Ene's Scarf, Finished!

At last, Ene's scarf is complete. Doesn't she look lovely?

Pattern: Ene's Scarf, from Scarf Style (borrowed from the library)

Yarn: 1.5 skeins Knitpicks Shadow in Oregon Coast, about 616 yards

Needles: US6

I started Ene in December and for one reason or another (perhaps short attention span), kept putting it down to work on other things. This week I felt this sudden determination to finish, so I plowed through the last chart during several re-runs of Project Runway (which, surprise surprise, was pulling me in the direction of sewing again).

I would have to say that Ene was a really enjoyable knit after I got through the first two chart repeats. It was my first time having to read charts, so I did learn something new. The way the scarf is constructed has you casting on 375 (!!) stitches which forms the two scalloped, longest edges, and then you decrease 4-6 stitches every other row, and toward the end it feels like you're really picking up some speed because there are fewer and fewer stitches left. The only complaint I have about knitting lace is that it's easy to lose track of how many stitches you have, particularly if you accidentally miss purling one of the many, many YOs on the WS row. At one point, still about 350 stitches in, I managed to lose about 10 stitches and had to carefully unknit all those stitches. No fun. But the pain was worth my time - the final product is beautiful. And I am very happy with the yarn - light and airy, but with warmth too.

Now for some process details. As I approached the cast off, I focused on what there was to look forward to - the exciting, transformational blocking process! Here is the finished scarf, looking all lumpy and nubbly, and generally very un-exciting:

The book recommended pinning Ene first, then placing a damp towel over top. I'd seen many people do the full on wet block, so I went for it too:

Soak up the excess water and then lay flat to pin, pulling out each point on the border (I managed to keep Gatsby from jumping all over this, his paws would not have been happy):

I forgot that lace would dry so quickly - after a couple of hours the blocking was done. And my, did Ene look more lovely afterward! All the details really came through in the smooth, even fabric.


I don't know what's going to be next in the knitting queue. I am currently frogging Skully, and may turn that into a chunky cardigan for me...