Purl Soho’s Granny Stripe Scarf

Purl Soho has some amazing free patterns.

I want to knit them all and, believe it or not, the first one I picked was a crochet pattern.  The Granny Stripe Scarf.

 Oh boy….

My grandmother knit and crochet and she taught me how to make the basic crochet stitch when I was 7.  Not sure I can call myself a crocheter with that limited knowledge, but the author of the pattern said I could do it, so I was going to try.

Good thing my Purl Jam buddies can crochet and YouTube has plenty of videos.

This pattern was the perfect start for a beginner crocheter.  The pattern has some compassion written in it for a first timer and it was very easy to follow.  It just takes awhile to complete all the rows.

I substituted Knit Picks Palette yarn in the same colors as the pattern, but I bet it would be amazing in Purl Soho’s Line Weight yarn as noted in the pattern.  I was trying to make it more affordable.

I decided to add fringe instead of weaving in all those ends.

I love it and I find out of all my scarves – I grab this one first on my way out the door.

Herbivore

The year was 2010, I walked into Fibrespace [the old space] to meet my knitting bud, Kate, and saw the owner, Danielle Romanetti, was wearing a shawlette bandana style and she looked like she just flipped that shawl on effortlessly and moved through her day.  She made a shawlette look cool and I just had to make one.

I said, “Kate, what shawl is Danielle wearing?”

“Herbivore Stephen West“, she replied.

How does she do that?  How does she just know what the name of a random shawlette someone is wearing?  Maybe someday I will know these things too.

I found the pattern online and purchased the yarn that day.  Stephen’s pattern showed the scarf in a variegated green color, so I chose a variegated green and blue Malabrigo Sock yarn in the color Solis as well.  No chance I was  messing this up.

The pattern at the time was a bit challenging for me as there was a center spine with yarn overs on each side and I could swear I had the wrong stitch count, because the stitch marker kept moving over the yarn over, but I keep going and eventually finished it.

I still flip the ends around my neck like Danielle did that day.  I can’t wait for it to cool off, so I can wear it on a chilly day.

cabinfour’s Pure

Karen over at Fringe Association just had to feature this clean lined, crisp, white shawl and I just had to fall in love with it.

cabinfour’s pure shawl‘s clean lines were achieved by a section of stockinette, a section of twisted stitches and then a cruise into a section of good ‘ole garter stitch.

Easy peasy, although the twisted stitch section slowed my knitting to a crawl and almost had me rip out the whole shawl…that and one lousy mis-stitch right in the middle of the shawl.  Darn it!!

I used Cascade 220 Superwash in white.

Love it!

Jared Flood Scarf

In 2006, when I first learned to knit, I met a great group of girls [Eva, Kate, Ashley B, Ashley G and then Jenna] who were far more advanced in their knitting skills than I was.  I marveled when they knit barely looking at the knitting and no pattern in sight.

 Knitting dominated the conversation each time we met and I just absorbed what I could and googled the rest, just so I could keep up with them each week.

They told me to get on the waiting list for Ravelry – it was a new website for knitters and there was a long waiting list to be added to the site.  I had no idea what Ravelry was, but I signed up right away.  Now all these years later, I can’t imagine knitting anything without signing on to Ravelry first.

Early on, there was a scarf that the girl’s were making.  It sorta became our signature group scarf – it was a scarf by Jared Flood [back when he wasn’t knitteratti].

It apparently was an “easy” scarf to make.  It was a pattern that was as old as knitting, but Jared knit the pattern with Noro and the girls just had to knit it.  And if they knitted it – I knit it.

I logged on to Jared’s blog and found the post.  Knitting with two balls of yarn?  I’m out.  There was no way I could figure that out, but the girls calmed me down and got me started and it was instant love….it was so cool watching the colors unfold in that simple rib pattern.

I knit mine in Noro Silk Garden [just like Jared did] in colors 264 and 84.

Loved it.

Loved it so much I knit another one in 2014.  This one was in 326 and 338.  A bit more pink, because pink makes me happy.

Totally love it.

My niece modeling the first color combo.

Both scarves draped together.

And when you have a bit of Noro left over, well you make a Jared Flood scarf for your  favorite Goodwill finds ever.  My birds.

 So what if the big one is cracked a bit.  Still love her.  And now she has a her very own Jared Flood scarf.

Wayfarer Scarf

Jared Flood is my other favorite male designer and yarn manufacturer who designs and produces yarn for the hand knitter.   I knit his Wayfarer Scarf using his Shelter worsted weight yarn in the color Nest.  This yarn is completely an American made fiber and is woolen spun in New Hampshire.

I loved the simple geometric pattern of the scarf and the yarn showed off the knits and purls perfectly.

I was hoping this neutral color would work with just about any outerwear.

My sister thinks the scarf works with black and it should go live at her house.