Memorial Day Weekend: parades, barbecues, sales. All very traditional. Me? I’m a rebel. I spent it washing and packing away for the summer all of my woolen knitwear. Hats, gloves, scarves, all washed and clean and smelling of lavender and tucked away from those little winged menaces until the chill returns. Socks are packed separately in case I want to pull out a pair on a cool night, and because I have so many of them they need their own container. I didn’t realize how prolific a sock knitter I’ve become until I started gathering them up!
Since it’s now summer (if you ignore the solar calendar) that’s the perfect time to finish up another scarf, right? Right!
VINTAGE VELVET KNOCK-OFF
Pattern: Vintage Velvet by Lisa Daniels, from Interweave’s Scarf Style — sort of. See the notes
Yarn: Muench Touch Me in Burnt Orange, 3 skeins, picked up in a Ravelry destash
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm
Notes: I have been coveting this scarf for a long time. I acquired Scarf Style ages ago, and the Vintage Velvet scarf leapt out at me immediately both for its appearance and the description of the yarn’s properties after felting — like crushed velvet, hence the name. Then I found out how expensive the yarn is, so it went on the backburner for a few years. During those few years got the chance to gladhand skeins of Touch Me in various and sundry yarn shops, and oh wow does it live up to its name. Actual velvet fabric has always made the skin on the back of my neck stand up when I touch it, but this yarn feels to me like velvet ought to — soft and cushy and rich. When I found someone destashing three skeins of the stuff on Ravelry for half price, I jumped on it heedless of the color. I’d always envisioned a scarf in a chocolately brown or victorian rose shade, but the available skeins were burnt orange.
It’s grown on me:
especially now that I’ve felted the finished object, which brought out a richness and depth that I really love.
The original pattern called for five skeins of Touch Me, and I only had three. I found a lot of modifications and ideas on Ravelry and I ended up abandoning the original pattern entirely. I swiped the double-sided cable from the Palindrome scarf and did an 8 stitch border on each side in seed stitch. (I am one of those few knitters who enjoys seed stitch.) The center cable gives a nice spine to the scarf, while the seed stitch relaxed — adding almost eight inches in length! — after felting and developed a beautiful drape. It’s a dream to wear, and I’m already looking forward to next winter so I can show it off properly.
And, because Memorial Day is more than parades or barbecues and sales or knitwear: if you’re a soldier or sailor reading this, thank you for your service, and come home safe to your families.