Use Your Stash to Make Loop Scarves

I’ve recently been playing more with my Sentro knitting machine, and my favorite thing to make right now is loop scarves. Because the easiest thing to make on one of these machines is a tube, you can just crank out a bunch of knitting and sew the ends together and you’ve got a great looking and useful project.

If you’re a knitter and you know how to graft, this is even easier because you can just put all the stitches on needles and graft them together as if you were finishing a giant sock.

Of course you can make loop scarves on your knitting needles, too, if you don’t happen to have a circular knitting machine. Just cast on a comfortable number of stitches for working in the round and knit as long as you want. A provisional cast on makes it easier to finish because you can graft with live stitches on both ends, but you can also bind off and just sew the ends together.

I decided this was going to be my charity knitting project because it’s faster than knitting by hand, and also an easy way to use up stash. I’m ending up with a lot of color blocked loop scarves as I use up leftovers from other projects, but it’s fun and easy and a great way to help people keep warm in season.

I love loop scarves because you can more easily loop them around your neck and it stays where you put it, but you could make non-loop scarves in the same way, just sew the ends of the loop closed rather than to each other.

You can find my pattern for a loop scarf on the Sentro (or any other circular knitting machine, of course!) over on Our Daily Craft. I have a 40-pin machine but of course you can do this same thing with whatever machine you have.

If you have a circular knitting machine I’d love to know what you’re making with it!

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

Sentro Knitting Machine Review

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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