Day 181 and Fake

This very easy and fast pattern is by another ravelry amateur designer and can be found over yonder. Her idea was to make pretend fringe without ever having to do any fringing. Definitely a suitable project for a beginner with only one row of increase and one row of decrease to fill out the fake fringe.

Day 180 and Strapping

I don't know from leather, but I do know from i-cord! Knitted i-cord makes for a comfortable leather strapping or leather lacing substitute for wearable items. Wrapped around and around the edge of this circular scarf slash cowl, it gives what would otherwise be a rather boring and far too easy cut scarf and gives it some greatly needed detail. There are just a HUGE number of leather workers out there with tutorials on youtube and picture tutorials on their own websites. It's a great place to get other ideas on how to use actual leather of invent your own softer creations using i cord and fabric. (A word of warning: Make sure your search filter is on it's highest setting. Otherwise you can't search for leather without wading through a river of scantily clad women in bits of leather and nothing else.)

Day 179 and Arcadia

I thought this stitch was so much like architecture, I couldn't think of a better name for it. This was another one from the same stitch dictionary as yesterday: Crochet! and because it's all chains and single crochet (double for euro), it's a very fast scarfy.

It seemed like if it was draped, it curled up on itself a lot, so as a way to keep it lying flat, I put tassels on one end only which fit easily through the large arches in the pattern. This makes it more of a collar and easily worn without it being loose and catching on things which would definitely have been an issue with so many large holes.

Day 178 and Giving Up

Do not fear, I have NOT given up my yearlong challenge. I did give up on my planned scarf for today.

I am very happy to have a boyfriend who loves me and cares for me enough to recognize when I would enjoy a gift. He works at our local library and often will come home with withdrawn books as well as new books that he checks out on my behalf. He brought me a very nice crochet pattern dictionary which had a fabulous lace netting stitch with four leaf daisies hooked directly into the net. It had written instructions, a very clear picture, and even a chart.

I consider myself a decent chart reader and it's generally my preferred way to learn a new stitch. I tried for hours to decipher this stitch pattern and though I had words and pictures, I never did get anything that resembled the demonstration swatches. I was defeated. What can I say? It happens to the best of us.

I turned the page and instead did the very next stitch pattern. It's very pretty as well but I'll always know that it was the first time I gave up on a stitch.

Bittersweet.

Day 177 and Hitchhiker

I am superbly bummed out that I didn't have this idea back on day 42 or day 142 or even that I was patient enough to hang on to it until day 242 or 342.

That's right science fiction fans. This is your towel. Don't lose it. If you hang on to it, everyone around you will know that you're a hoopy frood who (because he or she knows where his or her towel is) therefore is unlikely to panic and has a handle on just about any situation.

This was so simple and was made with a very short eyelash or feather yarn held together with two smoother yarns. Traditionally, most towels have near each end the band of fabric which is not fuzzy and often firmer. I mimicked the look by simply switching to three smooth yarns for about three rows and to make it even more distinctly different, I used a slightly lighter color.
Mine was garter stitch and I deliberately made it shorter and wider than most of my scarves to try to make the towel proportion clear.

Here's my recipe!
one ball Bernat Boa (Color A)
70 yrds (60 meters) each of two other yarns of sport weight (mine were mystery stash yarns)
(Colors B and C)
about 6 yards of a lighter colored sport weight yarn (Color D)
Size 35 needles - (The second largest pair I own incidentally)

Cast on 15.
Knit 5 rows with Colors A, B, and C held together. Cut A.
Knit 3 rows with colors B, C, and D held together. Cut D.
Knit about 2.5 feet (3/4 of a meter) with ABC. Cut A.
Knit 3 more rows with BCD. Cut D.
Finish with 5 rows more of ABC.

Couldn't be simpler and is very fast. Now, let's hit the pub and have ourselves a pan galactic gargle-blaster.

This is relevant to my interests!

Wow. It takes a year to knit a scarf! Clever! Read more about it here.

Day 176 and Hoho

I only wish that I had used brown or black fleece. Hindsight is twenty twenty. I originally had hoped to figure out a quick new way to make a little ruffle. All I was doing was zig-zagging some strips of jersey knit across the path of the sewing foot. Upon getting through the first ruffle, I had to stop because of how strongly I was reminded of the little chocolate snack cakes.

Okkay, yes, I know: Hohos have the swirl on the inside, but growing up I associated every hostess snack with the exact same term. This scarf looks more like the cuppy cakes but I'm calling it Hoho anyway!!