Another Hobby Blog: Stripey Scarf (Again)

I'm sure you remember The Stripey Scarf.

(Well, when I look back through my own blog, I realize that *I* didn't remember to post about it since Jan 14 (when I was hoping it would be finished by late March), so maybe you don't remember it either.)

I shouldn't have worried. I got the scarf finished within the week. Since the yarn had been knit into socks and then ripped and re-balled (and I hadn't skeined and soaked it), the yarn was all crimpy, and the pre-knitted parts of the scarf were weird-looking. I figured it would all come out fine with a wash and blocking, especially since the knitting had been done on a fairly loose gauge. But I had other laundry that took precedence, so The Stripey Scarf (with plenty of time before March) got set aside.

And then, a couple of weeks later, I found The Fourth Ball of yarn. I *thought* I'd had four balls of that color! but I'd only found three of them when I knit up the scarf. Hrmmmm....

So I set the ball of yarn with the finished scarf and pondered undoing the cast-off to unite the two. My brother likes very long scarves, y'see... scarves that he can let his girlfriend wear without having to take them off his own neck to do so.

The Stripey Scarf simply wasn't that long. An extra ball might make the difference, or it might not. The Stripey Scarf was a nice tidy length for wrapping around the neck once and letting the ends hang to the waist or so. It could probably use that third ball of yarn. And the stitching pattern was easy enough, after all...

After a while it became clear that I wasn't picking up The Ball of Yarn and The Stripey Scarf, and probably wasn't going to. I'd bought The Balls of Yarn at a super spectacular sale price before I'd realized that I simply don't like knitting with Regia. Don't like the feel. Maybe I'd weave with it. hmm. but I was simply actively unenthused about the prospect of knitting one more whole ball of Regia right now. Especially in That Colorway.

I'd been so overjoyed the day I finished The Third Ball of Yarn! Now I could only look at The Fourth Ball of Yarn with a feeling of dread.

So: The Stripey Scarf could just stay its nice tidy length and my brother could cope.

...

....

.....and then I washed it.

....

...

..

.

No, it didn't felt. (I'm sure you knew that.. superwash sock yarn and all...)
It grew.
Loose stitches, its own weight, plus the weight of the water...
It grew a LOT.

I had to block it in the only space long enough:

This scarf is now Four Dog-Lengths Long!
When I wrap it once around my neck, it hangs To My Ankles!!

I think I'm glad I didn't add the fourth ball of yarn.
I think my brother would disagree if he knew.
I think he'll like it anyway. :)
And it's done before March! yay!!

And remember what I said about having only one space I could be sure was big enough and dog-free enough to block my Martian Lake Cow shawl?

Well, when I blocked The Stripey Scarf yesterday, that space was being used to block the Martian Lake Cow shawl. Plus, The Stripey Scarf is somewhat longer than the Martian Lake Cow shawl. (I hadn't expected it to be, but it seems to have had other plans.)

So I had to use the hallway (which is much too narrow to block the Martian Lake Cow shawl anyway). The hallway is a rather important thoroughfare for all who live here. I can ask Bethieee and Keithr to perform myriad complicated contortions to walk around, over, and next to a blocking project like The Stripey Scarf, but the doggie, Z, simply refuses to comprehend.

Z believes that if a swath of fabric is on the floor, then it is, for the duration of its stay in that location, a validated, verified Puppy Blanket. (This might be my fault, since I have, in a pinch, used a wide variety of blankets, towels, rugs, and other floor coverings for Puppy Blankets at my house and when visiting others'.)

Realizing this (and the simple fact that while the Bethieee and the Keithr both love me and my projects well enough to perform said circus acts necessary to step over, under, and anywhere but ON a blocking piece of knitwork, they do not necessarily Enjoy doing so...), I took the care to position the blocking scarf as closely to the wall as possible.