Scarf Two Out of Three

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Photo by Dr. Haus

Knitting

While I was visiting my family for the holidays, I finished the second nephew scarf.  For this scarf, I wanted to try a new knitting method where I could knit the scarf vertically with two different colors.  For this scarf, I decided to use a 5x5 ribbing pattern with 15 stitches of each row done in orange and the next 15 stitches done in blue.

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I learned two important lessons with this scarf.  Firstly, it took me about 10 rows to correctly understand how to switch between the two different colors without needing to cut the yarn and start with a new strand.  The secret was to make sure the new color was moved to the left of and on top of the old color.  A friend mentioned another great option would be to knit the two colors together for one stitch and then switch to the new color.

The second scarf: 

 

Photo by Dr. Haus

The second thing I learned through this project was that a 5x5 ribbing pattern made the width of the scarf very small as you can see above.  This pattern causes the stitches to shrink together.  I was slightly able to increase the width of the scarf through the blocking process but it still keeps shrinking in the horizontal plane.  Moving forward, I will not be using the 5x5 ribbing pattern but I am glad I tried this process as the best way for me to learn something is to commit to the plan, complete the plan, and learn what I liked and didn't like about the project.

Photo by Dr. Haus

 

Step 1:  Cast on 30 stitches with the following pattern - Cast on 5 stitches knitwise then 5 stitches purlwise then 5 stitches knitwise SWITCH COLOR Cast on 5 stitches purlwise then 5 stitches knitwise then 5 stitches purlwise

Step 2:  Knit 5, Purl 5, Knit 5, SWITCH COLOR, Purl 5 Knit 5 Purl 5

Step 3:  Repeat step 2 until the scarf is the length you want

Step 4:  Bind off using the following pattern - Bind off 5 stitches knitwise then 5 stitches purlwise then 5 stitches knitwise SWITCH COLOR (keep playing video to the end) Bind off 5 stitches purlwise then 5 stitches knitwise then 5 stitches purlwise

Step 6:  Weave in ends

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