Knitting New Scarves Knitalong

Shaggy Delights

2008-05-08T19:54:00.001-07:00

I'm pleased to say my Shag is finally finished! Like all of the scarves in this book, it's the new techniques that got me hooked. I'm not really a garter stitch kind of gal and yet the simplicity of the garter or stockinette (which is often in the round so technically it's still just a knit stitch) lets the architecture shine through.

For more details and thoughts on this project you can go to my blog Tante J's Adventures in Knitting. The final analysis is in today's post and there are some nice progress shots a couple of posts earlier.

Cocoons, sort of

2008-04-28T15:56:00.001-07:00

this isn't a great picture, but i'm making progress with my little puffy cocoons. the only problem is the utter unstretchiness of the yarn, which leaves some baggy ends. but i think it'll work, and it's been fun to make.

The Olympics of Knitting

2008-04-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

I love this book! My try at Drifting Pleats set me to swearing, so I started with Fringe and then Easy Wave. Now I'm doing Hourglass and then Flapper. Once I get into shape, I'm going for Tricorner and my ultimate goal, Drifting Pleats.

It took two heavy staplers to keep my book open, so I took it to Kinkos and after a few dollars it was a spiral bound version.

I really hope there's a sequel!

Another convert

2008-03-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

I took The Book into my local knitting store yesterday (Stitch Therapy in Park Slope, Brooklyn) and the owner was so excited about it! She's ordering it for the store and can't wait to get started on her own scarves. She was really impressed with the quality of the patterns and the unusual techniques.

I, meanwhile, am working on Cocoons, but it's not easy. The linen yarn doesn't stretch at all, so it's tough to do the knitting around on 2 needles. I think I'm going to try making the cocoons on smaller needles and see if that makes it any easier.

Finished!

2008-03-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

Here's my Tilted Blocks. What a fun and easy project - I feel very accomplished. The yarn is Lanas Stop Maxi Stop, acrylic and wool. I wanted something really chunky, but also want to make this scarf again with something more delicate.

I went to Purl yesterday and bought some linen for the Cocoons scarf. Since it's been stuck in my head that it's called Clouds, I'm making it in a lovely sky blue. If it goes well, pics will follow.

Chickens and roosters and hens, oh my

2008-03-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

> Hi Little Red Hen. I think I’m seeing a poultry theme here! I’d never heard of Rooster Almerino Aran, so I googled and found it at Laughing Hens. Is it your yarn?

That's a pretty funny coincidence! No, not my yarn -- I spin a little but nothing so soft and nice as this yarn. Rooster is a UK brand.

And while I will be more than happy to post some piccys of my Drifting Pleats when I've progressed a little, we're having a pretty awful heatwave here and it's beginning to feel like someone's cancelled autumn! I am working on finishing a light lace shawl rather than this thicker scarf.

Habu Textiles/Substitution

2008-03-11T16:45:00.001-07:00

I went to the Habu Textiles showroom today (some days living in New York is a good thing!). They have discontinued the cotton linen cord used for the Cocoons scarf. I could order it from Japan, but only in huge quantities.

I like the texture of that blend for that scarf - does anyone have another yarn like it that they'd recommend?

Tilted Blocks Finished

2008-03-09T10:12:00.001-07:00

Two balls of Silk Garden, 5mm needles, February 15th to March 1st. It came out at 75" (I just knitted until I didn't have enough yarn left for another complete block). This was perfect television/travelling knitting - enough interest to keep me going and prevent me from making silly mistakes out of boredom, but simple and very portable.

Drifting pleats

2008-03-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm on a bit of a yarn diet this year, but I have four balls of Rooster Almerino Aran in the stash that I thought would be perfect for a soft, drapey scarf. So last night I cast on for Drifting Pleats.

It's tricky, but it had me sitting there in awe of Lynne, for thinking the whole scheme up, and also of her tech editor! I can imagine it might have made mere mortals rip their hair out -- it would have been difficult to test and hard to get the pattern into a form that wasn't too prescriptive and yet conveyed the necessary technical information to create the pleats.

I'm interested in the fact that every time I pause and think, 'Could this possibly be the right way to do this?' I can trust the pattern (and my intuition) and it works!

Many hourglasses!

