Ridges

What do you do when you pick up a yarn that is absolutely beautiful in terms of the yarn quality, and absolutely difficult in terms of the colour palette, and you picked it up just because you were getting 800 metres of pure lace goodness for $3? (I sometimes wonder, does anyone else do this?) 

This one (3 balls of it for $9) were bought last year Christmas sales, and has been sitting there, I did not know what to make of it. It has a bright shade of blue, followed by a bright shade of neon green, followed by a dark sienna type shade and for some strange reason is called Apple Mix! On the good side, its wonderful to feel and you can tell it is good wool, and a pleasure to knit with. 2 ply. 

So, after much thought, raveling and unraveling, I am happy to be producing something that REALLY suits the crazy colour scheme - its looking wonderfully textured and ripply, as THICK RIDGES, feels all mountainy-greeny-skyish and most importantly, wearable as a super casual T-shirt - jeans kind of scarf. I am happy to have rescued it :) 

Stitch Pattern Notes: No lace (colours too wild), knit only, no purls, yarn held double throughout. Aim: Produce nice thick but soft fabric, to show off the colours but also to mix them sequentially. Ripple increases and decreases on the right side, All knit on the wrong side. Increases: yarn over, knit, yarn over. Decreases: slip two stitches, knit one, pass two slipped stitches over. On the wrong side, to prevent lacy-ness: knit through the back loops of the yarn overs. Put as many stitches as you want for the "slopes" between alternate increases and decreases, I have put 6 here.  

Elf Leaf Scarf

Designed a super simple pattern, inspired when reading The Hobbit with my son :) The Elf Leaf Scarf. 

Pattern

I used 2 50 gram Splendour Yarn balls from Lincraft (Australia) with 4 mm needles. But, the pattern is easy to make in any yarn, since you can use the "principle" and vary the number of base stitches, more stitches for thinner yarn, lesser for thicker yarn. The "principle" is to alternate between an increase part and a decrease part, while maintaining the central leaf vein. The increases and decreases all happen on the side of the piece and the vein is maintained in the centre. Super simple, really. 

Make 2 pieces exactly the same, then join by the Kitchener Stitch. 

Knit = K

Purl = P 

Slip, Slip, Knit: ssk

Knit 2 together: k2tog

Pass Slipped Stich Over: psso

Yarn over: yo

Slip a stich: sl

For all rows, slip the first stitch purlwise. 

Edge: 

Cast on 41 stitches. Preparatory Rows (PR):  

PR1: K19, sl 1,  k2tog, psso (you have reduced by two stitches), K19.

PR2: Knit. 

Repeat preparatory rows 1 and 2 till you have 17 stitches left. That is, from 41 stitches, you are down to 17 stitches, or the "thinnest" portion of the scarf.  

Body: 

Increase

Start on right side with 17 stitches. Increase rows (IR):   

IR1: K8, yo, K1, yo, K8. (19 stitches) 

IR2 and all even rows on wrong side: K5, p to last 5 stitches, K5. 

IR3: K9, yo, K1, yo, K9. (21 stitches)

IR5: K10, yo, K1, yo, K10. (23 stitches)

Continue in this way till you have 41 stitches (or back to the original number cast on).     

Decrease

Start on right side with 41 stitches. Decrease rows (DR): 

DR1: K5, ssk, ssk, K11, yo, K1, yo, K11, k2tog, k2tog, K5. (39 stitches)

DR2 and all even rows on wrong side: K5, p to last 5 stitches, K5. 

DR3: K5, ssk, ssk, K10, yo, K1, yo, K10, k2tog, k2tog, K5. (37 stitches)

DR5: K5, ssk, ssk, K9, yo, K1, yo, K9, k2tog, k2tog, K5. (35 stitches)

Continue in this way till you have 17 stitches (or back to the thinnest portion of the scarf). Last row in this section will be K5, ssk, ssk, yo, K1, yo, k2tog, k2tog, K5. 

Keep working the Increase and Decrease portions till you have reached a length equal to half the desired length of the scarf, and end after working an increase portion. On a 4mm pair, I did 4 full repeats (increase + decrease) and then an increase (that is, 4 and a half repeats). Make 2 pieces exactly the same, and join the 41 stitches (or the number cast on) with the Kitchener Stitch. 

Wash, Block, Wear, Gift!