I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

I’m done fooling with the process of reworking the Scroll Stitch scarf. I love the stitch pattern because of the undulations it creates but I think it just can’t be worked in my handspun yarn. The yarn is too sproingy and I don’t want to ruin the clean lines of the stitch pattern by adding a border. Possibly a flatter, less elastic yarn might result in a scarf that doesn’t curl so much. Gosh, even acrylic would work better since you could block the hell out of it and never worry about it springing back to life. So the handspun is going back into the stash and the process has come to an end with no final product to show for it. Sad.

But frogging the scarf freed me to finish a baby cardi I’ve been working on. It just needs buttons and a blocking and then I’ll share all the details.

And a third process has also come to an end. My son has finally decided which college he’ll attend in the fall. Oye! What a painful, drawn-out process. Although my husband and son bore most of the organizational burden, I bore the lion’s share of the stress. It was a difficult decision for him and it came down to a choice between Macalester and Occidental. In the end, the lure of year-round golf in Southern California tipped the balance in favor of Occidental.

Can anyone say, “Los Angeles yarn shopping.”

OK, I’ve come to a decision about the scarf. I’m frogging. I can’t stand scarves that curl in at the edges and this is clearly going to curl even with a good blocking.

But, I really like the stitch pattern, especially the strong lines of decreases which you can see really clearly in Rebekkah’s Scroll Lace socks. So I set about figuring out how to keep those lines while working in garter stitch.

Here’s the result:

It’s difficult to see in the crappy, pre-dawn photo but basically, I worked the selvage stitches and the decreases in stockinette stitch and kept everything else in garter stitch.

Compared to the portion knit wholly in stockinette stitch, the garter version is obviously much flatter:

Thumbs up or down?? I’m thinking thumbs down. I’m just not feeling the love for the garter stitch. It really ruins the charm of the stitch pattern.

But, wait! There’s “Plan C.” What about a cowl?? I can stop the bottom and top edges from rolling with garter stitch or moss stitch and the rest of the piece can’t curl ’cause it will be a tube.

Something to think about.

As you’re probably aware, MagKnits is gone and all the archived patterns have been deleted, including my Amber Hat and Lombard Street Socks patterns. I contemplated creating PDF files of the patterns and uploading them to Ravelry, but I know there are many people who aren’t yet on Ravelry. (As an aside, what are you waiting for?? Sign up now!!)

Jody graciously offered to host the patterns on her new ezine, Knotions and I quickly took her up on the offer.

You can find Amber here, and Lombard Street here. I’ve also fixed the links in my sidebar and on Ravelry.

Three cheers for Jody. The patterns look awesome!