Wednesday 8 October 2008

Autumn Knitting Project

It's getting chilly here in Wales; although the sun is shining, there is a definite bite to the air.  The nights and mornings are slowly getting darker, and the first fire has been lit in our house.   Thoughts are turning to the cold months ahead, to cwtching up in scarfs and gloves and hats for bracing weekend walks.  There is nothing quite like knitting your own scarf, every time you wear it, every time you wind it around you to keep you warm you will do so in the knowledge that you made it ... out of let's face it a ball of string and two sticks ... amazing! If you have never knitted before this is a perfect one to try first off.  If you can bear to part with it, after all that hard work, it would also make an amazing Christmas gift for a loved one...



Easy-peasy instructions:
  1. Buy a few balls of DK 50g wool.  I am using RY Classic Yarns Cashsoft DK yarn because it is 57% extra fine merino, 33% acrylic microfibre and 10% cashmere and it is the loveliest, softest most snuggly wool ever.  At the same time buy some 4mm knitting needles.  In the UK you can buy all of these things here.
  2. Twist a hair bobble onto one of the needles and push it down to the end, this will help you remember which needle you are knitting which pattern onto later.
  3.  Make a slip knot (here's how). Then cast on 63 stitches onto the needle with no hair bobble.  This is easy, for instructions see here.
  4. take the needle with the hair bobble and knit 3 stitches, purl one stitch, then repeat (knit 3, purl 1) all the way along the row until you get to the end.
  5. turn the needle around and then knit one stitch, purl one stitch onto the needle with no hair bobble, then knit 3, purl 1 and repeat knit 3, purl one, knit 3 purl one to the end.  The first two stitches have the effect of staggering the pattern which makes the scarf ribbed.
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 over and over again and just keep going until it's the length you like, then cast (or bind) off.  Really easy.
So to recap: 
  • Needle with bobble: knit 3, purl 1.   
  • Needle with no bobble: knit 1, purl 1, (knit 3, purl 1) then repeat the stitches in brackets to the end of the row.
Happy Knitting!!!


3 comments:

Rachel said...

Looks fab, I must have a bash. Shamefully, I started knitting a scarf for my baby sister two years ago. I gave it to her for Christmas, unfinished, took it back to finish, moved house, misplaced it and never ended up giving it to her. Maybe I should have another attempt!

Modelmental said...

You make it sound so easy! I knit a scarf a year or two ago, sadly the glittery yarn in the wool is scratchy so don't wear it much. Perfectly soft yarn is a must!

The Cwtch said...

Oh Definitely try it, it is really easy! You need to love the wool you are knitting with in terms of the texture and colour. You're right redframe, soft yarn is a must! It's quite addictive once you start seeing it grow!