The Never-ending Scarf est complet

"Mommy, is the scarf going to be as big as the house?"

Kids. Gotta love them when they blurt out what everyone else is thinking. Now I know that I wasn't the only one gettting bored with what I am now calling "the never-ending scarf" that was no longer fitting the category of take-along knitting (think: bulky yarn stuffed into a shopping bag). So I decided to call it "fin" after the 16th repeat (at ~4' 10"), BO, and pack up my supplies:

I am very pleased with the end product although in my usual grumpiness (otherwise known as me epitomizing a control-freak) there are things about the scarf that are really ticking me off.

One is the fact that this scarf curls inwards (this is not only my complaint - refer to Ravelry for more opinion). There were no suggestions in the pattern to block the scarf. Would this even fix the problem, I don't know.

Secondly, my scarf measures only 7" in width instead of the 8" indicated in the pattern. I have no problem with this as I like how my scarf looks and I can't imagine how very loose the pattern would be if I didn't knit so tightly. (I have yet to do sweaters or anything using real gauge, so I'm not worried YET.)

Thirdly, there is no way I could knit the full 21 repeats without wanting to do something morbid with the huge needles needed for the project. I'm content in knowing that less is more. :-)

Cable; repeat.

Yea, I have finally had time to do some knitting lately! (Hmm... do I knit or do I read? Sorry, I can't do both like some people I've spoken to! At least, not yet!)

I can confidently say that I now know how to knit cables, thanks to Lion Brand's free "Learn to Cable Scarf" pattern. I will say that knitting from this pattern really is a good way to learn cables. If you haven't done cables before, you really have nothing to worry about! I couldn't believe how easy a technique it really is, and with such nice results.

Here is a show of my progress at the end of the third repeat:

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but this scarf has an unusually long agenda of 21 repeats (making it a monstrous 6' long). I'm about 1/3 of the way through the first of two balls of yarn. We'll see how long the allure of cables lasts with this pattern.

I have decided that my next cable project will be one with a reversible pattern (unless it's a sweater, of course). Although the back looks nicely patterned with knit and purl stitches, I would have liked cables there too. Ravelry lists a few nice ones that I've added to my ever-growing list of favourites...

Generation X

Here's my line of thinking, or rather, my version of word association. So I'm sitting, watching tv and knitting my cable scarf, and on comes an interview with Douglas Coupland on CBC. (As you may or may not know, Douglas Coupland coined the term "Generation X" in his book of the same title.) Amazingly, at this same point in time that I'm watching Coupland's interview, my scarf resembles an X:

Talk about coincidences! (Maybe I should write to let him know of this miraculous happening.) Anyway, I am knitting along and watching the interview because I loved Coupland's book, Hey Nostradamas. I have yet to watch the CBC series based on Douglas Coupland's book, Jpod. It could be because of the fact that I hated the book and I really don't feel any strong urge to watch Canadian-born actor Alan Thicke in it. Hmmm... Did you "get" Jpod? Are you watching the show, perhaps curious to see just what CBC will allow Coupland to show on air?

The photo shows my progress to the end of the first repeat. Only 21 more repeats to go (less, if I get bored; more if I pick up some butterscotch yarn)...

You can see my book reviews on Jpod and Hey Nostradamas here.

2008: Year of the Cable?

In order to advance my knitting skills I have decided to take on cables. At the same time I am also attempting to try something other/larger than dishcloths. For my first cable project I have decided that I want to make a scarf, and I finally found a scarf pattern that looks simple enough to attempt. As Lion Brand's free pattern is called "Learn to Cable Scarf", it quite aptly fits my needs.

This pattern is also listed as "Easy," so that immediately moved this scarf into contention. The pattern calls for 9mm needles (US13), which I had to go out of my way to get (20+ minutes each way). At least Michael's had a 30% off sale and I got my yarn, knitting needles, and cable needles a little cheaper. (My dh, James, wants a scarf done in grey tones so I had to get a raincheque for some grey yarn. Is grey yarn that popular?)

I am not thrilled with the sample colours chosen by whomever knitted it up. Sorry, the "butterscotch" and "taupe" together just do not make me happy. Others' work on Ravelry looks great for this scarf and has been done in a multitude of colour choices (note: none of them is in the butterscotch and taupe combination). I choose Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Fisherman (Fisherperson???). I've grown to love the look of cream or off-white in the final result of knitting. Boring? Maybe. But I'm knitting it for me, and if all goes well it should turn out beautifully. :-) Wish me luck, and answer my poll (up on the right -->)!