Pink & White Swirl Scarf - a tutorial

Genevieve from SisterlyLove suggested a tutorial on the Pink & White Swirl Scarf so this is that attempt.  I apologize this is my first tutorial over the internet/with pictures so please be patient.  If you have any advice or suggestions, they are most welcome :)


Cast on 16 stitches for your cable, and as many stitches as you want along the side of it.  Note: I only had 2 stitches on either side and that wasn't enough to balance the twist of the cable.  I would recommend at least 4 stitches on either side if not 6, like I did in the Swirl Scarf (P2K2P2).



Knit in pattern.  For our purposes, let's say I had 4+16+4 stitches, so I would P4 K8.

Then I add my second color, with a slip knot, I go in my 9th stitch like I'm going to Knit and instead of yarning around, I pull the slipknot of my new color through the stitch.  


This helps to tide the tail of the new color.  Leaving the first color's string on its last stitch, continue in your new color K8, P4.

It should look like this when you're done with this row.


Turn, K4, P8.  Now you've returned to your first color.  Pull your last stitch snug (the lighter pink in my picture) and cross the strings.  I usually wrap the string that I'm picking up bottom to top or right to left around the string I'm dropping so as to hide it under my new stitch.  
(This took some remembering for me as it's been a while, so please excuse this picture, same wrapping technique, but switch the strings so the light is on top of the dark and the dark comes out under the right side of the lighter pink).


Once you've knit up enough rows that you are happy with, continuing to pull the meeting stitches tight & wrapping the strings between pick-ups, then we can start the cable row.  P4.


Move the next 8 stitches (the first half of your cable) off the needle to a holding needle (I use my crochet hook instead of a "cable needle").


For this cable, I want my first color to be in front of the twist, so I move the hook to the front.  Make sure your string is between the two panels so it doesn't leave a long string on the backside.


Continue K8 with your second color.  Normally you would pull your first stitch tight to avoid a gap, but since this is a different string from your other stitches, it won't matter here.  Just keep your first stitch snug as usual so it isn't extra loose.

Return your first 8 stitches to your needle to be worked. 


This is what it looks like right before starting the second half of the cable.  For the string you dropped (lighter pink), don't worry about wrapping it with the second (darker) color.  You will do that on your next row.


Making sure to use the appropriate color string, tighten your first stitch to avoid a loose stitch.  K8.  P4 (continuing with new color/ darker pink over the lighter pink).


Turn, K4, P8.  Wrap strings like before (drop first color, weave new string from under, out to the right side), and continue with second color; P8, K4.  Turn.

After you have continued in a few regular rows, the cable will become more visible:


Continue in pattern, weaving strings until you are ready to make another cable.  Repeat cable steps.  Before you know it, you'll start to have something like this:


Obviously it needs a little tweaking, but this is the basic design concept.  I hope you enjoyed it and if you try it yourself, I'd love to see/hear about it in the comments :)

Getting Back into a Routine

I can finally say I feel like routine is returning to my life and I've never been happier to have one again.  I intern 3 days a week, I drive an older gentleman once a week & babysitting once a week and my weekends are free to spend with my husband or at home crafting!  Woot!  Life is GREAT!


And because I've started settling back into a routine, my knitting has started picking up again and with it, more crafty ideas & inspirations have followed!  When I first picked up my needles after returning from our honeymoon in Croatia, I had never felt so empty of creativity and ideas.  Talk about scary!  For about 5 seconds I seriously wondered if I would ever be inspired again to create something new and not just a copy of something I saw.  But I'm happy to report that over the last two weeks, and through a lot of etsy & self-suffient reading, my inspirations are coming back.  :)


Check out this scarf I started the weekend after our return.  With NO inspiration in my head.  I have no idea where this twist idea came from (but I've been trying to come up with a good color-twist idea using a cable pattern since last winter; so I guess this was just me having an open mind and out it popped?).  So I went with it and started this scarf up at a University of Michigan football game.  Yes, I was knitting at a College Football game.  In the stands.  With a skein of yarn in each pocket.  :-P

Moving on.  At first I hated the way it looked, but it was like heaven having needles purring in my hands again.  I wish I could describe how right it felt to be knitting again.  It feels like punishment when I have to put the needles down (I was nearly late to babysitting tonight because of it; oops!).  But luckily I now have lots of time & opportunity to be knitting whatever I want - and lots of Christmas presents!

I hope to post pictures as I start working on them.  And I'm sure that list of mine along the right column will be growing by the week as I brainstorm more and more projects (and gifts) to make.

So glad to be back.  I hope you'll return; I've missed the excitement of comments in my inbox.  :)

Completed Set & Ready to Ship

Well, I've finished the hat & scarf set and now it's just waiting to go to it's new home.  I haven't received a mailing address yet so it sits and waits.




Packaged up & waiting to be addressed for its new home!

My personal touch; because I truly feel honored that someone would entrust me to knit/crochet for them.


This week is going by fast.  I have a few new projects started, one more finished and 2 that I'm lagging on (namely, the purple scarf and the coordinating purple hat to go along with it).  But with a family weekend coming up (lots of socializing = good time to knit mindlessly) and more family time coming up with the holiday, I think I can crank them out in time to give them to their new home before December comes :)

The new project:

It's going to be a throw pillow!  covered in buttons!  I hope to have this in the shop by December.


The finished project (finally... I've had the design in my head for years, finished the scarf over a year ago and just never got around to lacing it):



The Corset Scarf.  Find it in the shop soon!

Last Week

Here are the pictures to the mitten-hat-&-scarf set for the little boy from Brazil.  Please ignore the different lighting between pictures.  I was working at different times but I promise they are matching blues as I used the same skein for all pieces.


... the mittens ...


... and the hat, well, I didn't get a picture of that one, yet.  Maybe I can get a picture of him wearing all three things at once another time.

Accounting (?)

Just got home from the bank.  :)  I now have a separate checking account for all my Etsy deals (sales, supplies, etc).  :) !!!!  Next To Do: Set up my PayPal seller's account.

Right now: Going on a (scarf) photo shoot with my friend.  Look for them in my new shop soon (hopefully later this week)!