At the beginning of the year, I encouraged our readers to “make with me“. In that post I shared a few of the many benefits that you may get from picking up a hobby, and I gave you a few simple suggestions for how to turn your hobby into a regular habit (that’s good for you!).

If you follow our Instagram feed or have been a long-time reader, it’s no surprise that my primary hobby is knitting. I always have a project (or ten) in the works. While I don’t need the encouragement to knit more, I’m taking this resolution as a nudge to share more of my projects, in their many phases, on the blog.

Make with Me : Lace Scarf

This pattern is Goldfinch by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits.

Modifications

My first version is shown in the photo directly below. If you pop over to the pattern page, you’ll immediately see that my main modification was to use more yarn colors than the three called for.

I’m on a (quasi) mission to use some of the beautiful yarns that have been in my stash for years. Some of these yarns are beautifully dyed. Others are precious because they’re made from alpaca or cashmere blends, making them feel incredibly soft. No matter what, they weren’t doing any good sitting on the shelf.

BUT when I came across this pattern, I realized that it is perfect for mixing and matching yarns. And I mean more than just mixing and matching colors. Combining yarns of different thicknesses (I use some light fingering up to some DK) and different animal fibers adds more complexity and interest to the final scarf.

The second modification that I made to the pattern occurs only in the striped sections. Basically, I didn’t follow the set 2 rows with first color, 2 rows with second color. Instead, I would mix up both the number of rows that I knit with a particular color, and (as mentioned), the number of colors that I would use in a given stripe section.

In terms of a mental challenge, both of these changes are extremely simple, but they make me much happier with the final scarf. By my second and third versions of this scarf, I was even more liberal with both modifications.

Why you should make this.

As you can surmise, this is a great project for using up precious single balls of yarn. If you’ve been knitting for any amount of time, I’m sure you have those around. They’re not enough for a full sweater or even a scarf of a single color. They may be almost-full balls left over from another project. Unless you’re going to turn them all into hats, using them can be slightly tricky. But that makes this pattern a perfect match for your yarn predicament!

The pattern itself is fairly easy, but maybe it fits into the easy to moderate category? You have to be able to knit, purl, yarn-over, knit 2 stitches together, and knit short rows (mainly just wrapping and turning mid-row). Pretty basic stuff, but if you don’t know any one of those skills, use this scarf as an excuse to learn.

The pattern creates a beautiful accessory. It’s large enough to be cozy, but not too big that it feels uncomfortable with a winter coat. It drapes beautifully, and with multiple colors, you’ll have that much more flexibility when wearing it!

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Don’t be surprised if you’re like me and come back to this scarf again and again (or at least until you run out of suitable yarn!). I’ve NEVER made a pattern three times in a row, but this one kept getting better with each knit. I’m convinced that my last one was the best.

Happy making! xo