Wrangling Loose Ends

The posts over the next couple of days will be short and sweet.

I have to say it was great fun seeing several Silly Scarf & Hat projects worked up. Love the super bulky yarn.

Considering what I'm seeing in fashion blogs and runway reviews, bulky knit cowls will be with us through next year.

When finishing, I've never liked the thick lump caused by weaving in a bulky loose end. But there's a solution: split the strand in two and weave in each half separately.

A Celebration

Today I have something very special for you, my Valentines.

No, it isn't a scarf. Instead, I've changed the price of my crocheted Scrappy Bear to … free!

You should have just enough time to make one for a special someone on the 14th. It works up very quickly using small amounts of yarn.

Click here to download the instructions for "Scrappy Bear".

Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez

Forget the beads … you won't be showing them anything but your skills when you strut with the crew wearing "Mardi Gras".

A little ditty, it only takes 130 yards to whip up this scarf.

Despite and snow, this afternoon I trekked around the neighborhood with a pile of scarves around my neck. It was time to shoot some scarves for patterns. You know, I must be getting quite the reputation for being weird because no one stares at me anymore.

Click here to download the instructions for "Mardi Gras".

Behind the Camera

Thought you'd get a kick out of what I see through the camera lens before I crop to show only the stitching.

I shoot in front of an old fireplace. It looks a bit rough because it's 200 years old, and I'm renovating. Slowly. Very. Slowly.

I like to shoot here because I can tape and nail to the plaster because it'll soon (hah!) be gone.

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

When you knit or crochet there's plenty of time to think. Or watch TV. Or a movie. Most evenings I get through the boring parts of the stitching with TV. I've tried talking books, but I lose my train of thought.

So, anyways, the stitching frequently leads to other stitching ideas. Bet the same thing happens to you. In fact, I bet that the number of ideas we have well exceeds the amount of yarn in our stash.

For those of you on Ravelry, I'd love to know just how many patterns are in your library, waiting to be stitched.

A tease: here's a scarf you'll see when the weather gets warmer. It's called "Open Windows".

Head's Up

What? You expected normal? That's just a setting on a dryer.

Over on Ravelry.com I have a group called Year of Scarves. One of the discussions invites people to tell me what kind of scarves they'd like to see, as well as yarn preferences and other details.

I got a request for a scarf with a hood. Tried that. Got bored.

The "Silly Scarf" hat fits most heads.

(And here's what I've learned making and selling hats at the Easton Farmers' Market: adult medium and child medium are the same size.)

The back of the hat has a short row so that there's a bit more warmth at the base of the head. And the ends are long enough to wrap around your neck.

Click here to download the "Silly Scarf" hat pattern and make your own.

Mulling It Over

I had no intention of including a felted crochet scarf in the 2014 collection. While many people do successfully created felted (fulled) crochet, I've been less than satisfied.

Throwing caution to the wind, and avoiding the label of being a crochet bigot (I actually crochet more than I knit), I'm including this scarf, "Felt Like Crochet".

And, for the record, it did felt quite nicely.

The felted piece did, however, sit on my cutting table for over a month as I puzzled over what I could do with it. The stitches are still slightly visible, which means there are tiny weak spots throughout the piece.

I wanted to take advantage of that. Only yesterday I finished a technical edit of a beaded jewelry book. And that got me thinking about beads … then jump rings (the round metal circles that you can open) … and so, here you go.

Click here to download the instructions for "Felt Like Crochet" and see how it's done.

Not a Brain Surgeon...or Actor.

The day slipped away from me. Before I knew it midnight was creeping up on me and I hadn't finished the instructions for the next scarf. So Wednesday's crocheted scarf,  "Gates", is free for a second day.

Posts and Gates

You can thank Taff for today's scarf. That's her Ravelry.com name or Ravatar, as it's called over there.  In the Year of Scarves group, she has been pointing out every time I release a crocheted scarf. So here you go. Another one.

I've been crazy for front and back post double crochet stitches ever since Jane Snedden Peever introduced me to Aran crochet. In fact, it was her design submission to a book I was developing, Crocheted Sweaters, that caught my attention and led to two books entire filled with her work: Aran Crocheted Sweaters and More Aran Crocheted Sweaters. (I still have a couple of boxes of first edition Aran Sweaters if you're interested in one. Order from huxley90 at Amazon.com.)

