Yarn: Valley Yarns, Valley Superwash, Steel Gray & Classic Navy
Pattern: Made using images found on Google Images with StitchFiddle
Progress: 50% of lightning bolt number one
Quick Notes: Double knitting, scarf, men’s scarf, Harry Potter themed, next time use thinner yarn
First, this has taken me so much longer than I anticipated. I ran into a couple of issues: (1) yarn does not feel comfortable to work with (2) focus needed to count stitches in the lightning bolt is greater than I thought it would be. I have double knit smaller projects with worsted weight yarn in the past, and I really didn’t foresee this issue arising. However, I barely got into the scarf before I noticed that this was in fact going to be an issue. The thickness of the scarf is perfect, in my opinion. However, my sanity is suffering just a tad. It’s my own fault though, so I have no choice but to forge on.
As far as focus, it’s really hard to knit something that takes a lot of intense focus regardless of where you are. I am never happy in complete silence, if I try hard enough I bet I can count the number of times that studied in the university library because silence drives me absolutely crazy. This means, that whether its a movie, TV show, audiobook, or even a fun playlist, at some point I’m going to start focusing on that background noise instead of the pattern. Then I have to go back and redo my row(s). Usually it’s just a row.
The last unanticipated issue that I discovered is that it’s really difficult for me to focus on what I’m doing because I end up going cross-eyed. This is honestly the second time this has happened to me while knitting something and I don’t even remember what caused it the other time. This really limits the number of rows I can work on at once, thus greatly slowing my progress.
Despite all of these, I am still loving this scarf. I can tell you that this will be a one-of-a-kind project given my struggles, but I love the look of color work, particularly double knit color work. That is not disappearing anytime soon, that’s for sure. So, while I forge ahead on this project, I’m thinking about my other projects. Particularly as fall is approaching (yay!), I want to get started on some of those cooler weather items, and I want to make mine unique, special, and beautiful. Last year I wasn’t planning on incorporating any color work and just keeping it simple, however, now, I am rethinking that.
What are you most excited to knit for fall/winter? Is there a scarf you’ve been dying to knit (or wear)?
She’s Got a Whole PhD 