Knit went wrong

As this is almost my first post of 2012, let me say happy new year & all that.  2011 ended pretty much the way they say the universe will end, things just kept getting faster & faster.  Then as our first act of 2012 we bought a brand new home heating/air conditioning unit; the old unit died  72 hours before the first hard freeze of the season.  If "bullet dodged" is the theme for the upcoming year, I can live with it.

It has taken a bit but we are now more or less where we were in mid-December in the house torn-up, chores to be done arena.  & as an extra the utility closet that housed the old & houses the new air pusher thing-y (& the hot water heater) has now been cleaned & re-organized, new shelves & that was a bear of a job.

Which means I can finally get back to my regularly scheduled time wasters, especially now that the problem of why-the-pictures-won't-upload-anymore appears also to be resolved.  Did I forget to mention that?  I want to say mid-December I suddenly could no longer upload photos from the computer that has the MyBook that has all the photos.  It is just as well I did not start loading photos to my laptop because right around the second week of January the hard drive died & a recovery was unlikely & then lo (or is it hark?) most of her came back to life.  In the end, my laptop had a screw loose (apparently, that is a real thing) & points of contact were not making contact & when the she was opened up (to harvest her organs errrrmmmmmmm hard drive) to bring what I could to the not-yet-purchased replacement, it was clear there was a screw loose.  Like I said 2012 is shaping up to be the Year of the Bullet Dodged.


I thought I would begin my new found & no doubt temporary return to a quiet life by doing a little more clearing...kinda.  Specifically, last year I failed (FAILED) to make a red scarf for the Foster Care to Success gift baskets.  I cannot send the completed scarf off until ?September? but I thought it would be good to get it on & off the needles, ready & waiting.

As it happens I have still failed because the scarf I made was too wide to be a scarf.  Also it is a little mohair-y which they frown on.  That wrong scarf went to C****** as I mentioned in an earlier post...I think.  Anyhow, it went so fast that I cast on another, finished it & shipped it off to my mom.

Cast on as many stitches as you think a scarf should be wide.  This will depend on your gauge using that yarn & whatever needles you find blah-blah-blah; I usually trust the yarn label for gauge/needle size & aim for nine inches or so wide (something went horribly wrong this time & I decided early on I didn't care).

Knit for seven (7) rows -- although I think the one in the picture was more like TEN rows

For the rest of the scarf, up to the last seven (7) rows -& I bet you can guess how those will go- repeat the following three rows:

Row 1:  Knit
Row 2: Knit five (5) , purl to the last 5 stitches, knit five (5) -- & again, the one in the picture was more like first&last SEVEN stitches
Row 3: Knit

Pay some attention at the end if you want the side that begins with an all-knit rib to end with an all knit rib.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it.

I think it would be safe to say with adequate yarn in your carry-on you could start & finish this scarf on a flight to your holiday destination, so long as it included a stop-over &/or was a trans-Atlantic (or Pacific) flight. Or you could work on it during a Sunday marathon of House or Law&Order.  Or a few weekends of early season football.  What is adequate you ask?  I used six skeins of Sensations Angel Hair & made a very wide, plenty long rectangle & had most of the last skein left over.

They say the best scarves are not more than 10 inches shorter than the wearer.  I am 5'2" & I tend to prefer nothing longer than 4'6" & often shorter but you should decide for yourself.  This thing alas while a good length was almost double a workable-scarf width.  When folded over it is quite thick, too thick really to wear comfortably as a scarf.  You can avoid this problem by accurately reading the needle size & gauge printed right there on the yarn label, a skill that was apparently beyond me.

So what to do, what to do. As it happens, for the red one, C****** liked it that wide but she also liked the idea I came up with, which was to lay the scarf (for at that point it is still a scarf) & then fold one corner to the other edge, making a right triangle.  Then shoot maybe two inches worth of stitches in there to hold it, repeat at the other end & you have sort of kimono-looking shrug/shawl thing.  My mother called it a shroooooog (all 'o's after the 2nd one are mine).

It is really really reversible.  You can wear it inside out & upside down &, while fitting slightly differently (it all depends on how big your shoulders are really), it doesn't look wrong.  I think if you made it long enough, you could even throw a button in the front & maybe with an I-cord loop & have something a bit more formal.