This is the first knitted item that I’ve made for myself! I started this 3 years ago, but I put it down to work on gift items. This is also the first pattern in Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook. I got the book as a X-mas present several years ago when I first learned how to knit. It’s pretty ambitious, but I’d like to knit all of the patterns from that book.

I made mine with Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky (50% Wool/50% Alpaca). The yarn is so soft and warm and very squishy! I loved being able to knit with such thick yarn. It was really a nice change after using mostly worsted weight yarn. Though, you really have to make sure each stitch is tight. The stitches are so large that it’s easier to see any mistakes.

My least favorite part of the pattern was weaving in the ends. I had tied slipknots every time I changed colors. So, I had to undo all of the knots, which was tricky because they were almost felted together, before weaving the ends in. To weave the ends in properly, I used this tutorial: Very Pink Knits: Weaving In Ends In Garter Stitch but I had to use a size K crochet hook because the yarn was so thick. This made it pretty tedious, but I did manage to do most of it in one sitting.

Notes: When I first started the scarf, I didn’t know how big the sections were supposed to be. So, I did 25 rows of the Grasshopper green before switching to the Atlantis teal on row 26. For every section after, I did 23 rows of each color before switching. This meant that my first “square” didn’t match up with the others. So, when I was near the end of the scarf, I did 25 rows of the Boysenberry purple and then bound off on the 26th row. This made sure that the scarf was symmetrical. I also did all of my color changes on the “right” side and my bind-off on the “right” side.

Pictures: I tried to make some of my pictures more artsy.

Pictures 1 & 2- I rolled the scarf up like a sushi roll, first with the green cast-on edge showing and second with the purple bind-off edge showing.

Pictures 3 & 4- The scarf is mostly rolled up but shows the first 3 and the last three stripes to show off the pattern.

Pictures 5 & 6- I took a picture of it folded up and another of it laid out showing the front and back.

Pictures 7, 8, & 9- Close-ups showing the front of the scarf in each of the colors. I really like how even my stitches and the edges turn out.

Pictures 10 & 11- Close-ups of the back of the scarf. In real life it’s easier to see where I weaved in the ends (looks more bumpy- is thicker in spots), but in these photos it’s almost invisible. The 3rd green “stripe”, shown in picture 11, had the most ends weaved in (4) because I ran out of green before I finished the section. I am most proud of that part of the scarf because I made it look so neat- you can’t tell that I added a new ball of green and then immediately switched colors. And because of all the weaved-in ends, it makes the square stronger, which is good because that part will be around my neck.

Picture 12- This last picture is from when I first got the yarn and needles for my scarf. The yarn came in hanks and I made a tangled mess when I rolled it into balls. I’m getting a ball winder soon, so that should prevent me from having to do that again.