Textured Scarf

It's a little embarrassing how long ago I started this scarf. It's from the Vogue Knitting On The Go Scarves Book.

The Model

I bought the book when I was out on one of my first knitting store trips with Julie. And, of course, I decided that I needed to do something out of it. I didn't want anything difficult, but I was curious about fuzzy chenille yarns and ribbon yarns. So this project seemed ideal.

But I couldn't find the yarns in the store I was at, so I bought some Anny Blatt ribbon and chenille instead. In black, which I thought would be sophisticated.(You can see it here) And no matter what I did, I couldn't get gauge. This was pretty frustrating for me. I had just gotten back into actively knitting again, and a simple garter stitch scarf refused to behave. Not only that, but if you're going to substitute yarns, subsituting Berroco for Anny Blatt, from a cost perspective, is not a very smart one.

It took me awhile, doing gauge swatch after gauge swatch and ripping and tearing, to decide that this was not to be.

And then I ran into the Berroco stuff in another yarn store. And, throwing caution to the wind, I decided to try again.

This time, things worked out more or less in my favor gauge-wise (and I relaxed a little and decide that row gauge was pretty much irrelevant for a scarf). But I started the scarf on long straight needles and I decided that garter stitch was boring. And I decided I didn't much like knitting with Chinchilla. And then it got warm. Who needs a fuzzy scarf in May? So it stalled in my basket until I got to doing some cleaning.

And then I decided that I needed another fuzzy scarf. So I put the project on circs, ignored the Chinchilla (it feels nice knit up, it just has an abrasive cord in the middle) and moved this projet from stalled to mostly finished. Along the way I realized something though...

This pattern is 9 repeats of 20 rows Chinchilla, 22 rows Glace plus another Chinchilla panel. Other people who hated knitting in ends probably would have realized without too much extra thought that 19 alternating panels meant 38 ends to weave in. I actually got 75% of the way through before this thought passed through my brain.

Whole Lotta Finishing

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. And Ugh again!

I like the scarf, I like the weight of the fabric (it's on the heavier side), but I don't like the looks of those ends. And then there's the fringe...

Hopefully I can get all those ends tucked in before Claudia's Silly Furry Scarf Season ends! After all, I've got to get moving with a certain Bucket Hat, and a couple of sweaters....

P.S. Chicago Knitters: don't forget -- the ChicKnits KIP is Thursday, November 20th at Letizia's Natural Bakery on Division!