Anyhow, "Gates" doesn't have cables, but it's an excellent way to get used to working front post double crochet and back post double crochet stitches. Because single crochet is worked in the center of many rows you'll really get a handle on the placement of the posts.

Click here to download the "Gates" pattern and learn how it's done.

A Hole in My Heart...

…and a mangled cookie cutter. My plan was to fast-track the heart cutting by tapping a shaped cookie cutter through the scarf. The felted was too bouncy. And did you know a cookie cutter collapses really easily when you hit it with a hammer?

I made this scarf just a few days before Christmas. Like most stitchers, it's best to start holiday scarves long before that holiday arrives. This prevents the 11th-hour scramble to finish a gift on time.

Did you just snort? Me, too. It was just a fluke that I started early on this one.

I had a hankering for felting. I'm going to stop here because, although I'm not a stickler for specifics, I am about this term. Felting is packing loose fibers together. What us stitchers do with our knitting and crocheting is fulling.

It took a while to develop a nice ratio of red to yellow rows for "Heartless."

Click here to download the instructions for "Heartless".

Soul Searching

In mid-December, as most people were gearing up for a festive season, me and my husband were on a somewhat different trajectory. We were awaiting test results. Shortly after the planned launch of Year of Scarves we learned that I have breast cancer.

Now don’t suck in your breathe and start worrying. I’m one hell of a tough old bird, having already faced my share of adversity and health threats during my life.

What this means for you, the wonderful people who are playing along with my Year of Scarves adventure is ... not much.

This project is going forward for the entire year no matter what. I have helping hands and scarves lined up.

My Wonder Woman cape, however, is packed with my gear for surgery and later treatments (not traditional chemo; I won’t be so sick I can’t continue). But I won’t be working weekends. I’ll continue to blog those days. There will be fun tidbits and tips to keep you in the stitching mood.

AND THERE WILL STILL BE FREE, ORIGINAL SCARF PATTERNS TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. This project and the interactions I’ve had with you have given me too much joy and pleasure to let slip away.

At the end of the year I won’t have 365 scarves in the can. But I will be alive, kickin’ butt, and have so many new, wonderful stitching friends.

You Asked For It...Sort Of

The "Split Personality" two-color cable scarf featured earlier in January was so popular that I've created another fun cable for today, "Aran Braid".

It's easier than the two-color cable. Yes, really.

In fact, with each part a different color, it leads to an intuitive approach to understanding cables and catching onto the color- and row-repeats. I was thankful for this because it's about all I could handle while flat on my back in bed with a cold.

Click here to download the instructions for "Aran Braid".

Chicken Soup Didn't Help

Yesterday I was ready to kill every living thing in the house. The lone survivor would have been Cat because she runs too fast for me to catch.

Obviously,  I'm still battling a bug. I spent the day in bed,  blaming my husband for bringing home a cold, rather than prepping a scarf pattern.   So yesterday's free scarf will be free again today.

I have scarves ready, but take the photographs and format the instructions the day before release.

Up next...Not Fair Isle, but rather intense colorwork with a smidge of embroidery...Now on the blocking surface and coming soon to your inbox.

Unless this cold kills me.

Texture: This Girl’s Best Friend

I'm a texture girl. Colorwork is wonderful, but given a choice between, say, entrelac and Fair Isle, I'll go with the entrelac every time.

So it's no surprise that I went on a bobbles jag two years ago. Sometimes you just have to get these things out of your system. It wasn't until I entered my 30s that I truly understood that this was the motivation for many artists who create a series of work on a theme or technique.

Anyhow, back to today's scarf. It's a rather simple neck warmer that's just long enough to wrap around your neck and tuck into the front of your coat.

The bobbles add interest, and a knit loop at one corner wraps over a button on the opposite corner to keep the "Drops" scarf from slipping when worn.

The pattern includes a photo tutorial for a bobble.

Click here to download today's pattern, "Drops".

I Am Thankful...

...to be reminded, yet again, that there are germs in the world to cull the herd. Or, in this case, knock one particular gal on her back for a couple of days.

The free scarf offered on Sunday has been extended to the end of the day Monday. Apologies to everyone playing the game with me.

Come hell or high water, there will be a new scarf for Tuesday.

