The Shitzu Scarf

In December I knit a super soft scarf using a varigated orange/brown yarn. I will have to see about taking a photo of that scarf to share. Anyway, so soft was this scarf that Little Boy declared it was as soft as Yoko and Auntie would like that scarf - because Yoko is soft. Simple 2.5 year old logic. You see, Yoko is my sister's Shitzu, and she really is a very soft dog! Well, I didn't think orange and brown was necessarily my sister's color, so I decided to knit another scarf using a gorgeous blue variagated color, but with the same soft yarn. Little Boy was really loving the "Yoko" scarf - so much so that he somehow managed to get the stitches off the needle - when I was almost finished. Yikes! I tried to fix it, but to no avail - the yarn is furry and hard to see and I just kept loosing those stitches. I would think it was fixed, knit a few rows and then find a big hole! So, I pulled the entire thing apart and set it aside for a bit.

The yarn and knitting needles was the 1 project I packed for our 4 day mountain get-away. One thing I like about knitting - it is so portable. And - ta-dah! I reknit the whole thing. It is off in the mail tomorrow for Auntie! The Shitzu Scarf, of course!

Details - for those knitters who want to know are below - please excuse my pattern writting abilities! With all the yarn overs, the pattern will make a nice "hole-y" type scarf, but not too hole-y, if you know what I mean. A little bit of a lacey effect.

Knitting needle size: I used 8 mm European size - simply because that is the only pair of needles I have right now. So, anything around that size. I tend to knit a bit loosely.

Yarn: Teddy by 4 Seasons. 50 g, 65 meters (71 yards) per ball and I used 2 balls. This yarn is soooo soft! 100% polyester micro. Made for Grundl, Germany. I used colors 620 and 625, but have no idea which was the blue or orange now. No, I won't tell you how dirt cheap the yarn was - we pay a fortune over here for quilting fabric, but yarn is a bargain! Too bad I don't knit more.

Pattern: Cast on 17 stitches. Row 1: Knit 1, Yarn Over, Knit 1 to end. Row 2: Knit 1 (this is the odd stitch on the end) then Knit 2 together to the end (you are knitting 1 stitch and 1 yarn over together - these stitches are very close to each other on your needle so this is easy to do. When you are done with this row you will have 17 stitches on your needle again). Row 3: Knit 1, Yarn Over, Knit 1 to end again (Row 1). Just keep repeating these rows over and over until you want to cast off (I always wait until the last little bit of yarn).

I made the scarf wide, but you could make it narrower just as long as you cast on an odd number of stitches. My first orange/brown scarf was wider (I cast on 21 stitches), but I felt it folded over a bit, so made the blue one narrower. I am fairly sure that if you knit it at about 13 stitches with the next size needle up - you could get a decent scarf with just 1 ball of yarn instead of 2 - if that is what you had on hand, but personally, I like a wider/longer 2 ball scarf. Just make it to your own peference! Enjoy.