Tuesday, August 25, 2009

New Project: Red Scarves

You've heard of the famous red scarf project no doubt.

I just started a red scarf project of my own.

I really want to knit a scarf for my niece K, who's about to start her senior year in high school.

I collected supplies and patterns - from my files at home and from ravelry.


With a scarf for K in mind, I brought home 3 skeins of Misti Alpaca Hand-dyed Baby Alpaca in worsted weight from WEBS. This is color 03 according to the skein, which looks like it's called "Inca Red".

I picked out 5 patterns that I thought would work well for this yarn and look good on K.


Here are my five swatches all in a row. It's interesting to see how they look in a photo instead of in person. The strong diagonal in the swatch between the yellow and white dividers isn't nearly as noticeable in person.

I knitted all swatches (except one that I'll note later) on size 9 needles because that's a size I had. You can find all but one of these patterns on Ravelry.

Sunday, at a family gathering, K chose her favorite scarf. She felt like it was a hard decision, so all of the scarves are winners....but in order from least favorite to most here are the swatches.

Fifth place: Midwest Moonlight by Ivy Bigelow in Scarf Style

The original pattern called for DK or sport weight yarn, plus was not done in a variegated yarn. I felt like the variegated color and the pattern the stitches created fought with each other in this swatch.

Fourth Place: Heart's Content Scarf from Beyond Basic Knitting (Not on ravelry)

This scarf is knit on the bias. Fun to knit and probably fun to wear, it was a little too thin and light for K's idea of a winter scarf.

Third place: Scrunchable Scarf

I had tons of trouble figuring this scarf out because the pattern doesn't quite say what to do with the two extra stitches at the edges. Once I figured it out, I liked it - it's ribbed, but not just plain old boring ribbing.

For the record, I did cast on a multiple of 3, then cast on 2 more stitches. In each row, I slipped the first stitch, and knit the last stitch. For all the stitches in between, I just did the stitches the pattern says.

Very close second: Misti Chunky Ribs & Ruffles Scarf

This scarf surprised me by being my second favorite, and K's also. It's very simple, but it looks really cool in this yarn. (My picture does not do it justice.)

Since the pattern called for Chunky yarn, I followed the advice of several other knitters and used 2 strands of my worsted weight yarn. I lined up the colors so the two strands are going through their color changes at the same time.

I knitted on size 15 needles (even though when I do a scarf following this pattern I will drop back to size 13 as recommended.)

This pattern knits up super fast (size 15 needles will do that!).

Luckily, there should be enough yarn left from K's scarf to make a scarf out of this pattern. It would look great on my sister-in-law J!!!

And the winner is.....

Misty Garden
by Jo Sharp in Scarf Style

This was my favorite as soon as I started knitting it. It's fun to knit, plus looks beautiful.

Even before K decided on her favorite, I'd decided I had to knit this scarf in Misti Alpaca just because I loved the swatch so much. (And no, I did not twist her arm in the selection process!!)

So that's what I'll be knitting as summer transitions into fall (and hopefully not too far beyond!!)

Don't worry - my niece and SIL both know that these scarves are for them. I am not a stealthy knitter!!

Related posts:
Buying this yarn during NEWS

7 comments:

Theresa said...

What a bunch of nice patterns! The color is such a deep rich red. Love it! I bet it feels wonderful too.
I'm not a big scarf knitter but two books which are fairly recent caught my eye and found their way into my library.
Knitting New Scarves by L Barr and Ocean Breezes, Knitted Scarves inspired by the Sea by Sheryl Thies.
Happy knitting!

Delighted Hands said...

Love the color and you have chosen a nice pattern to showcase it! (Is is a feather and fan variation?!) Have fun with this red knitting that doesn't have claws!

sheilabythebeach said...

That is a rich looking scarf color and an interesting design, it will be beautiful. I don't know how to knit and admire the handsome handknits I see people working on.
Thank you for that link to the red scarf project, I didn't know about that; what a wonderful idea.

Sharon said...

I really love your choice of yarn and I think the selected pattern is going to do it justice!

charlotte said...

What a lot of interresting patterns! I love the color too!

Life Looms Large said...

Having made some progress on this scarf now, I do really love how it's coming out. The color of this yarn is gorgeous. Go get some!!! (I'm sure the non-reds are gorgeous too....it's just so nice to knit with!)

I think the pattern is a feather and fan variation....it certainly looks similar - although I haven't actually seen that pattern anywhere so I can't be sure. A nice thing about this pattern is that 3 of the rows are just all knit or all purl, and the fourth row is a fancy row with yarn overs and k2tog. So I can safely knit and chat without losing my place too often!

I'm procrastinating on my photography assignment for the week....but I will post about it soon!

Sue

bspinner said...

Love the shade of red you chose for your scarf. Pattern too. I'm sure it will knit up beautifully.