Happy Me!

I didn't realize how excited I would be to have total strangers ask about my knitting! It makes me so happy! Now I'm so eager to answer people's queries that I'm writing this entry instead of compiling final grades...

First, the close-up issue:


This is the best I can do right now. During the original photo shoot, I tried to take a very close picture of the scarf so that people could clearly see my stitches, but for some reason that shot wasn't in the camera when I hooked it up to my computer. Now the scarf is far away, unavailable for pictures. In the above shot, I cropped and zoomed in on the other picture in order to give you a close-up, but the camera I'm borrowing is a few years old, and 1.3 megapixels doesn't get you very far until all of the stitch definition becomes completely obscured.

Now for the pattern:

The stitch pattern, according to the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns, is called tweed. The "right side" of the work forms a pretty V pattern. The "wrong side" makes nice speckled horizontal stripes and is more bumpy to the touch. Here is the basic pattern for the stitch, but following this directly won't give you a scarf like mine:

Use an even number of stitches and two colors (A and B). Always carry yarn on the right side of the work when you are slipping stitches.

Row 1 (right side): With color A, * k1, sl 1 as if to p *; repeat from * to *, end by knitting the last 2 sts.
Row 2: With A, * p1, slip 1 *; repeat from * to *, end by purling the last two sts.
Row 3: With color B, repeat Row 1.
Row 4: With B, repeat row 2.

Now, I desire symmetry in my scarves. So, decided to make alternating blocks of the "right side" and the "wrong side" of the tweed pattern. I'm sorry that I didn't write it out while I was doing it, because now I can't remember the exact number of stitches I used, but I can tell you the general strategy.

Cast on about 36 sts (must be an even number). Knit the first 10 stitches as for the right side of the pattern, the middle 16 sts as for the wrong side of the pattern, and the last 10 sts as for the right side again. After about 20 rows, switch so that the first section is the wrong side, the middle is the right side, and the last section is the wrong side again. Repeat and admire!

I hope this is clear. I'm afraid it might sound confusing, but it becomes fairly clear once you get going.

For next time: "What's that on the fence?"