Tag Archives: Scarf

Another Project Finished

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I showed you this scarf and mittens in progress last month in this post about Comfort Knitting. The project started with a bag of mill ends from Spinrite of Patons Rumor, a long discontinued yarn. Here it is on Ravelry. It’s a bulky weight yarn that’s mostly acrylic but also is 15% alpaca, which makes it very soft and a bit fuzzy.

This colourway, which is a light purple, is called Hibiscus Heather. This was the picture I showed you last month of the mittens and part of the scarf.

Mittens and scarf knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Rumor

The mittens are from the Tin Can Knits’ World’s Simplest Mittens pattern. (That’s a Ravelry link.) If you don’t have a basic mitten pattern, this is a really good one – and it’s free! It includes instructions for four sizes of mitten, each in four different weights of yarn. I used the chunky instructions for an adult small.

The scarf is a design I made up as I worked. It ended up with nine diamonds – mostly because I mucked up the fifth one and made it a bit smaller by accident. It thus became a midpoint design element. 🙂

Here’s the completed scarf.

scarf knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Rumor, no pattern

I think it could do with a blocking. The edges are very curly.

Rowan Gypsy hat designed by Grace Melville and knit it Rowan Cocoon from Rowan 48

I have enough yarn left for a hat, but I tend to dislike knitted hats. I had a sift through my library on Ravelry (I love that search engine!) and found a possibility – it’s Gypsy from Rowan 48, a seed stitch hat with a cable trim. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I like the brim on this one. The pattern specifies Rowan Cocoon, which is similar in weight to Patons Rumor, so I’ll give it a try. It’s a hat, though, so I’ll probably have to knit, frog and reknit at least once.

Of course, now I’m flipping through Rowan 48 and being distracted by other designs. 🙂

Comfort Knitting

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As mentioned last week, I’ve been doing some comfort knitting. Besides making clothes for the girls, this usually means knitting socks and/or mittens. I also sorted some stash and rehomed a bunch of it, which meant I rediscovered some goodies, too.

The mittens are from one of these rediscoveries. They started with a bag of mill ends from Spinrite of Patons Rumor, a long discontinued yarn. Here it is on Ravelry. It’s a bulky weight yarn that’s mostly acrylic but also is 15% alpaca, which makes it very soft and a bit fuzzy.

This colourway, which is a light purple, is called Hibiscus Heather.

Mittens and scarf knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Rumor

I first made a pair of mittens for myself, using the Tin Can Knits’ World’s Simplest Mittens pattern. (That’s a Ravelry link.) If you don’t have a basic mitten pattern, this is a really good one – and it’s free! It includes instructions for four sizes of mitten, each in four different weights of yarn. I used the chunky instructions for an adult small.

I also cast on a scarf for myself to match and am just making it up as I go. I’m really enjoying this knitting – it’s the combination of the yarn, which feels nice, and the Brittany birch needles, which I always love to use. This is about the midpoint. I’ll make nine diamonds, then taper down to the other point. Will it need a tassel on each end? Possibly…

Green Bouclé Scarf

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A few weeks ago, I decided to take apart a sweater that I’ve never worn, one knitted some thirty years ago. The post about that was The Turquoise Pullover.

Here’s the first repurposing of the yarn.

Scarf knit from green bouclé handspun wool/mohair blend by Deborah Cooke

I took all the bouclé and knit a scarf in garter stitch. This isn’t a fancy or complicated project, but the garter stitch—and the larger needles—really show off the yarn, I think. You can see all the colours at this looser gauge.

It’s about 10″ wide and 54″ long, and used every inch of the yarn – I just wove in the ends until they vanished and carried on. Where the yarn was thin, I doubled it up, which diminished the thick-and-thiness of it a bit. You can see that there’s inconsistency but this isn’t a reflection of the spinner’s skill – when I frogged this yarn, the loose single ply structure worked against me and this yarn pulled out to be thinner. I tried to be careful, but the yarn’s consistency still suffered. You can see that the boules were stretched out to the vanishing point in some places.

The uneven texture makes it look like a first project to me, which is kind of funny. Why? Because the needles were wooden ones, actually the ones my grandmother gave me when she taught me to knit. I was four. They’re bigger than 6.0mm and smaller than 6.5mm, so maybe someone made them for her. I like the patina on them and the memories they stir up.

Come to think of it, she taught me to knit with a pink yarn that was slightly thick and thin. I knit a scarf for one of my dolls that was about four inches wide, if memory serves, in garter stitch.

Scarf knit from green bouclé handspun wool/mohair blend by Deborah Cooke

For this one, I cast on and cast off with the coordinating silk blend to make a neater edge, and did a couple of rows at each end in garter stitch with that yarn.

It’s a very thick and warm scarf, but not too long. Crossed in front, it covers my neck right up to my chin. It’ll be perfect under a coat next winter. I thought about a fringe or tassels in the contrasting yarn, but it’s all kinky from being frogged right now. I’ll see how much of it is left after I finish the cowl and may embellish this scarf then.

Lace Scarf from Rowan

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I’m literally stitches away from finishing my Stripes pullover, but will miss the chance to take a picture of it in time for this post. I’ll show it to you next week instead. It took a bit longer because I had to rip back one sleeve – there was a join in the yarn that made the gradation change too quickly. Once the second sleeve was knitted, that became obvious and (of course) I wanted them to match, so I frogged it back.

Since I’ve been knitting in the kitchen, I cast on something a little more interesting. This is a lace scarf designed by Sarah Hattan in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply. It was the Rowan subscribers’ gift in (gah!) 2009/2010. Yes, I’ve had it in my stash all that time.

Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply by Deborah Cooke

This was a gift for buying an annual subscription to the magazine. It came with 6 balls of yarn and two patterns – there was enough yarn to make either one. Incredibly, there aren’t any pictures of this online. Give me a minute…..

Here’s the pattern card that came with the yarn. MIne is a bit faded:

Rowan Members' Gift pattern

I’m making the one on the right, which is supposed to be joined in a circle, like a huge cowl. That didn’t seem very practical, so I worked 6 rows of garter stitch instead of doing a provisional cast-on. I’ll do 6 rows of garter stitch at the other end, making it a big scarf instead. You’re supposed to work 2 stitches in garter at either edge, but I changed that to 3 – a two-stitch border always looks a bit lonely to me.

Why did I have this stashed for so long? Well, I wasn’t sure I wanted a big scarf or cowl. I’d thought the wool would make a nice little sweater, but it really isn’t enough yardage for that and the colour (Eau-de-Nil) is an odd grey-blue that is pretty but hard to match with anything. I decided it was time to just knit it up and be done with it.

I like the pattern and it’s pretty easy knitting – just not tv knitting. That’s the second ball of yarn, so it will be pretty long when it’s done, probably similar dimensions to my Earth Stripe Wrap (but with fewer ends to work in! Ha!)

I’ve had a few other Rowan subscribers’ gifts. This was what I did with the six balls of Rowan Denim – I made a bag, just in not the pattern that was included. I still have the yarn gift for the Judy beret. (That’s a Ravelry link.) It’s bright pink. Maybe I should knit that up next.