Fo: Fernfrost Scarf

I think that I may be addicted to Anne Hanson’s “Little Nothing” scarves. Here’s the latest – Fernfrost. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and marked it down in my head as “This Year’s Show Winner” I must have been in a positive frame of mind. OK, if you insist – entirely gung ho. I wasn’t wrong, though.  *grin*

The purchase was effected immediately and I raided The Stash for some cashmere.

Fernfrost
Fernfrost

It’s a very unusual lace pattern, stonger and far less girly than most – with a pronounced geometric flavour to it. It is however “true” lace knitting, with yarnovers on both sides – the reverse side also features twisted purl stitches and p2togs. In other words, there are no boring bits to it. On the other hand, there are long sections of plain knit and purl stitches, making opposing sections to the lace and rib parts – so it’s not all involved knitting. In actual fact there’s a very pleasant rhythm to knitting the rows.

  • Cast on Date: June 5th, 2009
  • Cast on: I’m not sure now
  • Pattern: Fernfrost by Anne Hanson at Knitspot
  • Pattern Price: $5
  • Yarn:
    • Supplier: Colourmart
    • Quality: Pure Cashmere
    • Weight: Heavy lace weight 3/28 NM
    • Length: ?
    • Amount: ?
    • Cost:? Yarn is currently £20.30 incl p&p for 150g cone of 1,550 yards
    • Colour: Fiore Mel
  • Needles: 3mm
  • Stitches: As written
  • Pattern Repeats: As written
  • Size: As written
  • Blocked: Yes
  • Finished Size: 9″ by 51″
  • Cast Off:Lace
  • Cast Off Date: July 27th, 2009
  • Ravelry Project: Fernfrost

I forgot to weigh the finished scarf in order to calculate the amount of yarn used, but the pattern calls for 375 to 400 yards of 2ply laceweight. Assuming that is how much I used then that represents about 25% of the cone, so the cost would be around a fiver. In reality, I probably used less than the pattern estimate as the yarn is a lighter weight than the specified one.

Light and airy
Light and airy

The pattern is beautifully presented and well written, as usual. The chart is clear and understandable. Good value for  money at $5, assuming one will make more than one of these lovely scarves.

Perfect summer-weight dresser-upper
Perfect summer-weight dresser-upper

It knits up quickly (I took a month long break after the first two repeats) with 32 rows per repeat, and only 11 and a bit repeats to do. After I picked the scarf up again it took just 14 days to complete, finish and block. It wasn’t the only thing I was knitting at the time and I was also spinning fairly intensively. I found it easy to knit a repeat or two each evening at my desk and in front of the iPlayer.

A showstopper
A showstopper

Perfect gift knitting for Christmas. With a little dedication I could turn one of these out a week. There’s plenty of yarn left, and I also have some in pink…

The long view
The long view
Close up
Close up
Blocking
Blocking

And now I really should develop some Knitspot resistance!