Flirt

This ultimately worked up rather quickly through a day of football, and I'm anxiously awaiting it to finish blocking to see how it turns out!



I was a bit loathe to block this though because I was kind of into the natural curl -- it added an element of fun. But seeing it blocked out, I'm eager to see the lace open up.



This pattern came about while I was flipping through the Knitter's Bible which my SP5 pal (now known as Manda!) had previously gifted me with. Not having paid much attention to lace knitting prior to Lelah (somehow thinking that because it was called "lace knitting" it must be hard), it finally dawned on me that the lace scarves that I'd seen around in the magazines and such were just multiple repeats of lace stitches. There's a great glossary of stitches in the back of this book, and a decent number of lace patterns. I settled on the Vine Lace Zig Zag stitch. Cast on for two pattern repeats and just kept knitting till I ran out of yarn. I liked this stitch because of the fun curvyness it lends to the end shape. It's kind of hard to tell in the pictures above, but the sides of the scarf are curvy. The pink gave it a flirty air.

Hence, Flirt.

I was rather amused to find on a subsequent visit to Crafster, this thread regarding this Liesel Lace Scarf (duly going onto my "to knit" list). I've unintentionally jumped on a bandwagon! How funny. I love that she added garter stitch to her edges.

My pink is 100% virgin wool. I rinsed it with conditioner, and am hoping that the wool softens up, as it did have a bit of a scratchiness to it. In the meantime, I've cast on again with an odd skein of Cotton Fleece (20% cotton, 80% wool)I had stashed away. This curls less than the pink did and knits up more openly, generally. I find it fascinating that all it takes to change the look of something is to work it up in a different fiber!



The pattern:

On a pair of US 7 bamboo DPNs (stuck stoppers on and used as regular needles), and worsted weight. Cast on 21. Knit Vine Lace Zig Zag stitch to desired length (this measures 3.5" x 85" in its blocked to measurements). Bind off. Now, go Flirt!

Oh, and thanks Manda for the 2006 calendar, which of course I opened and flipped through immediately! :)