Fast and Furious: The Stitcher Sequel

Have you ever watched a Sheep to Shawl event? It's fun seeing the shearing, yarn preparation, and weaving coalesce as a finished piece in so short a time span.

Participating in one is exhilarating. My experience is with knit and crochet, rather than weaving, and the events have an abbreviated format: We start with clean roving that is ready to be carded and turned into yarn by a team of two or three spinners. As each batch is finished, it's handed to the stitcher. I've been lucky enough to do this at a zoo, near the farm animal exhibit, and at the outdoor Easton Farmers' Market.

Today's scarf, "Enchantment", is a spin-off (nyuk, nyuk) of the shawl pattern I developed for the 2011 event. Spinning started at 9 am, so my sticks were moving by 10. The piece was finished at 2 pm. Yes I’m fast, but the design, worked sideways, is designed for speed, repetition, and visual interest.

Go here for the complete instructions, including a photo tutorial for the one-over-two bind off.

Super Super Bulky Yarn

We're fast approaching the time of year when Polar Fleece goes on sale. These days, though, the material is so popular that unless you're right on the spot when the new price goes up, all you'll see is the well, really weird prints. Really. Weird.

Who in their right mind, for example, though it would be a good idea to print yardage with cartoon-like dancing vegetables? I was gobsmacked when I saw it. And had to buy it. That became my first fleece fabric scarf, knit in simple garter stitch. The colors looked super and the veggies disappeared when I turned the material into yarn.

That scarf went into the first annual Chase the Chill bombing four years ago. And I promptly forgot about it.

Then a friend showed me some examples of arm knitting. How cute and fun.

The really loose gauge, however, doesn't appeal to me. You can double strand two super bulkies. It occurred to me, though, that I could cut polar fleece to any width and use it as the yarn. And thus we have "To Arms".

Which you can download the instructions to by clicking here.

Round and Round

The yarn featured in today's scarf drove me bonkers. Come to think of it, designing the scarf did the same.

Who doesn’t love a soft, fluffy fur yarn in cheerful colors? Of course I bought it as soon as it caught my eye. The problem, though, was creating a scarf that isn't the same-old one- or two-color length of garter stitch.

I tried wraps. Big cables. Color blocks. Stripes. Nothing gave me that "Aha!" moment.

Deciding to give a lacing effect a whirl, I made small buttonholes, marking each one with a long fabric strip knotted into a loop. AHA!

Along the length of the scarf—and inserted while knitting the rows—are unattached loops that move and drape independent of the body of the scarf.

I called today's scarf "Free Wheeling". Click here to download the instructions.

Winter Wonderland

Winter is a wonderful time, filled with snowmen and skiing and crisp, fresh air . . . none of which I enjoy. It's freakin' cold here in the northeast.

The only solution is to bundle up. You can laugh in the face of the chill with this scarf, "Snowballs".

It's a quick crochet project that's worked with a bulky chenille and a join-as-you-go process.

Warm Snowballs. What a concept.

Click here for the instructions for how to crochet "Snowballs".

Damn that Stitch

Back in November of last year I wanted a colorful, spongy scarf with pronounced ribs. Brioche is a perfect match, so I set about teaching myself how to work it.

Overconfident sot that I am, I started with the two-color brioche. In the near future you'll see the instructions for that scarf. But, as I note in that pattern, do not … DO NOT… attempt the two-color brioche until you've worked out the basics with today's one-color version.

In fact, I resorted to the one-color version after a week or so of daily cursing sessions.

The brioche is a simple two-stitch repeat that involves three actions: a slip stitch, yarn over, and knit or purl two together. For brevity, this action is shortened to something like "syo brk1/brp1". I stumbled over these abbreviations.

As I researched, I also found that instructions leave out information that can make the process easier.

Another problem is the slip stitch. I didn't find any instructions that indicated this should be purlwise. After experimenting I worked this out. Now here's the kicker: Sometimes you need to slip a stitch knitwise.

Gaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Also, end-of-row counts usually count the yarn over and slip stitch as a single stitch. What?!

So. Today's scarf instructions are detailed. Very. Detailed. I hope that you finish "Brioche for All" in record time and wonder, "Why on earth did Susan find this stitch difficult?"

Click here to download the very detailed instructions for "Brioche for All".