01-17-2022

Feeling empowered by a successful experiment in cabling this week, I decided to start on this project. Some ribs, some cabling, and less complex than the style I just tried. Should be okay. Little did I know the horror that lurked beneath the feet of those misleadingly innocent looking ribs. Run! Run for your lives! It’s a Tubular Cast On!!!

Did. Not. Enjoy.

I read the instructions. I watched YouTube videos. I read project notes from other knitters. I couldn’t wrap my brain around the pattern instructions for some reason, and I kept messing up my attempts at an Italian Tubular Cast On, although the Brooklyn Tweed video made it look easy. I finally gave in and tried VeryPinkKnits’s multi-needle and crochet hook method and was so grateful when it worked, although it gave me the simulated terror of walking a tightrope the entire time. Then it turned out I should have noted the selvedge before I set the 2x2 rib pattern in the cast on. Now it’s all skewed by one stitch.

I refuse to do it over.

I’m about an inch into the rib section now. I’m hoping that the one skewed line will fade into the background as the rest of the scarf comes to dominate one’s attention.

I like the yarn. It’s not cashmere-soft, but it’s soft enough, and I like the variety of black/gray/silver fibers making up each strand. It has more of a halo than I expected and an almost rustic quality because of the loose spin, but there’s a silvery gleam to it under that shagginess. I’ve heard it has great stitch definition, which will be nice for the cabling.

01-18-2022

Finished the 2x2 ribbing. Now on to my first-ever Inv-L and Inv-R attempts. As with the Tubular Cast On, the videos I’ve watched show different methods. I’ll try to follow the pattern’s.

Oh, wait.

NEEDLE SCRATCH

Did I say I was done with the ribbing? That I’d skewed the cast on but wouldn’t fix it? Mr. Set-Up Row, Ft. Inv-L and Inv-R, showed up and said to @#! with that! Something got really messed up. I couldn’t fix it.

TL;DR: I frogged it all and started over. This time it worked better (knock wood). I’ve redone the ribbing, the set up rows, and am poised to dive into the deep sea of cabling tomorrow.

I even added a lifeline a few rows before the end of the ribbing so I don’t have to worry about doing the cast on again.

01-19-2022

I’m on Row 17 of the cable section, and I’m finding it a lot easier than the cast on and set up. The design is so gorgeous. I can’t wait to see more of it unfold.

Despite my grousing, it is all worth it to get to this part. I just want a merit badge for all that invisible struggle. ;)

Later: I finished the first 24-row repeat today. The scarf is just shy of 5 inches tall and 8 inches wide now (unstretched and unblocked).

01-20-2022

Took it slow today. Put a lifeline in after Row 1 of the second repeat and got up to Row 9.

01-22-2022

Finished the 2nd repeat and half of the 3rd today. 16 rows

01-23-2022

Only 3 rows done today.

01-24-2022

Finished the 3rd repeat today. Lots of tinking back as my attention wandered--a side effect of getting more comfortable with the pattern and thus less vigilant. What would Mad Eye Moody say?

I am down to mere dregs with my first skein, which suggests this will take 6.5 skeins or so to finish with the prescribed dimensions, but I have 14 skeins of this yarn. I might make it extra long and windy.

It’s about 10.5” long, unstretched, at the moment.

Still loving the design.

01-25-2022

I joined the end of my first skein to the second, and at the end of the fourth row, I still have about 15” of old yarn left. Not enough for a full fifth row, but a surprising amount. I didn’t think 112 yards would go so far.

01-26-2022

The 1st skein ran out just past the halfway mark on the 5th row of the 4th repeat.

I knit up to the 10th row of the 4th repeat today.

02-22-2022

I will get back to this scarf. I’m just speeding through a lace shawl for my sister’s April wedding at the moment.

04-15-2022

Finished the 4th repeat today (a total of 6 rows today, total) with a lifeline on Row 23 of 24 (so it won’t trip up my cable needle in Row 1 of repeat 5).

Good to be back to this project!

04-16-2022

Knit five rows of repeat 5.

07-01-2022

’Tis July, and knitting will have to take a back seat for the month. Not only is it time for Camp NaNoWriMo (a 30-day writing challenge), but I’ve enrolled in an online proofreading course to brush up on my skills so I can begin working again after an 18-year sabbatical from paid employment to raise my kids. I’ll be back to knitting again in August.

01-03-2024

I lost this project, along with two others, for a while. Or so I thought. I looked everywhere. Twice. Then months pass, and there the big ziplock bag is, right under my main WIP in my knitting bag. WTH?

Hope to get back to it again soon(ish).