Thursday, December 31, 2009

Columbia River Scarf Pattern. Happy New Year!

This morning I placed an order with Punta Yarns in preparation for the Bitterroot KAL coming up on January 10th. In reviewing colors with the owner, he said that his wife did not like parrot colors and that she had "New England" taste. Coming from there myself, I knew exactly what he meant. Neutrals. And it reminded me of this scarf, which is one of my absolute favorites.
Now it's been five years since I knit this, so I'm a little foggy on the names of the yarns I used, other than to say that they were from Habu. I used 4 different colors in silk mohair and 4 different colors in a sport weight merino, knitting 1 strand of the mohair with 1 strand of the merino in different color combinations. I remember buying this yarn at a shop in Portland on my birthday, returning to our B&B on the Columbia River, spreading out all these soft balls of colors around me on the pristine white duvet and saying to my husband, I am so happy. I also remember that it took me quite a bit of experimenting to get just the right pattern and look for this scarf.
It being New Year's Eve, I thought it would be a nice way to thank you for reading my blog and for supporting The Grove by posting this pattern.

Columbia River Scarf:

Materials:
U.S. #6 straight needles,
4 skeins of Habu's 1/2 Silk Mohair Kasrui (186 yds, .5 oz) in ivory, taupe, pale rose, and kahki.
4 skeins of a soft sportweight merino, alpaca, or cashmere (approximately 100 yds per color in various neutrals).

Gauge:
24 sts = 4" in Fisherman's rib pattern.
17 rows = 4"

Stitch Used:
Fishmerman's Rib:
Set-up Row: K1, P1 rib.
Continue in K1, P1 rib but for every knit stitch (and just the knit stitches), knit into the stitch below the one on your needle; i.e., instead of inserting your right needle into the knit stitch on your left needle, insert it into the center of the knit stitch directly below that one and knit as usual. All purls stitches are worked in the usual fashion.

Finished Measurements:
Width: approximately 7"
Length: approximately 58"

Directions:
Holding 1 strand of mohair and 1 strand of sportweight together, cast on 40 stitches. Starting with the Set-Up Row described above, continue in Fisherman's Rib for 36 rows.
Row 37: Color change. Here's where you get to be creative. You can continue using a new set of colors (1 mohair, 1 sportweight) or you can continue using the same color mohair but change to a different color sportweight. Repeat rows 2-36 until desired length.

Finishing: Cast off and weave in ends. Enjoy!

P.S. I'll be ordering more Habu silk mohair at the TNNA on January 9th. If you have any special requests, just let me know and I'll see if we can get some for you. The Blue Sky Sportweight Alpaca or the Punta Mericash would be perfect to combine with the thin mohair.

2 comments:

  1. Oh Susan, this scarf is a dream. It's one of my most favorite things you've ever knit. It's beautiful on you too. All that love just shines right out of this fantastic scarf :o)

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  2. It's pretty but....the pink one (did I really say that) well the sort of salmonoy pink with the bit of metallic, THAT is my favorite!

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