It dawned on me that many stitch patterns are directional and that would mean making two pieces and grafting or starting in the center and working out in both directions.  I didn’t really want to do that for this scarf, so I settled on the Cameron Scarf pattern (on the sidebar under Knitting Patterns.  It has a nice, textured look and couldn’t be anything but feminine in this color.

So I got started.  I’m pleased with the look, but it’s a little narrow and I’m wondering what, if anything, I can do to ameliorate that without ripping out what I’ve already got…

Yesterday, I was thinking about the way many patterns deform the cast on/off ends of a piece into points, scallops, etc...and wondering if working both ends from the middle would be possible.  I thought maybe a rigorous blocking might take care of the issue, but there was only one way to really find out :)

So I did a provisional cast-on for the Fish-Scale Lace Panel pattern from the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year calendar (May 31st, if you’re curious), adding 2 garter selvedge stitches to each side of the panel.  I worked two repeats of the pattern and then undid the provisional cast-on and worked two more repeats in the other direction.  I wet it and blocked it and left it to dry overnight.  This is what I got:

The experiment worked well enough.  I had worked three rows of plain stockinette in the center as I thought that might help alleviate the tendency of the swatch to deform the fabric.  You know, spread it out a little to kind of diffuse the effect?  Next time I wouldn’t bother because except in the very center, it sort of blends in with the pattern.

However, there was an odd thing.  I cast on 21 provisional stitches to start - 17 for the lace panel and 4 for the garter selvedges.  But, when I unzipped the provisional cast-on, there were only 20 stitches.  I lost a stitch on one end.  I vaguely remember reading something about this some time ago and it wasn’t difficult to replace the stitch but… Where did it go?

Saturday, after we’d had a lovely lunch at The Wayside Inn, dad decided to check out a Salvation Army thrift shop in a neighboring town.  He loves being able to get a good shirt for $1.00 or so and surprisingly, he is often able to do so. 

At the shop, we went our separate ways - since I haven’t much interest in menswear and he isn’t thrilled with books or kitchen paraphernalia.  And as I wandered down the aisles, I saw this:

She was in nice shape, no burst seams, no spots, stains or obvious wear and cute as the dickens.  I don’t really have a lot of places for her to sit but I knew if I left her there on the shelf, I’d still be thinking about her when I got home.  So, for the grand sum of $1.99, she was liberated.  She’ll live in the front room where she can preside over my knitting, but she needs a name.  And no, Baaa-bara isn’t acceptable :)

Happy Monday!