Happy Birthday to Mom!

I won't tell you how old she is, but I will show you what I gave her for her birthday! I didn't finish the knitting up until Saturday morning. Nothing like sitting in my parents great room listening to the birds sing and knowing that I am in the middle of an ex-corn field instead of an urban jungle. I love Chicago, but my parents' place in Ann Arbor has a peaceful calm that I just don't get in the city.

The shot below is how the scarf looks without any blocking. I almost considered not blocking it, but then decided that a bit more drape might be a better look for it.

So on Sunday morning, I improvised a blocking board and let the scarf block while we went out to brunch.

What does it look like up close when blocked?

I definitely like the open airy feeling of this scarf after you block it. Knowing the Koigu, it will fight that blocking a little, but the scarf will still look good. My dad, the incredible woodworker, was quite taken with this scarf. Not sure if it is masculine enough...although that might just be the colors I did Mom's in.

I fringed it after blocking and the result is set on the backdrop of my parents gazebo and rich green backyard. I still want a shot with Mom, but it got kind of warm for scarf modeling, so I'll have to wait until it gets a little cooler for that. Mom did seem to like it.

This scarf was designed by Joe Wilcox and you can get the yarn and the pattern as a kit from his LYS, Simply Knit. This is a nice, classy project that would make a wonderful gift. It knits up relatively quickly, although I recommend doing a test swatch so that you can find the best way to get the stitches to look the way you want them to. It takes only 2 skeins of Koigu, so it's a pretty cost-effective gift as well. I had no difficulty with yardage. There was plenty of both before I did the fringe. The pattern is clear and well written. It's a pretty straight-forward design, and the stitch pattern really is not as hard as it looks. I would recommend doing a crochet cast on so that the beginning and ending edges have a more similar look to them, but that is all I have to add.

I did do a few more things in Ann Arbor, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post.