Mom’s birthday was last week & we’re planning on going back up to Salida in two weeks so I thought this would be a good time to knit the scarf from last year’so yarn!

8/23 - Mom picked out this yarn at last year’s fiber festival in Salida. We saw a sample scarf knitted up in ribbing that she said she really liked. Personally I’m not a huge fan of ribbing, it’s painfully boring to knit, but this scarf isn’t for me now is it?!! I don’t think knitting a K2P2 scarf requires a pattern so I just cast on 60 stitches with size 7 needles & that looked about right for width. I realized that I needed to either add or drop two stitches since I wanted both ends be knitted, using a multiple of four results in an equal repetition of K2P2 sections but doesn’t match on the ends. I just dropped the last two stitches, resulting in 58 total stitches. Since I can’t stand ribbing, it’s SO boring (yes, I’m saying it again) I decided to add a little something to make it more interesting. I knitted ten rows then did a cable pattern that crossed two stitches to the right every other row. The result is a simple diagonal line that moves from one edge to the other (you can see it in the bottom picture). I was originally going to repeat the lines through the length of the scarf but after completing the first line I decided to just do one cable repeat. I really like the effect: just one subtle line across one edge. It gives just enough interest to break up the monotony of the ribbing without looking busy. I really REALLY like how it turned out. I also love the texture of the yarn. The thick & thin created really interesting bulges in the ribbing so that it almost looks like tear drops or ovals in certain places. For how much I am unimpressed with ribbed scarfs I am really liking this one, the single cable & the slubby textures are creating a really unique & beautiful scarf! I knitted for a few hours & before I knew it I had over a foot done. It knitted up much faster than I expected. I also want to add fringe so I will knit until I have just enough yarn left for fringe.

8/24 - Knit about 6” more before mom & dad called to meet up. I went to the pool for a few hours & knit another foot or so in length. This is the first project I’ve EVER felt comfortable knitting at the pool. Usually I get too hot to want any kind of yarn touching me & it’s hard to position the knitting to not interfere with my tan. But this was manageable, I draped the scarf over the edge of the chair while I knit. Plus this yarn is SO SOFT it felt nice on my skin. I asked mom about the design, she likes it too & was in agreement on adding the fringe. I knitted a little more when I got home & am almost through the entire skein! I’m a little concerned it might be on the short side but I’ll just keep knitting &see how it turns out. I can also block it if it’s not long enough, we’ll see soon enough.

8/25 - I decided to use a different yarn for the fringe so I could get as much length as possible out of the Ellie. I found some interesting yarn I bought a while a go from Wooden Spools that was a good color match, it’s a little bit darker purple but it has all kinds of colors plied in & it’s a mohair base so there’s some fuzz. I added 13” sections folded in half & knotted them through the first row with a crochet hook. I may add more later since I wanted the fringe to have those thick knots. But for now I’m happy with the yarn choice. I knitted through all but a few yards of the yarn so now all that’s left is to bind off & finish up the fringe! I’m supposed to have dinner over at mom & dad’s house tomorrow night because my cousin Sibyl is coming into town for the night. I’ll be able to give it to her then!

8/26 - Bound off & left a few yards of the Ellie to add in with the fringe.

9/14 - Finished the fringe! I had originally put on one folded over piece of yarn per stitch but I had envisioned tied off fringe. I added two extra folded over pieces of yarn per knot, which I made ever four stitches (one for each ribbing repeat). It is SO much better now & it added about 8”in length, enough to now comfortably wrap completely around the neck & have enough ends to tuck in. note to give back to mom!