Category Archives: scarf

FREEBIE Gorgas

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Malabrigo Lace Scarf 6

 

malabrigo Lace combo 1

Gorgas Run

I love combining colours, and this simple scarf is an easy way to experiment. It’s a free pattern (YAY!), and it isn’t very hard to knit. The colourwork is easy-peasy, you just hold 2 strands of the yarn together and change up the colour combinations at the pattern tells you. And if you are afraid of knitting with 2 strands held together, don’t be, it’s simple! If you want a wider scarf or a wrap, just add extra stitches to your pattern and made sure you centre the decreases in the middle.

Yarn

We used light as air Malabrigo Lace on 4.5mm/US7 needles, and the finished scarf feels light (great for fall strolls through fallen leaves and apple picking). The pattern was written for fingering weight yarn, which would make a slightly sturdier garment suitable for a cold winter climate. We used semi-solid colourways, but I think it could look really beautiful using variegated/multicoloured yarns (I’d go 4 colours of Manos del Urugay Alegria). And of course, it could be a great way to use up some yarn in your stash.

Colour

If you’re tentative about choosing colours that will look nice together, I usually suggest picking a palette with colours in the same family, or close-ish to each other. Blues and greens go nice together, especially turquoise or teal. Blue and Purple, Red and orange or red and pink blend well, as do neutrals.

Notes

We finished the scarf after working the colourway twice (once was too short), and we could have kept on going, we still hard yarn left (I have put the yardage amounts in the Ravelry Project Page).

The sweater in the picture above is the Reversible Wrap by Jo Sharp.

Materials

Shop Online Button Turquoise

malabrigo Lace combo 3

 

 

 

 

 

FINISHED Quaker Yarn Stretcher

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Handmaiden Maidenhair Quaker Stretcher BLOG 2Handmaiden Maidenhair Quaker Stretcher BLOG 1

Quaker Yarn Stretcher

I LOVE this project, the Quaker Yarn Stretcher was definitely a win. When I cast on I wasn’t sure if it was right for the yarn (Handmaiden Maiden Hair) but my intuition told me that it would work out, so I pushed on, and I’m glad I did. By the time I was ready to cast-off, I was wishing I had another ball – not because I thought the project needed to be larger, but because I was just enjoying it so much. The size is just right for a fall scarf. The fabric is light and airy; the silk in the yarn shows up as beautiful highlights of colour, and the kid mohair creates a soft, beautiful halo. If the Handmaiden Maiden Hair is a little out of your budget, or your skin is too sensitive for any type of mohair, try a skein or two of Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino on 4mm/US6 to 4.5mm/US7 needles (2 skeins if you want a larger size) – it’s 100% super soft merino wool and puffs up with a beautiful aura type halo effect.

Materials

Shop Online Button Turquoise 250w

Handmaiden Maidenhair Quaker Stretcher COMBO

FREEBIE Close to You

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Photos: Whiteberry

Close to You

So it’s the end of the summer, you aren’t ready yet to let go and drift into fall, but you’re over summer projects … so make a little one-skein, scarfy-wrappy thingy that you’ll be able to wear in fall and spring. Close to You is a great little pattern, it’s got a little bit of detail to keep you involved, but it also has enough straight knitting that you don’t have to commit too much brain power. It uses one skein of fingering weight yarn, so it’s a perfect little project for a mini-splurge, or dig into your stash. It should knit up beautifully in a solid, semi-solid, variegated, or self-striping yarn like Madeline Tosh Tosh Merino Light, Manos Alegria

Yarn Options

1 skein of any of these yarns is perfect to make Close to You :

Other Materials

  • 4mm/US6 – 32″ circular needles (or longer)
  • tapestry or darning needle
  • FREE Pattern

Shop Online Button Turquoise 250w

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Photos: Whiteberry

 

 

PROJECT Bias Cowl

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Bias Cowl

I find really interesting things when I browse through the patterns on Ravelry …. one of the things I found this week was a micro-collection of the same cowl made over and over again in different colourways of Urth Uneek Fingering (ON SALE UNTIL THE END OF JULY). I thought it was awesome that this knitter, Deb-Knits, enjoyed her project and the yarn so much that she wanted to continue exploring and experiencing it. I also get it, the project is GORGEOUS, and it illustrates that all the colourways of Urth Uneek Fingering work up beautifully. And hey, is it ever too early to start holiday knitting?

 

 

Materials

 

FREEBIE Easy Garter Scarfy Wrap

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handmaiden scarf wrap back

Easy Garter Scarfy Wrap

This project is the brainchild of my friend Jo, and I’m very grateful that she came up with this simple solution because it’s GREAT! This wrap drapes like a big scarf, but is also equally wearable as a wrap. The pattern is almost totally brainless; it’s a great second or third project for a beginner knitter, but it also works equally well for more experienced knitters hanging out on the patio with a beer or a cocktail.

It’s designed with the Handmaiden Casbah 5ply Gradient Kits (which we are constantly restocking), but you can use any DK or Sport weight yarn (or if you want to play around with the base math you can use other weights of yarn). You can make it as a gradient colourway, like ours, or use a single variegated, solid, semi-solid, ombre, or even self-striping yarn – it’s such a simple shape that just about anything goes, it’s totally flex.

As an aside, we are always restocking the Handmaiden Casbah 5ply Gradient Kits, but they are all one of a kind and individually dyed, so no two will be exactly alike.

Thank You Jo!

handmaiden scarf wrap front

Size

14.5″/37cm wide x 76″/190cm long

Materials

 

handmaiden scarf wrap COMBO 2

 

handmaiden scarf wrap COMBO

FREEBIE & HACKS & FINISHED Noro Striped Scarf

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Noro Silk Garden Noro Striped Scarf.jpg

Noro Striped Scarf

Yup, I did it, I made ANOTHER Noro Striped Scarf. My creative juices have been syphoned off by other tasks lately, and I just needed a project that’s simple, brainless, but also tactile and lovely. Plus I has some Noro Silk Garden in my personal stash that really, really, really needed to get used.

