I always like to improve my stash. That ever-growing collection of hats, scarves, mitts, headbands, and other accessories, conveniently stationed next to the door, right at your fingertips, ready to keep you warm without a moment’s notice.
I absolutely hate being cold. And in Oregon, hat and/or scarf weather is pretty much a year round phenomena (at least for me). So I like to have as many warmies around as possible. I almost always have a stash-busting “warmer” of some kind on the needles.
Incidentally, my needles have been itching to knit something with my handspun, Vegan Blue. I decided this particular hank of yarn needed to become some sort of neck warmer, but I was somewhat uncertain of the yardage. Being the lazy knitter that I am, I devised this solution. I weighed the ball, and divided the weight in half. I would increase until half the weight of yarn was used, then decrease the other half.
After completing the decreases, I found that I had quite a bit of yarn left. It turns out that my novice spinning skills meant that the first half of the yarn was spun significantly thicker than the second half. Even though I knit the increases until half the weight was gone, there was more yardage in the second half.
Even with lop-sided halves, the scarf still approximates symmetrical, and the difference in weight is hardly noticeable. It is very soft, and feels incredibly smooth against the skin. You can find the free pattern here.
