Hell Has Stripes

I finally finished Sara's Stripey Scarf.



I cast on February 29 and cast off yesterday, June 25. Let's not forget that this was a Christmas present, so it was a bit apropos that I cast off exactly six months after Christmas. Just in time for summer. Good grief. What was I thinking?



Here's what I was thinking... my good friend Sara really, really liked this scarf from Aeropostale. And I wanted to show off my new knitting skills. So I decided I would try to recreate the scarf.

Not smart. I was a much dumber knitter then. Here's what I didn't know:

• If you want a scarf to lie flat, you essentially have one choice—K1P1 ribbing. For all you non-knitters out there, what this means is that you must move the yarn either forward or backward after every stitch, which... slows... you... down... considerably.

• K1P1 ribbing cinches in pretty tightly, resulting in the need to cast on more stitches than you would if you were knitting in stockinette or garter stitch... almost double the number of stitches. My gauge in a worsted weight yarn is typically about five stitches per inch in stockinette. In K1P1 ribbing? Over eight!
  

• Most yarns are not available in a really wide array of colors. Some exceptions? Cascade 220. Ella Rae Classic. Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. Patons Classic. These are all wool. Did I mention that Sara did not want a wool scarf? (In fact, most of my friends and family are averse to wool, a fact that they are going to have to get over quickly if they want me to knit for them.) It took me about two months to find a nice (soft and not squeaky) acrylic available in all the colors I needed. Thank God for Berroco Comfort. Splitty as hell, but met all other aforementioned requirements.

I hope Sara likes her scarf, all 71 inches, 448 rows, and 20,160 stitches of it.

Yarn
Berroco Comfort in Hummus, Boy Blue, Bittersweet, Ivory, Pretty Pink, Rosebud, and Teaberry.

Needles
Size 7, 4.5 mm.

Pattern
Cast on 45 stitches. K1, P1 across. On subsequent rows, knit the knits and purl the purls. Change colors after every sixteenth row. Use tubular bind-off. Weave in all 56 ends.

Color sequence is as follows—Hummus, Boy Blue, Bittersweet, Ivory, Pretty Pink, Rosebud, Ivory, Teaberry, Bittersweet. Knit this color sequence a total of three times, and end with a block of Hummus so ends of scarf match.