeks, but it’s been a long time since I photographed it. So, here it is:

mitered squares blanket in progress

Thinking Ahead

Last weekend the yarn bug bit me really hard. Thinking of course that I ordered from three different vendors, all with different customary normal shipping times, I didn’t think it would be too hard explaining it to the hubster when it trickled in in drips and drabs. No such luck! It ALL arrived on Wednesday. (gulp.) Here’s the first thing I got:

Dream in Color Classy yarn in various colors

We’ll see…

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I’ve been playing with this pattern for a while now, as in, for about a year and a half or so! I started it when I was a beginning knitter, but it is only now that I was able to figure this out so that the two sides on either side of the cable mirrored each other. And by jove, I think I’ve finally got it! I’m so excited that I thought I would share it now, even though my scarf, as you can see, isn’t even done yet!!

Here ya’ go!

Cast on 35 stitches.
Rows 1 and 5: (RS) K3, P3, K3, P4, K9, P4, K3, P3, K3
Row 2, 4, 6, 8: P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K2, P9, K2, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 3: K3, P3, K3, P4, Front Cross (Slip next 3 stitches to cable needle and hold in front, knit next 3 stitches, then knit 3 stitches from cable needle), K3, P4, K3, P3, K3
Row 7: K3, P3, K3, P4, K3, Back Cross (Slip next 3 stitches to cable needle and hold in back, knit next 3 stitches, then knit 3 stitches from cable needle), P4, K3, P3, K3
Repeat rows 1-8 for pattern.

Notes:

• If you prefer, (which I usually do), you can slip the first stitch of every row after row 1. I find this helpful for getting a nice smooth edge.
• Gauge isn’t really that important for this pattern. The bigger your yarn, and the larger your needles, of course, the wider your scarf will be.
• I prefer solid or slightly heathered yarns for this pattern. I’ve tried it with handpaints and varigateds, and the stitch pattern and texture get somewhat lost. Choose a yarn which is known for good stitch definition and try needles a size or two smaller than you normally would for your chosen yarn. (In my swatch shown here, I am using Caron Simply Soft, but mostly because it happened to be in a bag next to me as I was getting started.)

I hope you enjoy this pattern. Please feel free to let me know!