3 posts tagged “scarf”
I love the look of a long, gauzy, fringed scarf worn in the summer with a tank or cap sleeved shirt, but now that I knit, I'm loath to purchase a scarf, so I don't own any of this type of scarf. At the beginning of this summer, there was a rash of people I know knitting entrelac, and my love of the entrelac is well documented, so it wasn't long until I was itching to start another entrelac scarf. I decided to make one out of Noro Matsuri, which is a cotton/wool blend because I thought I could wear it as a long, fringed summer scarf. I even picked out a bright, happy summer-ish colorway (colorway #5).
I knit the scarf with just over three balls on size 7 needles, and this time I used the pattern written by S. down at my LYS instead of the Lady Eleanor pattern from scarf style. S.'s pattern is written for a 10 stitch block, but I much prefer a smaller block, so I modified it down to 8 stitches per block. I also only did three blocks across, because I wanted to keep it narrow and less bulky so that it would be a more summery weight. Unfortunately, it didn't matter, the worsted weight yarn is just too substantial, and the entrelac stitch pattern is too structured. I didn't get the effect that I wanted. I guess I really need a sock or lace weight yarn and an open stitch pattern to pull off what I was going for.
I still really like the scarf. It is entrelac out of Noro yarn, after all. You just can't go wrong with that. I think it's going to be more of an early spring scarf. Something to wear with a light jacket when you expect the tulips to sprout any day now, but the early mornings are still chilly. It does look pretty sharp with my linen jacket.
I'm hunting an assistant professor in accounting position.
I decided a while back that I should make some lace scarves to wear with suits when I am doing (hopefully) job interviews next fall. I have since decided it's going to be hard to figure out a way to wear the scarves I'm making with the styles of interview suits I have, but I'll still have some beautiful lace scarves to wear to work. This is actually the second one I've made. It's made out of Jade Sapphire 2 ply 100% Cashmere in the Camo colorway. I love the colors in this yarn and it's amazingly soft, and there's just something I love about the idea of a lace camoflouge scarf. I've been calling it my "job hunting scarf" and one of the ladies in my knitting group pointed out that I really want to stand out rather than blend in when looking for a job. I have some hunter's orange sock yarn, so maybe I'll make my next scarf in that... probably not.
Because this is a pretty varigated yarn, I wanted a nice simple lace pattern, so I chose the Lucious Lace Scarf pattern. The pattern and the yarn worked together really nicely. Between how simple the pattern was and the varigation in the yarn, it was very forgiving and hid mistakes very well. The only thing that I don't like about this scarf is the length. I used up all of the yarn that I had, but I would like the scarf to be a little longer. I also can't figure out why it's not longer. The picture of the scarf in the pattern looks so much longer than mine and even though I didn't use the pattern yarn, my yarn was the same weight and had the same yardadge on the skein and I knitted it with the same size needles. I even narrowed the scarf by one set of pattern stitches and did four additional lace repeats on the length. The only thing that I can figure out is that the scarf on the pattern looks to be very heavily blocked and with the gauziness of my yarn, I really liked how the pattern made the scarf sort of wavy, so I just very lightly blocked mine.
A couple of final pictures. I borrowed a photographer's backdrop from a friend of mine to take pictures of M. in her dance costumes from this year, so I had D. take the pictures of me modeling the scarf in front of the backdrop while I had it up. So here's a picture of me modeling the scarf and then one of the pictures of M. just because she is so darn cute.
I'm not going to be knitting much over the next few weeks because of summer teaching (boo), but I have three projects on the needles, so hopefully I'll be able to finish up at least a couple of those during summer school. We'll see. I have big plan for big projects that I want to get to.
Last fall I picked up a skein of Tilli Tomas Pure and Simple in the Ruby Wine colorway in a great little yarn store while I was at a conference in Providence, RI. This yarn is 100% spun silk and 100% fabulous. The color is just amazing especially with the fantastic sheen of silk, and the yarn is as soft as a cloud.
I decided it would be a perfect yarn to make a nice little dressy scarf to be worn with suits for the upcoming interview season. I struggled to figure out what pattern I would use. I looked at some really fancy and complicated lace patterns, but in the end decided that with a yarn this luxurious, simple was the way to go. I actually started a couple of different patterns with the yarn and then ripped them out. I eventually settled on the diagonal lace scarf. I did everything according to pattern with the exception that I went up a needle size and knitted the scarf on size 8's.
I think the pattern really showcases how wonderful the yarn is and emphasizes the beautiful little variations in the color. It was an easy to memorize pattern and by the time I'd completed two pattern repeats, I could carry it around and work on it without the pattern in front of me. I did manage to mess up the pattern on the first repeat, because apparently, I can't read. I didn't think it was too noticable and after having started multiple patterns and ripping them out, I couldn't stand the thought of ripping it out and starting it over again.
As always I had a hard time deciding how long to make the scarf. Yesterday morning, I dug out the suit jackets that I planned on wearing it with and tried it on, wrapping it a bunch of different ways trying to figure out how I would be wearing it. I finally decided that the way I liked it best was to wrap it completely and then tuck it into the jacket so that it has a bit of a choker appearance. Try to ignore the tye dye shirt that I'm wearing under the jacket.
I decided that if I was going to tuck it into the jacket, I didn't want it any longer than it already was. Binding the scarf off at this point was really hard for me. First, you know I like a long scarf, and this scarf was much shorter than the scarves I normally make. Second, I had only used about half of the skein of yarn, and a yarn this fantastic shouldn't go to waste. I stuck the half skein back in my stash and maybe later I'll make another short scarf either in a different pattern for myself or in the same pattern to give to someone else. Anyway, I did bind it off and it's done. It needs to be blocked, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm sure I will soon.
