Woolgathering

The current project is a free pattern, from Interweave Knits via Knitting Daily: the Pine Cone Scarf. It should be fashioned in Mountain Colors Mountain Goat but I am using Noro Kureyon. This was a poor choice - I hadn’t realised that Kureyon is not washable. Oops. However, it comes in fab colours and is actually available in the UK - the Mountain Goat is very expensive and I failed to find a UK supplier anyway.

I am using shade 157 “Emperor” - it’s a mix of greens, browns, russets, and purple … kind of. The greens and browns are just right to go with Mr L’s storm jacket, but are nicely leavened by the flashes of colour. I think it will look good.

You will just have to believe me, despite my previous post, when I say that it is a quick and easy knit. Using 8mm needles and two strands of DK yarn, the main part of the scarf is worked over 21 stitches in one single pattern of Old Shale - a 10 row repeat, with only one lace row to handle. Just try not to have a puppy in tow or, like me, you may end up missing out all your fourth rows, or something worse -like not noticing that the chart is written in reverse on every alternate row. (Yes, I am still sulking)

I will do this pattern again, and again, I think - it looks to me to be ideal for homespun. I’ll report back on that later, just as soon as I have spun sufficient (and I am not wasting my BFL on it, I can tell you) Jacob at a semi-correct weight.

Time for photos? OK - Mr L has taken Nell for a walk so I can take a few shots. It’s in artificial lighting, though.

Well, the yarn that I had ordered, then cancelled, arrived today. I still hadn’t decided what to do about it. Unfortunately, the yarn looked so gorgeous, I coughed up the dosh and cast on

The centre panel knitted up quickly, although the “BO all stitches” had me foxed for some time. What on earth is a BO? I’ve never seen a BO before. It took a while, and then I “Cast Off all stitches”. Bind Off, indeed. Pshaw!

I really didn’t like the centre section and had a lot of trouble equating the following instructions to what I held in my hand. By lunchtime, I had the centre done, the stitches picked up on one side, and 3 or 4 pattern repeats of one end had emerged. IT just didn’t feel right…

Nevertheless, after lunch, I knitted on, and was by now wondering where on earth the pine cones came into it. I had almost completed my first two balls of yarn, nine pattern repeats, when my glance strayed back to the chart. At the top of the chart, it said “Pine Cone.” The pattern of dots certainly looked pine cone-ish, but what I had at one end of my knitting was definitely a ribbed diamond shape.

I shall have to get new glasses.

I ripped it all out and began again and this time I was certain to reverse the chart rows… and understand that a dot is purled on the right side but knitted on the wrong side.

Why are knitting charts not consistent in their protocols?

For that matter why are knitting charts? What’s wrong with a good old written pattern, in the British style? I can understand those. Charts are nasty alien things. I want a nice, clear instruction: ROW 1 (Right Side) Do this, ROW 2 (Wrong Side) Do that. You can’t go wrong. There’s no difference in the way that they are written; linear is linear.

This was meant to be a simple exercise. It’s just a wee scarf…

Anyway, I got three more pattern repeats done after knitting a much nicer pine cone of a centre panel (and therefore finding the picking up far easier.) And that was when I realised that I had consistently omitted line 4 of the pattern… and out it came again, but at least this time I was able to retain the centre piece.

It’s growing again now. Let’s hope that is the end of the trauma. It has been more than sufficient for one small scarf.