2008-03-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I was planning to knit the Black Pearls next, but I knitted the Hourglass instead.
The book said Koigu Kersti, but I used 3 hanks of Koigu KPM (grayish purple) for MC and 1 hank of Koigu KPPPM (yellow mix) for CC.
It was my first knitting with Koigu yarn, and I liked their delicate colors.

I made a modification from the book, which is repeat the pattern all the way to the end instead of work K2, P2 rib for 15” in the middle part. Many hourglasses!

I didn’t notice using 2 strands of yarns held together until start reading the pattern… which I don’t like doing it! But I like the finished scarf, it made all the effort of untangling two strands of yarn worthwhile.
Seems like winter is already over in L.A., but I want to wear the scarves I knitted from this book until I get sweaty!

Sunny

Book errata?

2008-03-05T05:05:00.000-08:00

Forgive me if this has already been covered here:

Is there any book errata? I looked on Melanie Falick's site and there was nothing under this book's title.

Thanks!

Choosing a yarn

2008-03-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

i was in a yarn store today and almost bought the blue sky alpaca cotton for the shawl collar scarf, but i held off because i have another project promised first. but i wonder - could i use that cotton worsted for the black pearls scarf, which i'm dying to make for myself? the pattern calls for peace fleece worsted, so the weight ought to be about the same.

i know this is kind of a dopey question, but i'm always nervous about deviating from patterns, but since i can't wear wool, i often have to.

tomorrow i buy yarn for my first scarf, tilted squares!

Greetings

2008-03-03T03:51:00.000-08:00

Just got the book and found this group, and was happy to see someone has already worked on what I want my first project to be: the Shawl collar. And I optimistically want to work about 80% of the patterns!

I first found out about the book from Jean's Knitting blog where she did the Linked Ribs (November 17, 2007 posting) and I was already thinking of what I would be doing with leftover mohair from the Rowan Earth Stripe Wrap (that I'm still slowly working on, of course). I'm MaryjoO on Ravelry and Flickr.

How did everyone else find out about the book?

hello!

2008-02-23T15:20:00.001-08:00

i just wanted to say hi. i just ordered Knitting New Scarves, and i can't wait to get started.

one thing i'd love to hear opinions on: i can't wear wool, so any suggestions and advice about non-wool yarns to use for these patterns would be great.

i hope i'll have something to show you soon - just be gentle, i'm not a great knitter - yet!

Tilted Blocks

2008-02-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas gift for my friend S.

Pattern: Tilted Blocks from Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr (Ravelry link)
Needles: 5.5 mm
Yarn: Moda Vera's Harmony. 2 skeins of Colour #18 ~ Dye lot #703225

Quick and fun to knit.

OzKnitter

Rainbow Tilted Blocks

2008-02-17T06:29:00.001-08:00

It's taken a while, but I've finally got back to my Knitting New Scarves stash-busting project. I've picked another easy one, because I was lacking a project simple and portable enough for travelling knitting. This is 'Tilted Blocks', in Noro Silk Garden colour 87, on 5mm needles. I thought the longish stretches of each colour would work well with the design, and so far I seem to have been right. One knot so far, which I spliced. Compared to some balls from Noro, that's quite good.

I have four balls of this, but I doubt I'll use all of them. Two and half to three will probably make a good length, and I might get a matching hat too.

Pink Shag scarf and a bonus

2008-02-14T22:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I finished my pink Shag scarf on Feb 13th, and I wore it on Valentine’s Day!

My friend gave me 2 skeins of Patons SWS in Natural Berry. I usually don’t chose pink myself, but it turned out to be a cute girly scarf and I love it!

I made it shorter than the book said, 37 inches long, but just right for the warm L.A. winter. The yarn was made from 70% wool and 30% soy… I guess soy is a new material for yarn.

I had a little leftover yarn, so I decided to make a mini hat Christmas tree ornament. A great way to use a small amount of yarn--and never too many ornaments!

I was thinking the next thing I’ll knit from this book is “Black Pearls”. I haven’t seen any posts for Black Pearls in the knitalong yet… anyone tried?

Sunny

First project out of the book

2008-02-08T16:44:00.002-08:00

Hi everybody. New KAL member and a big fan of Knitting New Scarves here! I'm a magazine editor, knitter and artist. (You can find out more here if you like, and I'm at Ravelry as littleredhen).

