It's knitwear time...

QUICK REMINDER: Don't forget to leave up to three comments on Monday's Giveaway Post! I'm extending the comment deadline through Sunday and I'll announce the winner on Monday.

Ok, I can deny it no longer- fall has arrived. Today I was chilled to the bone in the thin dress I wore. I believed the weather reports that it would be a warm day. It was sunny, yes, but warm? Not quite. I've been doing a bit of knitting lately and that is pretty much the one deciding indicator of the cold seasons arrival. First was this knit stocking for my friend Brance:

He loved it and I have to admit, it did come out pretty nicely. The pattern was for a single color, but I decided to add the contrast color and the pom-pom to make it all a little more fun and Christmas-y. It was a big hit. Of course, it may have been the bag of mini snickers bars that I dumped into it that caused the squeal of joy.

As for more wearable pieces, I've knit dozens of things for as many people. The first garment I ever knit was my senior year in college with a friend. We were so silly back then and decided to knit a sweater for one of our professors. She knit the front, I knit the back and we each knit a sleeve. Did I mention we knew absolutely NOTHING about knitting when we started the project? It was the most lop-sided, poorly constructed sweater I've ever seen. But our professor was a trooper and he wore it dutifully every week or so for the rest of our final winter of college. The following year, we heard he'd purchased some new sweaters. Anyway, every since then I've loved knitting things for people- sweaters, mittens, hats, scarves- I love it all. If I see a pattern that just works for someone, I have to make it for them. Other times I just want to try out a new pattern and someone gets to benefit from my experiment. This past week I made this "scarflet" for my friend Jen. Why? Just because.

You all saw a little sneak peek of the finished product a few posts ago with this picture:

I'll bet you didn't expect a scarf to come out of that image, right? Well, what you see is the making of the mahogany stake that holds the scarflet in place. I'm calling it a scarflet (mini-scarf, if you will), for lack of a better term. I thought a pretty little piece of wood to poke through the stitches would hold the scarflet in place nicely. What do you think?

The knitting pattern itself it really quite easy. It would be pretty simple to make the scarf full length as well. For all of you knitters out there, here is the basic pattern:

Materials:

2 balls chunky yarn in whatever color you prefer

1 pair size 11 needles

Cable needle

Crochet hook (to weave in ends)

2 stitch markers

Stitch abbreviations:

K-knit

P-purl

SS-Seed stitch (K1,P1 alternately)

CF- Cable to front

CB- Cable to back

Cast on 6 sts. Place marker. Continue casting on 28 more sts. Place 2nd marker. Cast on 6 more sts. Total cast on sts should be 40.

Row 1 (odd rows): SS6, P4, K8, P4, K8, P4, SS6  

Row 2 (even rows): SS6, K4, P8, K4, P8, K4, SS6

Rows 3 & 4: repeat rows 1 & 2

Row 5: CABLE ROW- SS6, P4, CF8, P4, CB8, P4, SS6

Rows 6-8: repeat rows 2-4

Repeat rows 1-8 until the scarf measures your desired length. My scarflet measures about 38 inches. A full length scarf should measure the same as your fingertip to fingertip or about 60+ inches, depending on how tall you are. Bind off and weave in/trim ends. Voila! Simple, right?

If you prefer a scarf that is not quite as bulky, simply use thinner yarn like worsted or fingering and smaller needles, for example size 6. The pattern will remain the same, but the scarf will be narrower and have smaller stitches.

Leave a comment and tell me about your home knitting, crocheting, sewing or crafting projects. And don't forget to comment on Monday's Giveaway Post. I'm extending the comment deadline to Sunday and I'll announce the winner on Monday.