Noro Striped Scarf

Sometime in January I went to John Lewis and took a peak at the yarn department sales. There I fell in love with Noro yarn (that wasn’t on sale). Up until now the Noro virus had passed me by and I just didn’t get it. To me Noro was an expensive yarn with too many things going on both colour and structure wise. And it’s still true that there are heaps of Noro that I feel the same way about still, except for this one skein I grabbed and took home. It’s Noro Silk Garden Lite 2010. It goes from Lilac to grey then red, bright pink, purple, dark inky blue to sky blue then aqua, light grey and finally lilac again. Gorgeous.


Pretty colours... love Noro Silk Garden Lite in 2010!

So there I was with one skein and no idea what to make of it. As so manny knitters I had just grabbed it and didn’t want to let it go. After some cuddling with the yarn (yeah.. I know, but it’s not called a virus for nothing.. you end up doing things you normaly might not do) I decided to see what I can make with one skein... So I visited the one and only place to start such a pilgrimage.. Ravelry!?


The Slim Noro Striped Scarf...

There I saw the Noro Striped Scarf. A fantastic scarf that used the colour changed of the Noro to make this quirky funky scarf that just screames: COLOUR! I usually wear muted colours because I think they look good on my. I love a bit of bright, but a whole top in a screaming colour is just a bit much for me. I try but it’s hard. So a Noro Striped Scarf of my own would be a fantastic way to add a splash of colour without feeling like a Telly Tubby. In the end I decided to knit a punk-scarf. So the Noro Striped version, but thin and long. A hip look for my nice (but boring) black coat.

So I set to work to start my sample to see how wide I should make it and ofcourse if I liked it. I loved it! But one skein would not do. I knitted it all up because I couldn’t stop... I wanted to see how the striped turned out, etc. Now I also knew how much ‘scarf’ one skein would knit into. I calculated that I needed about three skeins, but I ordered three (ending up with four) to be on the safe side. I ordered via Fabstract who sold me the skeins for £5.95 and didn’t charge for P&P.


One of my failed attempts...

So I ripped back my original 1/3 of the scarf and started again. Happily knitting away. There was one section that didn’t stripe. When knitting I thought this wouldn’t be bad as there might be other non-striping bits. I was wrong, it was the only one and it looked odd. So I fixed it. I didn’t rip back as it was about 1/4 into the scarf, so a lot of reknitting if I frogged. I used two dpns and stuck them through the rows above and below the plain section and cut the yarn, then ripped out the section between the needles. From the bottom one I re-knitted the frogged bit (taking care to make it stripe) then coming to the top needle I sewed the two ‘halves’ together by studying the way k1,p1 knitting looks from the website How Stuff Works. I had to redo it about 10 times due to errors. It’s really though and quite hard because the stitches dont stay put the same way as in the drawing. They hang around the needle from front to back as the needle sticks through them sideways. And on paper ofcouse all the stitches are neatly lined up side to side. But I managed and the result is fab, it looks just like a knitted row and even I can’t find it no more.


I love how the colours change again and again

Scarf in the making

This is what I posted to the International Scarf Exchange 4 on Friday 27th of April. I'm really enjoying the experience of participating in this event, although I am sure I would enjoy it even better if I had more time. But one must earn a living, etc, etc.




I'm a beginning knitter so I didn't want to start a project that was way over my head, but I also didn't want to do another k1,p1 sort of scarf. So I choose the
Short Row Rib pattern by Ceris Morgan that I found on this blog. I think it's a really cool pattern as you create a special effect without having to know special technics.

I'm a bit jelous of all the beautifull, special scarfs you all are making. I hope that one day I'll be able to make beautifull things like that. But so far I'm finding this pattern hard enough. Lol. I really need to pay attention to what I'm doing. Hope my buddy won't be dissapointed it's not a very difficult scarf.

I liked the colour in the picture but couldn't afford the yarn they used (unfortuantly as it seems soooooo nice). I choose something similar in colour and texture, although the materials are different). The yarn doesn't knit easy, but I like the way it looks and I am enjoying the project. And the scarf is very soft :)

I hope my buddy will like it. I think it will go well with her hair colour and she is an active, bouncy type of person. The picture of it on the pattern page was the inspiration. It just clicked with her personality.

Sorry the picture is so bad. I'm not a very good photographer. I've made on with flash, but that just makes it worse.

Anyway as a novice all I can report is: so far so good!