Silk garden scarf

So, I was coming to the end of "his scarf" and had an upcoming trip to Chicago. I needed a new project to bring with me that would last the whole weekend! So back to Gotta Knit I went. This time, after all the subdued tones of Mossy Tree, I wanted brighter "girl" colors. I was craving pink. I didn't have a lot of time to shop, and there were two yarns I couldn't decide between, so I bought them both! I was kind of astounded when, together with two sets of bamboo needles to fill in the gap between my Sally Bates #7s and #10s, it came to over $120! I had no context at all for the price of yarn but it seemed like I was buying expensive stuff. I got Silk Garden and Aurora by Noro (strangely I can't find Aurora on the Noro website) and have since heard and seen reference to Silk Garden and Noro in podcasts and blogs so I guess it's a pretty well known high end yarn.

I bought 3 balls of Silk Garden. The only had two in color 251 so I bought a third in a similar color 205. I bought Aurora in color 8. I'm not sure I knit the Silk Garden to its full advantage because look how gorgeous and delicate and fuzzy these look. Well, my scarf is different I guess. Here it is.

Silk garden scarf

Date:
Feb 3rd - Feb 10th, 2007 (approx)
Yarn:
3 skeins of Silk Garden from Noro, 2 in color 251 and 1 in color 205
$12.50 each from Gotta Knit
Needles:
US #8 (Takumi bamboo)

Pattern:

My own - four sections of five stitches of seed stitch divided by columns of K1, 27 stitches overall (I did K2 at each end). I learnt about seed stitch in the store and decided to try it as it uses less yarn than a ribbed pattern and I was concerned about how long a scarf 3 skeins would make (they didn't have anymore that went together).

The story:

I started this scarf on the plane to Chicago. I still wasn't swatching yet, but I did try a couple of things and rip them out before settling on the pattern. I liked the bamboo needles - easier on the finger tips. They only had long ones in the store though so they were a bit awkward, especially on the plane. I think this was my first knitting in public. I also knit on the CTA going into the city, and a bit around rehearsal for my sister's concert, and then back in New York at a Superbowl party. Yes, we left Chicago right before the superbowl, which I guess was good given the outcome...

I'm pretty happy with how the scarf came out. The second color blended in pretty well (I knit it in the middle of the scarf). I really enjoyed seeing the colors flow. It also knit up a lot more quickly than the first scarf. Because of yarn saving stitch pattern, it isn't the warmest of scarves - it's a good spring scarf for right about now when it finally starts getting a little warmer.

Finished object:

(Click images for enlargements of go here for the full set of photos.)

Comments

[Jussi]

Hi :-)
my mittens and the scarves I knitted from Silk garden all ended up beautifully fuzzy because i washed them in the washing machine - on a cool settin/wool cycle, and then popped them in the dryer for a minute or 2 (keep watch for felting) silk garden is very different when washed. Thanks for visiting my blog.