Fin! Finis! Finito! Done!

Well. I have to say, I'm a little surprised at myself. It would appear I can knit to a deadline and then some. I finished the Red Scarf.

When I started this, I estimated I'd need 21 repeats. When I went to bed last night, I thought I was finished at 22 repeats. Once I added the garter stitch edge, I was pretty sure I would make the 60 inch minimum. Slap on that border in the morning and I should be good to go, yes? I'd probably even get another inch once I blocked it. Right?













No, I didn't think so either. Skimpy, wouldn't you say? A little stingy, maybe?

I woke up this morning, looked at the scarf, looked at the amount of yarn I had to work with and decided that 24 repeats was the way to go. 2 dozen repeats has such a nice ring to it. So I added another 32 rows before the 6 rows of garter stitch.













It measured 61 inches plus, unblocked. Just about as tall as I am.

And I like it. It's every bit as nice, in my cool and unbiased opinion, as any of the other scarves posted in the Red Scarf 2007 gallery. I may even make Marco or John pose with it and send a picture in.

It was fun to knit, too. Okay, it was fun once I accepted the fact that, while I can count to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7, I am apparently incapable of doing so at the point where I should have been counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7. But the nature of the pattern meant that no mistake went beyond the end of the row, so it was easy to correct.

Here it is in all its unblocked glory. Isn't it pretty? Not only that, the members of the male persuasion here assure me they would not be embarrassed to be seen in it. I figure that qualifies it as unisex.


















Of all the pictures posted here, this one is truest to color.

To recap, the pattern is from Barbara Walker's first Stitch Dictionary, A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (the blue one), p. 26, the Chevron pattern at the top of the page. It's reversible. The yarn is a hand-spun I snared on eBay that I double stranded to get it up to approximately worsted weight. Knit on US size 8 bamboo needles from Crystal Palace.

Blocked, it's as long as my dining room table. It's very stretchy, so it might have blocked out longer, but I was not about to open up the table and add another leaf. Besides, I only have the heavy table pads - the ones I can stick pins in - for the table with one leaf in it. I think the scarf might, in point of fact, be taller than I am.


















I'm so excited. I finished the red scarf!