Knitted Scarf: A Project of Firsts

I was waiting to post about this project until I took some better pictures, but I completed this weeks ago and have yet to take any more pictures (surprise! surprise!), so I thought I should just go ahead and write about it anyway.

I had a sort of joke with myself about the fact that I have been knitting for more than a year and have never made a scarf, because that is usually everyone's first knitting project (either that or a wash cloth, which I have also yet to make). This is just one of my little quirks. After about six months I decided to wait and see how long I could go before I broke down and made one. I held out for over a year, but after fine-gauge project after fine-gauge project, I wanted  to relax with some chunky knitting, and decided a scarf was just the sort of quick project I needed. There was never any question about which scarf would be my first: Braided by Susan B. Anderson was the project that I saw over a year ago and said to myself, "I must make that some day." It was the project that pushed me over the edge, from longing to knit, to bravely picking up my needles and knitting.

Here is the link to the Ravelry project page for Braided (note: you have to sign up for Ravelry to see it. It's a free site that is basically Facebook for the fiber-obsessed.)

Here is the link to the free pattern on the Spud Says! blog.

You can see that on the ride side, the ribbing and braid are looser and sloppier than the left side.

I love this project so much that I bought the Spud and Chloe Outer yarn in the Soapstone colorway for it ages ago and have just been waiting for the right time and cooler weather to inspire me to get going. I seriously thought that it would be a cinch to knit and would look fantastic (I mean, I'm now venturing into sweater knitting, for Pete's sake!), but oh, was I mistaken. I completely underestimated my ability to screw up a project. I found the US size 17 needles to be clunky and awkward at first, evenly tensioning the super-bulky yarn was a challenge, and for some reason I could not get the braid right. I finally got it all together about halfway through my scarf.

This is the "better" end.

My tip on this project is to weave in the ends as you go (which I've found is a good idea for any project) so that it's not an over-whelming task at the very end. Ask me how I know that.

I experimented with knitting the tail yarn and working yarn at the same time, and it's held fast and looks okay, but I'm not convinced it's any better than weaving in the ends with a tapestry needle.

However, despite everything, I'm extremely proud of my first chunky scarf. It is deliciously soft and fluffy, and I know it will be so cozy and warm when we finally get our cold weather in January and February. All the mistakes are little reminders that it was made by my hands. Others may make a scarf from the same pattern with the same yarn, but no one botched it up exactly like I did, and that makes it uniquely mine. ;-)

Happy Monday!