Project Spotlight: Mustard Scarf

One of the things I miss since the redesign at About.com (and it’s lovely, so I can’t complain much) is that there’s no longer a blog component so there’s not a place where I can share what I’ve been working on or projects I’ve finished.

So I thought maybe I’d try bringing some of that over here, and that I’d start by telling you about a pattern I knit over the weekend.

Jane Richmond’s Mustard Scarf is a free Ravelry download that I must have downloaded a long time ago. But I came across it again last week, and when I was feeling a little tired of another project I’m working on I decided to cast this one on.

It calls for 150 meters, or about 164 yards of yarn, but I used less than a ball of Knit Picks City Tweed (color Jacquard, a ball the company gave me to sample years ago) and ended up with a bigger than called for project without using all the yarn (which is 123 yards). So depending on your gauge you can use less, or just make a smaller scarf if you like.

The project is eyelet rows alternating with knit rows (or, if you’re like me and your hands just purl on the wrong side without being asked, purl rows) and is just a big rectangle. You sew a button off to one side and use that to help hold it on your body. The fun thing is that it’s worked with medium/worsted weight yarn but size 15 US (10 mm) knitting needles, so it takes no time at all.

I cast on after my daughter went to bed Friday night and was done in time to wear it to a neighborhood gathering Saturday evening (excuse the Instagrammed look of the picture). I like it because it’s part scarf and part cowl, and was just the right size to be a scarf for my daughter when it got a little cooler than we expected. She may never let me wear it again. The good news is I can make another one super quick.

See the details of my project on Ravelry.

What are you working on? I’d love to hear about it.

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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