Scarf Three of Three

 

Photo by Dr. Haus

Knitting

Well, this scarf is probably my least favorite - the idea in was great in the hypothesis form but the final product is not my favorite.  I wanted to create a diagonal pattern on the scarf while holding the orange and blue pieces of yarn together.

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Finishing this last scarf was a bit of a challenge as I wasn't very excited about the scarf.  I had forgotten that when you use multiple yarn colors at the same time it does mute the colors.  This was disappointing to me because bright orange is my favorite color and in this scarf the orange is much duller than I would have liked.  I also think my diagonal pattern did not exactly work.

The third scarf: 

 

Photo by Dr. Haus

Overall, this is a post to finish the scarf knitting blog posts and took me awhile to write up because I do not like this specific scarf.  Either way, as always, this is a great reminder that each project is a learning experience and will help you continue growing.

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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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Scarf One Out of Three

Photo by Dr. Haus

Knitting

With the arrival of fall and winter coming I have started knitting again.  My current project is making a scarf for each of my three nephews.  I finished the first scarf this past week and through this project my knitting creative juices have been flowing.

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I have become inspired to make my first sweater and to start knitting my own clothes.  I had a realization that there is not reason I can't make a simple sweater with my knitting skills.  I have made a 3-4 foot stuffed pig, slippers, slipper-boots, hand-warmers, and scarves.  So why can't I make a sweater?  Stay tuned, I plan to start the sweater once I finish the other two scarves for my nephews.

The first scarf is alternating orange and blue horizontal stripes in a knitting and purling pattern.  I chose orange and blue for the Fighting Illini (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign colors).

Below you can see the first scarf:

Photo by Dr. Haus

With the first scarf done I started working on the second scarf which is using a vertical orange and blue color blocking in a 5x5 ribbing pattern (stay tuned for a future blog post with that scarf).  Here is the pattern for the above scarf which is a beginner friendly scarf.  I will also link some videos in case anyone wants to try to give knitting a try (highly recommend):

Step 1:  Cast on 30 stitches

Step 2:  Knit two rows

Step 3:  Purl two rows

Step 4:  Repeat step 2-3 until you want to switch color (or you can make this scarf in one color.  I repeated step 2-3 (3) times for each color)

Step 5:  Keep repeating steps 2-4 until the scarf is the length you want

Step 6:  Bind off and weave in ends

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