Friday, November 12, 2010

Holey Scarf and another Teagarden T

I couldn't resist a bit more knitting. This time I made a holey scarf - a free pattern on Ravelry called the Swiss Cheese Scarf. (The link only works if you have a free Ravelry account.) Three skeins of fingering weight yarn (Araucania Solid #103), a size 3 bamboo circular needle, and 48,510 stitches later (give or take) and, voila.

Before felting, approximately 66" x 17" with 27-1/2 repeats of the 16-row pattern.

Before felting

Next step, a top loading washing machine, small load, hot water, 1 Tblsp laundry detergent. Ten minutes later, nothing had happened, so I added an old "unlinty" (lint might become embedded in the felt) towel and set the timer for another 10 minutes.

Yowza, very felted. I let it go another couple minutes (not sure why, but I guess I wasn't mentally prepared for it to be done yet) for a total of 22 minutes of agitation. I removed the scarf from the machine, placing it in a bowl of hot water, and rinsed in additional hot water until clear. Squeezed out as much excess water as possible, and laid it on a towel, under a small fan, to dry.

Voila. It's probably a tad overfelted, because it is more stiff than I intended, but I love it!! As I was knitting, I suspected that the Araucania would felt well (because the yarn liked to grab itself) and I knit loosely. However, it exceeded my expectations by felting to the point that there is no longer any stitch definition. I had hoped for that, but wasn't expecting it.

After felting, approximately 63" x 13.5".

Despite the holes, it is quite warm. I would like to make this again in a charcoal gray, maybe changing the dimensions a bit and felting it a bit less. I should add that this piece uses two dye lots. I bought two skeins on ebay for half price and the third, also on ebay, from a different seller that was a bit more expensive. When the third skein arrived, there was a visible difference with the other two. I considered my various options, but decided that I didn't really care and just added the third yarn to the end of the scarf. I like how the scarf subtly changes, in fact. :)

On a different topic, I was asked to post a photo of one of my recent pieces made from the bamboo jersey from FabricMart. I didn't plan to post this Teagarden T, which I made in September during the SSS challenge, because I've already made and shown this pattern several times, but here it is in rust bamboo jersey. This is for you, andib! :)

10 comments:

  1. Oh! I lurve that scarf Shams. Its beautiful. At first I thought you had punched holes somehow in felted fabric, but its fab how its knitted and then felted. What fun.

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  2. Great scarf, Shams...looks like a Barbara De Jounge!

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  3. Thanks, Margy! I love Barbara De Jounge (and met her at the recent Artistry in Fashion sale, where I bought a necklace from her) but I haven't seen that she's doing a scarf like this!

    Cool. :)

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  4. That is a wonderful scarf - as usual, you take it up a notch.
    nice jersey top, too.

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  5. What an interesting scarf. I love it for the somewhat industrial look to the "holes" or spaces. And the Teagarden tee is really nice in rust.

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  6. Fabulous!
    Also v impressed that you have (roughly?) counted up your stitches... I don't think I could do this and face another knitting project! A bit mind-blowing...

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  7. Now this is a Very Cool scarf! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Wow, Shams, you've done it again! That scarf is lovely, and I think I'm going to try one.

    I thought bamboo jersey would be too clingy for my (rather lumpy) body, but seeing your Teagarden Tee makes me rethink it! Thanks!

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  9. Shams I love the way it felted to the point of losing stitch definition.

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  10. What a fun scarf! It almost looks as if it's constructed of giant rickrack stitched together -- which sounds awful, but the result is anything but.

    What do you think of the bamboo jersey? I haven't been too impressed with the (only two) experiences I've had with bamboo fabrics so far, but it's been a while and maybe they're better now . . . ?

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