Striped and matching
Way back in 2008 I knit an entrelac scarf for my Handsome Hubby out of Berroco Ultra Alpaca. After years of wearing it the scarf had become so soft. He was rather shocked when I suggested that he needed a NEW scarf to go with his new winter jacket. He loved his scarf! His previous jacket was black and gray, which his scarf complimented well. But now he was wearing a brown and tan jacket...with a charcoal gray, green, and red scarf? (Wifey cringe)
I got him to agree to a new scarf, which had to be out of the same yarn, and got him to help me decided on colors and a color pattern. It also had to be double thick (a tube) like his previous scarf.
The design is my own. I basically knit a swatch, took gauge, then ripped it and cast on for a 120" tube. Yes, you read that right. The plan was to knit a very short tube that I would finish by folding in half and Kitchener stitching the top halves together and bottom halves together. Thus making the stripes go the length of the scarf instead of the width.
I believe it took me about a month to knit. The rounds were forever long, but I only had to knit 45 of them. Then of course the Kitchener stitching. Which turned into a 3-needle bind off as I realized I didn't want the tube to roll. I wanted it to have defined edge seams. It was faster too. And there was a baby, did I mention there was also a baby distracting me?
Hubby loved it (and still does). Then a couple of weeks later I realized he was wearing his old green (to match the old scarf) hat with this new scarf. (Wifey sigh) A matching hat was soon born.
Since I'd need to worry about jogs on this hat I opted for stripes that were two rows thick instead of just one. Otherwise the pattern is identical. I think I might even like it better than the single rows of the scarf. But that was what hubby had ordered, and I was already done.
I took gauge from the scarf, fudged it a stitch or two for a 2x2 rib brim, and knit away. I can't even remember anymore details about the hat. I even had to look at the photo to remember how many decreases I did at the crown - sections of 8.
And there ya go, finally blogging about something I knit a full year ago!
Striped Scarf project page
Striped Hat project page
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