Thoughts on the "Backyard Leaves" Scarf

Here is Backyard Leaves, all finished and sewn up, ready to send off to its recipient and only a few days after Christmas!

This scarf is not exactly hard, but it certainly is complex.  It took me almost two hours to do the first repeat, and I thought I'd really gotten myself into a project that would take forever, but as so often happens with lacy patterns, once I could see what was happening, it all started to make sense.  I never did memorize it, and had the pattern next to me all of the time, but often that was just to reassure myself that it was going well. 

My gauge was quite different than it would have been with the merino of the original, and I did extra repeats in an attempt to compensate for the finer gauge -- the scarf ended up being about 4 1/2 inches wide and a rather gasp-inducing 100 inches long, but it is so fine and soft that wrapping it three or four times around my neck was in fact a pleasure, and it's warm without being stifling.  I'm not entirely pleased with the join in the middle, and I can't help thinking that it wasn't the best way of going about it, design-wise, but merely the least complicated -- luckily, with all of the wrapping that will be necessary to wear it, one little seam will never be noticed!

The Cashmere/Seta is perhaps a touch too fine to show off the leaf pattern to its best advantage, but it is certainly wonderfully soft.  I like the fact that the modified I-cord edging smooths out the edges, too, as so often garter stitch and the wrong side of stockinette make a yarn feel a bit rougher than it did in the ball.  This yarn is so soft that the leaves don't stand out as much as with the original merino, but ... did I mention how soft it is?!

Merry Christmas, Helen!

Comments

[Claire]

GORGEOUS!

[joy]

I gasped! :D Usually by the time a scarf gets to about 50 or so inches, I'm looking forward to doing something else. So how many balls of yarn did you use?
BTW, happy new year!!

[gill]

Appreciated reading your thoughts on Backyard Leaves since I've been thinking about knitting it for a while. It looks lovely and think I prefer your version to the chunkier yarn it's knit up in for the book.

I've just found your site and love the name and your inspiration. I also love the Virginia Woolf knitting painting and am a huge Bloomsbury fan.

Gill

[Jeanne]

Joy, to be honest, I think it WAS about 50 inches when I stopped -- it stretched amazingly when I blocked it. I only used 6 balls, and it didn't seem like they were going particularly far. Oh well!

[Helen]

Love it! I can't wait for it to cross the wide blue Pacific so that I can actually hold it and marvel over its intricacy. What a pity that I'll have to wait until about June (winter) to wear it! It really looks wonderful -- light, almost frothy, but warm. I know how much work you put into it -- it's certainly my most special, personal Christmas gift. Thank you, DLF!