Red Scarf

Last night, I faced the prospect of going to hang out with knitting friends the next morning and not having a portable project to hand. I know, right?

I'd always meant to participate in the Red Scarf Project, but usually managed to clue into it right before the deadline. This year, inspired by friends such as Janna, I decided to make one myself. I work at a community college, an institution which serves many former foster kids, so as a knitter, this excellent cause is tailor-made for me.

I found a reversible cabled scarf pattern in Debbie Stoller's Son of Stitch 'n Bitch called the Swelligant Scarf, threw the book in my bag and headed off this morning. At The Knitting Nest, I picked up some lightly variegated (vaguely variegated?) red yarn and got crankin'.

It doesn't look quite like the picture in the book, the scarf in that example being made with a much more drapey silk/wool blend, but I'm liking what's going on. From a distance it looks plain, but up close, stuff is happening. Because the main panels are worked as a 1x1 pattern, cables incorporated into this pattern are pretty convincingly reversible. As you can see, the center strip is offset from the outside strips, creating a cool effect. Not only are the cables spiraling, but the spirals themselves spiral relative to their neighbors.

Now that I'm into the pattern, it's going quickly. I did all this in just a few hours. And it's the first project in forever that I've done with straight needles (ahem). They were a little hard to get used to.