Interlocking Balloons Scarf

Hi, I thought I would post my progress on my Interlocking Balloons scarf.

This is from a few days back:

After Googling around to see the results from other knitters, I decided that the consensus was to go down a needle size. So that is what I did. I am using US 5s and Gems Merino Opal in the burgundy color. Here is what I have so far:

"wrong" side
"right" side

I think it looks pretty good wrong side out. Which is good in a scarf because how many times do you see just the "right" side?

I am glad I went down a needle size too. Sportweight on US 6s would be much too loose. Perhaps the designer is a very tight knitter, or her yarn isn’t a true sportweight.

I like to use charts, and that is a good thing because there are no written directions on this one. Probably not for the whole book, but I can’t say for sure because I don’t have it sitting here with me. Anyway, I decided to make a large scan so I could see it. Then I realized that the lines were pretty long, so I needed a way to keep myself on the correct line. I can’t seem to find my magnetic board and I am too cheap to go out and buy another, especially when I can get one cheaper through KnitPicks. So I have been just putting the scan on the couch beside me and have it weighed down with a metal ruler. It is working just fine, and easier to change rows because I don’t have to drag a magnet up a row.

I realized that with all the k1, p1 etc. I was getting confused on the wrong sides, so I decided to mark up the pattern with big blue Ks for the knit stitches. I also find that marking the SSKs as "S" so they stand out from the K2tog helps too. Now I am flying along.

It is a fun knit so far. Challenging enough that I won’t go crazy making a loooooooong scarf, but not so much mental work that I won’t be able to knit in public with it.

More later!

*Peace*

Susan (ZenKnit)
http://www.zenknit.com/blog