I used a total of 6 skeins (3 of each colourway) and my scarf is VERY long, it wraps around three times. 4 skeins will make a normal length scarf. I haven’t bothered blocking the scarf, but Noro Silk Garden always enjoys a little bath in Eucalan.

NORO STRIPE HACKS

As far as striping Noro goes, you’ve got a few options:

  1. Alternate the two colours of self-striping yarn. This is what the original pattern does.
  2. Alternate one colour of self-striping yarn by starting it at different parts of the colourway. When you do this you can guarantee that your colours will always match.
  3. Alternate a solid or semi-solid colour with a self-striping colour.

I went with option number 3, using a neutral colour that contrasts with the self-striping yarn. The neutral is Noro Silk Garden 269, so it is technically a self-striping yarn, but the colour shift is so subtle that it is barely noticeable used in this way. Cream is also a secret fix for when you can’t find the right contrast colour, it always makes the other colours ‘pop’.

By the way, you are absolutely allowed to edit the colourway. If there’s a colour in your ball that you absolutely loathe (or just modestly dislike) cut it out and move on. The same thing goes if the colours start to blend together and you lose the stripes, cut one colour and move on up to the next. Life is short, don’t be afraid to jettison recalcitrant colours!

NORO LEFTOVER HACKS

If you’ve got little bits of Noro Silk Garden left-over and possess DPN (double pointed needles) skills, they make excellent little ornaments and decorations. I made a PILE of them last year, they use about 12g of Noro Silk Garden.

Materials

  • Noro Silk Garden: 2 to 3 skeins in each of two colours (a total of 4 to 6 skeins ), we used colour 269 (cream) and a contrasting colour colourway which has been discontinued, colour 381 is the closest to what we used.
  • 4.5mm/US 7 needles
  • tapestry needle
  • FREE Pattern

 

FREEBIE Chunky Cabled Scarf

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Chunky Cabled Scarf

This scarf is quite long and voluminous – it calls for a lot of yarn, but you don’t have to make it quite as big as they did. You can scale it back by omitting a pattern repeat (make it 2 cables wide instead of 3 by omitting 14 stitches from the pattern), and don’t make it quite so long.

Yarn Options

Materials

FREEBIE Boom

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Boom

This free wrap/scarf is an easy, mindless knit that will make a very popular gift. It would equally gorgeous with a self-striping yarn like Noro Silk Garden, or a hand-painted yarn like Malabrigo Rios or Manos del Uruguay Alegria Grande.

Yarn Options

Materials

  • 6mm/US10 needles (5.5mm/US9 for Alegria Grande or Rios)
  • tapestry/darning needle
  • FREE Pattern

FREEBIE & HACKS Noro Stripe Scarf

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Noro Kureopatora Stripe Scarf Pink 2.jpg

Noro Striped Scarf

I’m very pleased with myself, I just finished a Noro Striped Scarf, an unfinished project that languished throughout the summer. A Noro scarf is a simple & effective project when your knitting mojo is feeling a bit below base-line.

I used two skeins of Noro Kureopatora, but the pattern was originally designed and looks gorgeous made with Noro Silk Garden. You can use two different colourways, or use the same colour starting at different parts of the colourway.

Yarn Options

Materials

Noro Kureopatora Stripe Scarf Pink.jpg

Noro Hacks

  • Noro Kureopatora and Silk Garden are both feltable, so you can join two strands with a “Spit Splice” … less ends to weave in!
  • Noro Silk Garden blooms beautifully when knitted at a looser tension. Try going up a needle size, avoid a dense tension, and you’ll receive a treat! There’s a side benefit too – your yarn will go farther!
  • Both Kureopatora and Silk Garden enjoy a bath at the end of your project, blocking them in Eucalan or Soak to soften them up and let them bloom!
  • Sometimes the colours in your two skeins might get to a point where they blend together a bit too much and your stripes look less defined. When this happens I cut one of the yarns and skip ahead in the colourway to the next point where the contrast returns.
  • It’s ok to edit your Noro palette. If you come to a colour that doesn’t work, you don’t like, or there’s just too much of it, feel free to cut it and skip ahead.

FREEBIE Gorgas Run Scarf

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Gorgas Run Scarf

This FREE pattern scarf combines a number of qualities that make me really, really happy:

  1. The knit is fairly simple, but not too boring. Beginners can learn a new skill, more established knitters can easily do it while watching TV.
  2. It offers an opportunity to play around with colour in a simple, uncomplicated way.
  3. It’s not a bad way to use up a skein or two of skinny stash yarns.
  4. It makes a great gift that will be well received (that time of year is right around the corner).
  5. It’s easy to swap out and substitute yarns.

Yarn Options

Any fingering weight yarn will work, but I think Gorgas Run would be especially EXQUISITE made with Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino  (it’s a single ply merino yarn that knits well with two strands together, and the skeins are very affordable). The pattern is made with Semi-solid coloured yarn, but you can mix it up and use variegated colours if you want some drama.

Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino: 1 skein in each of 4 colours (swatch for a tension you like)

Manos Alegria: 1 skein in each of 4 colours

Cascade Heritage: 1 skein in each of 4 colours

Madeline Tosh Merino Light: 1 skein in each of 4 colours

Mineville Merino Sock: 1 skein in each of 4 colours

Materials

Notes

  • Yarn is held double throughout.
  • Use Colors A & D for your gauge swatch. You will need the entirety of Colors B & C for your project, but will have approx. 30g each of A & D leftover.