SImple Scarf.
Hand-Me-Down Yarn.

My inspiration comes in waves: I’ll be psyched to start a fabric project, half-way through I’ll decide a knitted something would match perfectly, then I’ll drop everything to paint my fingernails a dark color.

These waves of inspiration can get frustrating, especially when a simple project can take months, or even years.

To get an idea of what I am talking about: I have a green corduroy vest half-sewn because I was sick of pricking my fingers with the pins (started in early 2012). I have two canvasses with base-paint because I started one with an idea, and in the process generated an idea for the other (both toned about five months ago, and not touched since). My partner has one-and-a-half knitted socks because the second heel was too daunting to approach (the completed pair was supposed to be a Christmas present in 2011).

Whenever I take on a project, it tends to give me inspiration and steam to start another.

I began the infinity scarf in the accompanying photographs about a year ago. The yarn was a left over skein that my grandmother had acquired from someone. I received it (and much more) from her because her stash was overwhelming, which in turn made my stash overwhelming. When I first saw it, I loved the color. The fibers themselves feel like a warm natural wool, but not so scratchy. I began the project last autumn — not to get confused with this past autumn — in preparation for the following winter… because apparently I thought I would finish it by then.

I worked a simple knit and purl repetition on a circular needle. I remember seeing a pattern somewhere that spurred the idea, but I remember that my yarn was too thin and I didn’t have the right needles to match the specs, so I winged it — as usual. I started my project, then I put it down. Picked it up again, and put it down. Eventually, a year later, my yarn supply ran short. I completed my last row and bound ‘er off.

In the end, I wish I had a little more yarn to make the scarf a little bit wider. The many different occasions I returned to this project (and the fact that I seem unable to decide if I like the continental style of knitting or the English style better) resulted in some sections to be loose, some to be tight, and some to be just screwy, but I have come to love the thrown-together quality. Although this scarf spent the majority of its life at the bottom of my projects-in-progress box, I’ve discovered that great things are worth the wait.

(Like this post, because, really, I wrote it and saved it as a draft mid-November.)

Cheers!

SImple Scarf.
Hand-Me-Down Yarn.