Scarfy Possibilities
Top Center: Lion and Lamb in Pewter, (moving clockwise) Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, Lang Tonga (in red and green), Plymouth 24K, Angel, a Strange Baby Yarn from Filatura di Crossa and a laceweight merino from Emma

I can't say that I've been on a yarn diet this fall. I wish I had the resolve of Monica and Lynette and their no yarn buying agreement. Instead, I've tried to limit myself to small portions. Since I have a pretty impressive sock yarn stash, it seemed reasonable to buy yarn for scarves.

I've gotten a lot more interested in scarves lately because of a wonderful book,

While I am normally skeptical of scarf books, this one goes beyond garter stitch into some wonderful and creative patterns. There are at least 4 or 5 that I want to try. If you don't have this book already, it's definitely worth putting on your holiday wish list. The Lion and Lamb is meant for the wonderful curly scarf pattern. I think the pewter color will make for a metallic shimmery scarf. The Angel (also in pewter) is meant for a simple K2P2 ribbed scarf for John. Both of these yarns arrived from ThreadBear in Michigan. (And the Angel has been man-approved by the man who will be getting the scarf).

The Lang Tonga came from a new yarn shop in Chicago -- Nina's. I now have a yarn store that is truly in my hood. Not only that, but I think she has the broadest selection of knitting needles around: Mango Moon, Crystal Palace, Bryspun, Skacel and Clover (I think she may have additional varieties as well, but those are the ones I am remembering). She also has a very nice, very hip selection of yarns, including Rowan, Manos, Lang aand Lorna's Laces. I'd never had the opportunity to see yarns from Habu Textiles before, and I'm trying to figure out an excuse to go back and buy some. The red Tonga is being worked up into my favorite ladder yarn scarf pattern and the green will likely be used for the same purpose. (For those of you who might need a quick holiday gift for someone, I've given away several of these scarves and they never fail to please. Not only that, but even the guys where I work comment on the one I made for myself. It may be a little on the flashy trashy side, but it still knits up into something that people love.)

The Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk sort of jumped into my basket when I was at Knitting Workshop not too long ago. Is this stuff soft, or what? I'm thinking it needs to become some sort of keyhole scarf. Perhaps this one? And the Funky Baby Yarn that I think is a Filatura offering (I'm too lazy to run upstairs and find the ball band) is going to be something for my 18 month old niece. This yarn is strange stuff -- imagine Rowan Calmer with some strange poofy tufty things attached. Not quite sure what kind of pattern I'm going to use... something that will both lie flat and show off the poofy bits. I saw a shop model using the Plymouth 24K yarn knit up into a skinny scarf using Purse stitch and decided that it would be a fun touch for my wardrobe. It's a ribbon style yarn with a gold fiber wrapped around to add sparkle. And best of all, it's only $10/skein, which makes it a very affordable wardrobe addition as well.

And last, but certainly not least, that purply lace weight merino (which I am also unable to identify absolutely correctly because of the distance between my couch and the yarn band), something I got trading with Emma. It's destined to be a lovely lacy scarf that I can wear to dress up with or just add a touch of color to a standard work outfit. I never really thought of myself as a lace girl before, but more and more I find myself wanting to use it as an accent. And I enjoy having one project with a reasonable amount of complexity in my ongoing project collection.

So I've shown you mine, now you tell me about yours! Got a favorite scarf yarn or scarf pattern? I'd love to hear about it. It's definitely the time of the year when a scarf can be an easy to make and much appreciated gift, either to yourself or to someone else.