Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Red Scarf One
November 20, 2006
Here’s my first finished object for the Red Scarf Project. It’s 3 x 3 rib, about 5 inches wide and 61 inches long. I would have had it done a few days earlier but for getting chomped on by Oreo. I’d just started the last red section before my hand swelled up, so it didn’t take long to finish it up once I got back to the needles. It does feel like it took almost forever to do the whole thing, but it didn’t, really; I started it sometime in mid-October, so at most it was six weeks, and I didn’t knit every day.
I was inspired by this picture and JenZ had started a ribbed scarf (which she’s since finished), so ribbing seemed like the way to go. I didn’t think I needed a pattern—it’s just ribbing, after all—and decided on knit 3, purl 3 so I wouldn’t have to switch as often as K2, P2. I cast on what seemed like a good number of stitches and knit an inch or two and then saw that it just wasn’t right–the ribs on the edges looked skinnier than the others because the edges were curling up a little. Only then did I think to look at this pattern (which I’d linked in my first red scarf entry). It showed me what I was missing—a single stitch at each end in addition to the stitches needed to form the ribbing. So I frogged it (look at me, throwing around the knitting lingo) and started over with two more stitches and that looked better.
My edges still look a little wonky, especially at the end where I started, but overall I’m happy with it. I think it’s sufficiently unisex; at least Mr. Karen didn’t fuss when I put it on him. I think it’ll be a long while before I do that much ribbing again—so many stitches to get so little width. Just in case, here are the details so I don’t have to remember them or write them down elsewhere and lose them in my files.
Finished size: about 5 inches wide by 61 inches long
Materials:
—KnitPicks Swish Superwash wool (110 yard balls), 4 Fired Brick (though 5 might be better since I have almost none left from the last ball), 1 Dark Navy, 1 Coast Grey
—size 8 (US) needles
With the red yarn, cast on 53 stitches.
Row 1: slip 1, * knit 3, purl 3, repeat from * until last stitch remains, knit 1 (or maybe purl 1, I forget; whichever looks better when slipped in the next row)
Row 2: slip 1, * purl 3, knit 3, repeat from * until last stitch remains, knit 1
Repeat these rows until the piece measures about 5 inches.
Switch to blue yarn; repeat rows 1 & 2 (also known as working in K3, P3 rib) until blue section measures about an inch and a half (9 rows for me).
Switch to grey yarn; repeat these rows until grey section measures about an inch (6 rows).
Switch back to blue and do another inch and a half.
Switch back to red and knit and knit and knit until overall length is about 51 or 52 inches.
Repeat the blue/grey/blue stripes as above.
Finish with 5 inches of red.
Bind off.
Weave in ends if not done as going along. Find this is harder than on tube scarves and hats because here there’s no inside to hide the ends in.
I’ve already started another red scarf, using a pattern from a library book. This one calls for bulky yarn and size 11 needles, and wow it’s working up fast—I had something close to 15 inches done as of last night.