I'm pondering doing an extended knitting project of scarves out of KNS, starting with a completely by-the-book rendition of the Shawl Collar, so I was really happy to find this KAL already in progress. I had for months been wondering when I would have time to try out a scarf project and which one it would be when I encountered the delightful Blue Sky Alpacas cottons for the first time (detailed at my blog.). No brainer! As I'm an autumny person, I even chose the same colourway (although I think it should be called Paprika instead of Tomato) and cast on this beautiful yarn as soon as it was out of the bag. I knitted right out of the hank, which was also a very pleasant experience.

Doesn't really bring anything new to the project, does it? I really like the shape of this scarf and the way it recalls a sweater thrown over the shoulders. The ribbing is lovely and plush, and I appreciated the tip on controlling tension when switching between knit and purl stitches—it does make a difference.

Looking forward to the next project!

Introduction & Parallelograms

2008-01-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon to everyone. My name is Ana Maria. I joined the KAL about a month ago but had a hard time finding the book at any of our LYS. I finally ordered it on the web.

I started the parallelograms scarf but instead of using the yarn it called for I am using The Wool Boutique's Elle Merino Brights which I had in my stash. I really like the gradation of colors. It is fun and is knitting up fast.

Of course since I made the fibers change it has a different look to it. But I love it.

Curving Shags

2008-01-27T04:27:00.000-08:00

I've had a couple of enquiries from new joiners about the fact that the Shag they're trying to knit has developed a curve.
The first time I started Shag, I found that it curved and I worked out that it was because I wasn't counting rows properly and was sometimes picking up on the same edge as the previous flap instead of the opposite side - the flaps should go / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ but I was going / / / which makes one edge curl, as shown above.
This is how the underside should look:Tante J has some much better photos below that illustrate this. The trick is always to count your rows properly or, failing that, always to do an uneven number of rows between casting off and picking up.

New F.O.

2008-01-26T04:36:00.000-08:00

Oiyi, one of our Scarfalongers, has a new FO but she's too busy and tired and happy to post, so go over and see her at her blog.

Shagalicious

2008-01-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

You people have really gotten to me. In a good way of course! I never really thought about making Shag until I joined the group and saw the funky Shags you were churning out. So I jumped on the bandwagon!

Using a beloved yarn from my stash, I had to modify once again as it really wants to be knit up on 4mm needles. So I upped the CO to 19 and the rows to 23. I may be taking a bit more time, but I am very happy with the results.

The length of Shag, about 50% complete

Shag, from the back

Shag, close up

more of the colorway

And I am still working on New Wave. It's about 35-40% done.

For more details on my adventures with these scarves, you can see my personal blog, Tante J's Adventures in Knitting.

FO: Chunky ZigZag Scarf

2008-01-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

It may have taken longer than expected, but I finally finished my ZigZag scarf (page 122)! I really love how it turned out, too. There were no surprises and the pattern is well-written and easy to follow. I even like the clear reference photographs in the back of the book; so important for this scarf because of the intarsia refresher.

I would definitely knit this visually appealing pattern again, since part of the fun is picking out complementary colors and watching them move to and fro. I tell you what: two skeins of Cascade 128 never looked so fetching! Read more about the particulars of this project at my blog, Yarn Is My Metier.

Two More

2008-01-14T17:14:00.001-08:00

I've finished two more projects from Knitting New Scarves -- I tell people that I'm knitting my way through the book!

I got the yarn for this Twisted scarf from white elephant yarn exchange at my knitting guild's holiday party. This was such fun to knit.

When I bought these two balls of yarn, I thought I could use them interchangeably. However, when I balled them up, I realized that they would be perfect for Reversible.

The short rows provide great shaping to this scarf. It sits on my shoulders very nicely.

I'm having a great time with this book. My next one will either be Drifting Pleats or Shawl Collar.

Completed

2008-01-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

Completed a scarf from this wonderful book. I used Cascade Yarns Jewel Hand-dyed color 9889 with # 10 3/4 double-pointed needles. The project is over a hundred inches long because I decided to use up two balls of yarns. A great project and I've moved on to the tricorner scarf.