A winter scarf - Ta Da!

You might recall earlier this month, that, at the last minute, I decided finishing this scarf would be my August goal for A Year of Lovely Finishes. Well, I am happy to report that it worked. I carried this scarf around all month, on and off ferries, to Vancouver and back to my island, and I finished it. I have a vision of wearing this scarf in November with a black leather jacket on a windy fall day, not that I have such a jacket but it will work nicely with my other fall coat too.



This yarn is by a designer named Noro from Japan. He blends the different colours before the yarn is spun and that is why it changes so gradually as it changes colours. Also, the yarn does not change colours exactly the same way every time and there is generally something unexpected thrown in like that bit of pink. I've forgotten the name of this particular kind of Noro yarn and its fibre content, except to say that it is fairly chunky and has some cotton, silk, maybe wool and other fibres in it too so it is soft and lovely.



This is a pattern that my grandmother often knit - you get squares that look a bit like patchwork. For this scraf, I knit 8, purled 8 and repeated that. I worked 10 rows and then changed the order around (purl 8, knit 8, repeat.)



I gave this scarf a good blocking. I washed it in the sink with some dish soap, making sure it soaked long enough to get the inner fibres wet. I rinsed it without wringing it. Then I patted it into shape, rolled it in a thick towel for a few minutes and then took it outside to dry in the sun. It happily held its shape while drying and after.



This is a picture of the scarf while it was being knit. You can see how lumpy it was where the stitches changed and how wavy the edge was. Blocking made all the difference - I highly recommend blocking everything you knit. Also, it cleaned out the year's worth of dust and dirt that the scarf had acquired as I carried it about to work on.



My scarf model is tall, almost 6' now, and although he is thinner than I am, there is no doubt that this scarf is a generous size. It should ward off the Canadian winters very nicely.



Scarfs roll up nicely like quilts. You can see that I did nothing fancy on the edges of this one, and after the blocking, they look neat and mostly even.

I am off to link up my finish with Shanna and Melissa. You can join AYOLF too, it sure has been working well for me. And this scarf was on my Q3 FAL list too!

One question, I am doing my Around the World Blog Hop post tomorrow night and I need one more person to tag. If you want me to tag you, please let me know in the comments or send me an email.

Best,

Leanne