An old project revisited...
And note that this is a popular idea! brooklyntweed posted one a full 5 days after Kara and I discussed doing this. I think it's a great idea, because the whole world can see how the yarns we chose several months (or years) ago hold up, and we can revisit our pattern/design choices. So here's my first revisit: a scarf made a little over a year ago from Noro Kureyon using a short-row ribbed scarf pattern from Magknits. I did not blog about this at the time I made it, so it's appropriate that I blog about it know, more than a year after completion.
I was looking at the Noro section in my old LYS, and the self-stripey-goodness called out to me. A lot of the Noro Line was out of my price range, but Silk Garden and Kureyon were within the budget I allocated for a new scarf, so there I was. I found that I was more drawn to the brighter colorways of Kureyon than the subtler colorways of Silk Garden, but now, a year later, I find that my preferences go in the other direction! I asked the LYS employee how many balls I would need, and she said 4, (400 meters or so) so I then narrowed down my choices to colorways that had 4 balls of the same dyelot on the shelf. I walked away with an extremely colorful choice, with many colors present.
Once I had the yarn, I was a bit flummoxed to come up with a pattern that would work well with the self-striping concept. I didn't want a striped k1p1 or k2p2 scarf, though that is a perfectly acceptable choice for many people. I had heard of people doing entrelac with self-striping yarns (i.e. the Lady Eleanor stole from Scarf Style), but I wasn't ready for that yet.
So in my hunting on the internet, I came across a short-row ribbed scarf on Magknits, and figured that even though it was done with a variegated chunky yarn instead of an aran weight self-striping, it could work. It worked better than I expected, because each short-row section is one color block in the yarn, more or less. Here it is...
Fabulous! My only regrets: I felt I had to use every last scrap of yarn, because the cost was double that of the itchy too-short and too wide scarf I had purchased at the Gap that I wanted to replace. This scarf is ridiculously long, and I tend to wrap it around my neck many times, to not have it sit bulkily under my coat. Picture this: I walk into school, hop on an elevator with a professor who shall remain nameless, then unbutton my coat and start unwinding, and unwinding, and unwinding the scarf (to not roast in the extremely well-heated building). He looks at me and with a snicker says, "Nice scarf". I say, "Thanks! I made it myself!" He says, "oh...".
Anyways, I still love the scarf, even though it has sagged and stretched even longer. I should have knit it at a tighter gauge. And the yarn? It does pill, but not as severely as some store-bought sweaters I have purchased, and the pills are easy to remove. And the colors and ribbing really detract away from the little pills, so it's all good. I'd definitely use Kureyon again for a larger project, if the colorways were a little less like a bunch of crayons and more sophisticated like the Silk Garden line. I know there are a few like that out there, but I'm on a yarn diet, so we'll see what's available in a year or two. And I have seen other Kureyon short-row ribbed scarves out there, some made by friends, and some made by strangers in internet land. But there days, it's all about the tweed for me...
The left front is DONE! Now only 2 pieces to go... and I cast on for the right front in time for the monthly student pub night. (Okay, I know I'm not a student, but I get invited anyways.) The seed sitch hem is better social knitting than any of my other current projects, which all require charts. I'm hoping it will be done in a couple of weeks. Here's a closeup shot to view the color and tweediness more accurately.
I LOVE this yarn - Kilcarra of Donegal tweed, in a blue colorway. If it holds up well with long term use, I will always hace some in the stash for a rainy day sweater. Maybe next time... red. Or green.
Ivanova
