Here is a Pro and Con List About Scarves

PRO:

Pretty!
Warm!
They make you feel French, sort of!
Fun to make!
Platforms for all the pretty pins your grandma gave you!
Pretty! (they are; it’s worth saying twice).
Easy to knit on the bus! (for a while; see CON list.)

CON:

Those patterns get pretty boring after the first 4 feet, and you still have 3-4 more to go.
They can take freaking ass forever to make.
Not so portable once they get really long.

I do love scarves and I do make a lot of them. They are excellent bus knitting and most of the patterns are easy to memorize so you can work without having the written instructions in front of you. But they can get tedious after 3 or 4 feet, especially when you’re working with lightweight yarn and smaller needles.

I tend to prefer to work scarves in DK or Sport weight yarn, which usually calls for needles sized 4 to 6. If I was knitting bulky weight on US 13s I obviously wouldn’t have much to complain about, but I just started an Alhambra in Bambool on US 5s. 8” in and it’s the sockweight Clapotis ennui all over again. I love the pattern, the yarn and the Addi Turbos but I just get discouraged when progress is less than lightspeed.

So, to temper that, I have some side projects to keep me engaged. One of these was this Sunray Scarf (Link to Free Ravelry Pattern Download here) which I worked in Cascade 220.

Worsted weight yarn on US 8 needles meant a 28” scarf only took a few days. I just got a new winter coat and wanted a small scarf or cowl or neckwarmer to wear with it. Actually, I want like 40 small scarves or cowls or neckwarmers because they are so quick and easy to knit. But I started with this one. If I do this pattern again, I think I will switch from a 3-stitch herringbone to a two stitch. The 3 is just a bit saggy, but I think that’s in large part due to my yarn choice.

Time is a relative concept

So, when I say something like “I’ll post that pattern in like a week or so,” and it ends up being like 7 or 9 weeks, I’m not wrong. Mostly, I just procrastinate and then stay up late drinking tequila, and then here we are.

Hello, 2004. It’s nice to see you again. Sort of.

Some Things That Happened in 2004 (Not in Chronological Order):

1. Lost premiered on ABC and, despite my best efforts to make it not so, has consumed my life for the last 5 years.
2. Martha Stewart went to jail and emerges in The Poncho.
3. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS. Because the Yankees suck
4. Friends aired it’s series finale. I didn’t watch it and still have no idea if Ross ended up with Rachel. And I still don’t care.
5. The world lost Lenny, and I was sad.
6. Wardrobe Malfunction
7. The Apprentice premiered, and The Donald’s terrible hair immediately hypnotized my roommates. Fortunately, I did not look.
8. Napoleon Dynamite was released. Two days later, the Vote for Pedro thing stopped being funny. Sadly, most people continue to think it still is.

I’m sure a lot more happened, but I was a bit out of the loop. I was wrapping up my graduate degree and writing my Master’s thesis at the time, which meant I was was busy either a)being at the library up to my eyebrows in Maya Deren; b)not sleeping; c) drinking; d) moving five times between four states because, amazingly, a MFA in Film Studies does not make you immediately employable; or e) any combination of 2 or more of the above.

So I missed one important thing: the Clapotis (clap-oh-tee [I think]), which was published in the fall of 2004 on Knitty. 8 out of 10 knitters who I know have made one, or at least started one. And I didn’t ever get around to it. I wanted to, but every time I started one, I would get about 6 inches in and end up frogging it out of boredom.

Then there was flying. I have no fear of flying but have the attention span of a gnat. So when it came time for me and my husband to head west to San Diego to visit his brother (sigh. And, yes, to go to Comic-Con. Which I won’t be doing again. Thanks, Twilight uberfans! You are lame and ruin everything!) I needed a portable project that could last two cross-country flights and not take up too much suitcase room. So, I decided it was time for a Clapotis and *lightbulb* I would make it in fingering weight SOCK YARN. 600+ yards wound into three small balls and a pair of US 7 circulars later I was ready to go.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand about 3 feet in I realized that sock yarn was maybe not a great choice. Because it was taking FOREVER.

But I persevered and worked on it, as planned, during both flights. And during my 90-minutes-each-way bus ride to and from work. And every moment when I wasn’t sleeping (just like it was really 2004). And finally…almost 8 feet later…done. Beautiful, soft, and totally worth it.

Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in Pumpkin (3 skeins)
Needles: US 7
Blocked Dimensions: 88″ long x 22″ wide

Morning Surf Scarf for a Mermaid