Some things never change.  If you were to browse back through my archives, you would find multiple instances where I mentioned that Julie had inspired a project. In fact, I can credit her with most of my non-knitting crafty experiments.  I daresay that if Julie had never purchased her wheel and a small collection of spindles, I never would have been bitten so hard by the spinning bug (Claudia helped enable the entry into spinning as well -- after I started to get very curious about Julie's Ashford Joy wheel).  This time, I like to think that inspiration for a particular project hit us both at the same time (i.e. with the arrival of the Summer, 2008 Spin Off) but it was seeing her project progress with handspun she had created on the spot for the project that got my brain to click in the right direction for me to actually get things going.

My version of the Morning Surf scarf is made out of two-ply tussah silk.  I cast on 26 stitches, knowing that my yarn was fine and that I only had about 160 yards, so a relatively small scarf was the best that I was going to hope for.  After some trial and error I settled on US size 3 needles.  My final scarf (after wet blocking) is about 54" long and 4" wide. 

The Morning Surf pattern is simple but makes for a lovely scarf, even with only a few repeats across.  The undulations of the pattern really help to show off the intentional striping in this yarn. 

The scarf had a range of different color regions.  Every thing from deep green and purple to pale pinks and blues is represented in the yarn.  It makes me think of African violets or the spring's first crocus.   It is one of those rare patterns that can stand up to a multi-colored handspun yarn and where both yarn and pattern stand out and are remarkable.

 It's also easily reversible -- both sides are interesting and either side could be declared the front of the garment, depending on you mood. 

While this project doesn't require blocking, I'm glad I did for this yarn.  gave the yarn a prolonged soak, and it really opened up, loosened up and relaxed.  As a result, the open work areas are more defined and I think the stitch definition is much more clear. 

This project is definitely a nice way to use up handspun yarn -- even if you don't have a lot.  And since it knits up quickly and is easily memorized, it could also be a quick way to get a knitted gift taken care of if you needed one in a hurry!