Chilly Everywhere
We have come through January. If ever there has been the crying need for more mufflers, we have seen it: snow in LA and Tucson. If you suffered through holiday triplet blizzards in the Midwest, you are utterly justified in your howls of protest. So there is every reason to whip out a pair of knitting needles and put winter back in its place. Knitting a muffler lets you to experiment with two new things: any yarn that you like and any pattern stitch that you find attractive. Keeping it muffler-sized makes it almost-immediate gratification. You can get it done during the Super Bowl. This is DOABLE.
I have always wanted a peacock tail scarf. Despite its name, the Ostrich Plume pattern reminds me of a peacock's tail, full of eyes. I trotted off to my Local Yarn Shop and bought 3 balls of luxurious Dune yarn by Trendsetters, so that the peacock's tail will have the feathery texture and shimmer of the real bird. My friend Monica is freezing in bleak Chicago, and she needs something glorious to get her through till spring.
Of course I did a few repeats of the pattern with some leftover yarn to see how many repeats wide to make the scarf. The Ostrich Plume pattern is a 16+1 stitch repeat-rather wide. I need AT LEAST 2 repeats to get the peacock tail effect, which means the scarf is a minimum of 33 stitches wide. Monica is not a giraffe, and I am not a millionaire, so 2 repeats wide and 3 balls long is the size of the scarf.
The Ostrich Plume pattern has a knit right side and a purl wrong side, so it will curl; that means I need a border of garter stitch-3 knit stitches at the beginning and end of each row (33+6=39 stitches wide), and 3 rows of knit stitch at the beginning and end of the scarf: (6 rows beginning and end would be better, but I am impatient to start the fun part.) This is a great pattern because it has only 2 different rows to memorize. This is my idea of BRILLIANT.
- Border: Knit 3 rows.
- Row 1: K 3, (K2together) 3 times; (YO, K1) 5 times, YO;(SSK) twice, K3tog, (K2together) twice; (YO, K1) 5 times, YO;(SSK) 3 times; K3.
- Row 2 and all even rows: PURL.
- Repeat [rows 1 and 2] 4 times.
- Row 3: Knit 4; (YO, K1) twice, YO; (SSK) twice, K3tog, (K2tog) twice; (YO, K1) 5 times, YO; (SSK) twice, K3tog, (K2tog) twice; (YO, K1) 3 times, K1.
- Repeat [rows 3 and 4] 4 times.
- Alternate these groups of 1&2, and 3&4 until you have run out of yarn or patience.
Just because there are only 2 pattern rows doesn't mean I don't still have to count at the end of each row; that is the way it goes with lace. If I don't have 39 stitches at the end of every row, I am toast. After a few ripping episodes I am careful to count to 39. There is no way around this; heaven knows I have tried. If sloth could devise a way to fiddle with the wrong stitch count and make it work, my repeated attempts with sloth would have borne much fruit over the years, and in a way they have; I have given up the foolishness. YOU CANNOT CHEAT IN A LACE PATTERN. Abandon all thoughts of getting away with it. Just count carefully and you will be much, much happier.
So here it is the beginning of February, and I am through 2 1/2 balls of Dune yarn-that means one more evening of knitting my peacock tail. I would have been finished with it, except that I left it out one night and Yiayia pulled it off the needles and undid a few rows. Fatdog says That Is What One Can Expect From Pussycats. I will wash out the kitty spit before I send it to Monica.
Here is the lumpy-looking muffler so far, but I can see the beauty of the pattern even before I block this little darling. Off it goes to Monica on Monday, and then I can start on February's project: baby clothes. Anders and Marta are going to have a baby in April, and Jon and Claire's young Jack is outgrowing his rompers. Fortunately babies are not fussy about their fashions, and use up the supply of fresh, clean knits pretty quickly. If you like to knit by the seat of your wits, as I do, babies are your best friends. So make experimental mufflers while the crummy weather lasts, and hatch the plots for your next knitting projects. Find some babies and be creative!
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