Knit for Brains

Like so many of us I am finishing a few gifts I started late for Christmas. I didn’t really get the knitting bug for gifts until a week into December and managed to bang out four scarves and a shawl in time to ship and arrive before the 25th.

I did a soft, girly, garter stitch scarf for my grand-niece Rei in Vermont. She is all of 7 years old and just the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. The scarf is made with some downy mini-bouclee yarn that is mostly white with a shifting of colors over it in pink, blue and green. No pic, sorry.

I made a simple shawl for my mom, who is all of 89 years old. You may know how it is when the right colors of yarn just announce themselves, “I’m for her” and you don’t have to think. I did this one in Homespun Tudor, which is a nice light mix of soft greens, aqua, lavender, gold, and rose. It was perfect for her. Just another garter stitch piece because I had to mail it asap. I was able to finish it in three days, with a total of 8900 stitches or so. I put a crochet chain fringe on it that I tend to favor for such things, as it looks really nice, but you also can’t do a cut fringe in this yarn as it just frizzes out.

Here’s a pic of Mom looking at me on the TV as we were doing our now annual Google video Christmas chat. I highly recommend it. This is the second year we’ve done it and it has turned out great. Mom says the shawl is warm. I didn’t think it would be with such a large needle. I would have done something fancier but I didn’t have time. She is also legally blind so wouldn’t be able to see any fancy stitching with her very blurry vision anyway. I was going for color and feel alone because of that.

I also did a leaf lace scarf for my other niece Erin. I did it in Thick and Quick Charcoal on 15 mm needles. It was my first serious lace and I really liked how it turned out. The large needle made for a pleasantly squishy fabric that is good for stuffing around your neck and in the opening of your coat or jacket.

The photo is not so good. I used two skeins and joined them at the finish line with mattress stitch as I liked the naturally shaped starting row caused by the pattern. It gave it two lobes that eliminated the need for any fringe. Left unblocked it had a nice, rumpled look. I will do a similar scarf for myself with another leaf lace pattern. I got her pattern from Jimmy Beans wool website under the title “Twin Leaf Beaded Scarf Free Knitting Pattern“. Here it is in case it’s not there any more. There’s a pic there of it done “normal” size.

Abbreviations

• CO – Cast On
• Dec – Decrease
• DD – (Double Decrease) Sl 2 sts together knitwise, k1, pass 2 sl sts over k st-2 sts dec.
• P – Purl
• PB – Place Bead, slide bead up next to the needle and knit stitch with bead ending up on RS of work (on DD, PB, on k st, on SK2P, PB on k st)
• RS – Right side
• SK2P – Slip1, knit 2 together, pass slip stitch over K2tog
• sts – Stitches
• WS – Wrong side
• yo – Yarn Over

Directions

**Pre string beads, by using a small needle, threaded with your yarn (250 or so) prior to CO

• CO 22 sts
• Row 1 P10, PB, k1, PB, k1, P10.
• ** all following WS rows P10, k2, P10.
• Row 2 K6, DD, yo, k1, yo, p2, yo, k1, yo, SK2P, k6.
• Row 4 K4, DD, k1, [yo, k1] twice, p2, k1, [yo, k1] twice, SK2P, k4.
• Row 6 K2, DD, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, p2, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, SK2P, k2.
• Row 8 PB, DD, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, p2, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, PB, SK2P.
• ** Repeat rows 1-8 until desired length. Bind Off.

I also did a couple of scarves for my older niece Jaimie and her Husband Morris, my first big cable projects. Here’s the (crappy) pic. I need a better camera.

They are done in Thick and quick Oatmeal and Wheat. I think I need to block the one on the right as the two cables make it curl back too much. I’m tempted to rip it out and redo it on larger needles to make it bigger and more relaxed. I used US17 needles.

I also did a piano keyboard scarf for my brother but I’m waiting for him to send me good pics of it so I can post them here. The scarf turned out great and was pretty easy to do. Stay tuned. Happy Gnu Ear.

Related Posts:

• Knit A Scarf – Fast!
• Fixing and Preventing Ladders after Cables
• How I Turned a Scarf into a Ball of Yarn
• Fast Knit “Manly” Geometric Hat and Scarf but She Likes It, Too – Free Pattern