My Remade Scarf...

So, in my first post, I told you about the shawl that was too holey, too tight, too not quite right. (Hey, now I sound like Dr.Suess!) Well, I unwound it and let the yarn rest. (Another technical term for you - after using a yarn, rewind it and let it rest before reusing it. If you don't, it could be difficult to reuse due to the lumps and bumps from the previous project being set in the yarn.)

While that yarn was resting, I worked up 2 scarves for a couple at church. They LOVE Carolina Panthers and attend some of the games. Since football season is usually quite chilly, the husband requested a scarf. I thought that while I was making his I'd make his wife one, too. That way they'd match! (No, I'm not a person that normally tries to match my husband, but I do think it's precious to see other couples do it.)

I'll try to get some photos for you. That was before I decided to blog about my knitting experiences so I didn't think about taking a picture before letting go of them.

They're basic scarf design - straight & rectangular, but I didn't use a pattern. I just thought of other scarves I've seen in stores. The body was made up of a Carolina Panther blue color from the baby yarn section - Bernat Softee Baby in Bongo Blue, weight 3. Then added a block of silver surrounded by black blocks. The 1st black block was wider - 8 sets, followed by a slimmer silver block - 6 sets, and finally a smaller section of black - 4 sets. Each end finished with another block of the Panther blue - 10 sets.

The finished edge was, for him, fringe, upon his request. When I started hers I decided to try something new and made a ruffled edge on each end. It's cute and she's a girly girl, so really seemed to like it. (Plus, they'll never be confused about which one is theirs!)

I made the ruffle by casting on twice as many sets as I wanted for the finished scarf width, knitting 6 complete rows and then decreasing the stitches by half. This made a nice pinch to make the yarn pucker!

Then on to my 4th project -

This is the remade scarf! I decided to knit it for my sister for Christmas. She loves blue and the yarn was soft. I thought it would be perfect to snuggle around your neck on those cold winter days. She loves fringe so that was a given for her, but I did make it a little longer than normal since she really likes it!

The yarn used was Mega Brushed by Premier Yarns ( I can't remember the color name, but it's a denim blue mixture and their website shows it as color # 51-213). It's a brushed acrylic that's machine washable. The brushed texture is what makes it soft and gives it a fluffed appearance and feel, but it's not so fluffy that your nose itches every time you wrap it around.

As you can see, it's self-patterning. That means that as you knit the yarn makes it's own pattern due to the color variations in the yarn dye process. To me that also translates into - same work, less hassle. I have to add here that some self-patterning yarn can be way over the top. Remember the 70's when every afghan was 50 neon-bright colors??? Well, you can still find some of those yarns on shelves. So, when you pick out a self-patterning yarn be sure to consider the pattern you may end up with. It may end up looking like someone had a confetti party...

I garter stitched all of these projects as I was too chicken to try another stitch! (For review, garter usually means the basic knit stitch.)

Stay tuned for more project updates!