Thursday, November 16, 2006

A Finished 21st Birthday Scarf

A happy scarf for a happy birthday present:



I made this scarf using a half ounce of Habu silk mohair blend, and it's super soft. The recipient helped me pick the yarn, and she requested something simple but light and a little lacy. I knew, in theory, that knitting every row in a skinny mohair on larger needles (I went with US size 9) would create an open almost lacy effect, but I'd never done it before. Personally, I'm really happy with the results. I just hope the Birthday Girl is also pleased.

Below is a picture I took of the scarf when it was about half way done. As you can see, I used the new Knit Picks Options Needles, and I really liked them. They arrived, as a late birthday present from my father, on the day I was ready to cast on. Clearly, I was fated to use them because they even matched the yarn!


Knitting it went by in a flash, but I procrastinated a bit with the blocking. Really, I'm not super experienced when it comes to blocking my knitting, but I've read so many places about the benefits of blocking, particularly anything lacey, that I decide to make an attempt in the hopes that it opens, evens, and lengthens the scarf. But, as you can see, I haven't yet perfected my blocking setup.


Dan joked that I'd made a runway for the cat. Luckily, she stayed away from it after the first time I chased her off. Most of it was pinned to a towel on the kitchen table, but it was a little too long, so I tied one end to a chair. Dan observed that the process looks like I put my knitting on the rack. What do you think?


I know it's not the ideal way to block a scarf, but, if anything, it's a little cleaner and fresher now that it bathed and straightened up for the party tomorrow night. I'll try to get one final shot of the Birthday Girl in her clean new scarf to add to the blog this weekend.

Edited to add: Here's a picture of the Birthday Girl backdropped by a ridiculous amount of booze for her 21st. She seemed happy with the scarf, and wore it until she got worried about the possibility of an encounter between the scarf and the earlier mentioned booze.

4 comments:

Miss Kalendar said...

looks lovely!!!

Miss you, sweetie! - hope to see and knit with you soon.... maybe the week after Thanksgiving?

Anonymous said...

I have never figured out how to use those circular needles (I crochet, I only knit when the design is so beautiful I can't resist - but then, I'm not technically skilled enough to pull it off well). What's the benefit to using circular needles as opposed to the straight ones?

Batty said...

That is such a pretty scarf! The color looks beautiful on you. And I like the background!
How 'bout some cocktails?

Anonymous said...

She looks fab in the scarf!!!! I hope you have a swell Thanksgiving and I'll see you on Saturday!!!!!

Teresa :o)