Purple Basketweave Scarf

Scarf: Made using a variation of Crazy Aunt Purl’s Magic Scarf Recipe with Karabella’s Magritte Bulky (80% Extrafine Merino, 20% Cashmere) in a deep purple color on #10.5 straight needles.
Completed: October 5, 2005

First of all, I have one word to say about this scarf: cashmere. Let me say that again for the people in the back: CASHMERE.

I have never owned cashmere anything in my entire life. I never knew what i was missing.

This yarn was the second yarn I ever purchased way back in August, after the green 100% baby alpaca. I walked into Arcadia Knitting on Lawrence, was immediately overwhelmed by the shelves and shelves and shelves of beautifully organized and color-coded fibers, and practically blew a gasket. I had no idea what to look for, so I asked for a bulky yarn that would make a nice scarf. She suggested the Karabella, and instead of the 100% wool version, I fell in love with the wool/cashmere version. It was a little more expensive. OK, a lot more expensive, but at the time I had no idea what I was doing. Now I would be a little more frugal, if for no other reason than for this equation: buying less expensive yarn = ability to create larger stash. It’s a learning process.

I fell in love with Crazy Aunt Purl’s magic scarf on her site, and thought this would be the perfect yarn to try it with. I ended up knitting about 3/4 of a scarf in the 5/5 ribbing, changing every 10 rows, but I didn’t like how the edges curled. Plus, since I was such a new knitter, I made a few mistakes here and there which just bugged me. So I ripped the whole thing out, steamed the yarn, and tried again. This time I did a 4/4 ribbing, changing every 10 rows, and added a garter stitch border. Much better. It eliminated the curling on the edges and gave it a very polished look that I like a lot.

Did I mention the cashmere?

Filed in: Knitted History