Y-Knot? 25 Ways to Wear a Scarf

Have you ever seen women walk by wearing a great scarf in a really cool way and wonder, "How'd she do that?" I know I have. Most mornings, I just stumble out the door and quickly wrap something around my neck without much thought.

But the the other day I was checking out Fall styles online and came across this very cool video. The young woman in the video, Wendy, uses rectangular or square fabric scarves, not knit scarves or shawls like we make. But I do think some of these style would work well with one of our scarves.

Now, I'm not saying I'm going to do all these styles, but I will look at one or two of these more closely and perhaps adopt them to up my style quotient a bit.

Shelagh's Lilac Sunray shawl at the top of the page is a great example of how to work with a triangular scarf shape. First, we folded the point of the scarf up to the centre top. Then we continued folding the scarf evenly, up to the long edge. That gave us a long, narrow scarf--kind of the shape of a man's tie. Then we simply tied it around the Judy's "neck" and let the pretty picot edges flutter freely. This is a great way to show of the pattern while keeping warm in the early Fall morning.

Below is a style I've always liked, but I think that statement gives away my age!

I always loved this look. But do you think it's too '80s?

Y-Knot? A Night to Dye For

Shelagh and I are so fortunate to have such talented ladies in our Knit night group. One of the ladies, Jenn aka The Yarn Therapist, suggested something different than the usual knitting together: she offered to teach us to dye our own yarns! Of course, the entire group heartily agreed because, well, let's face it, we're all yarn lovers. And who wouldn't want to create a custom yarn?

Jenn is an avid knitter, yarn lover, and she dyes her own yarns. She and another of the Ladies, Amanda aka Yarn Enabler, walked us through the process while Christina, aka The Cozy Knitter, was one of our cheerleaders.

So Jenn ordered some yarn blanks in both fingering/sock weight and worsted weight; made up over a dozen containers of dye; and brought along lots of aluminum containers to use for our artistic adventure. Someone brought apple fritters; someone brought coffee; and Shelagh and I brought sangria--'cause that's how we roll.

Shelagh chose two skeins of fingering weight 80/20 Superwash Merino and nylon. I chose two skeins of worsted weight Superwash Merino. And then we spent at least half an hour deciding on colours. Honestly, when confronted by so much choice, it really is difficult to narrow it down to what we wanted.

Did we want a variegated yarn of one colour? Or perhaps chunks of different colours? Or maybe a solid base with speckles of different colours? The choices seem to be endless!

At the top and above, Shelagh "painting" her skeins.

Shelagh went with a different look for each of her skeins; I decided one look for both--I figured I'd need two the same to make something like a scarf.



The photo left shows my two blank skeins in one container as well as each of them after I dyed them using colour Silver Gray.

Below is a photo of my finished skeins wrapped scarf-like on our dressmaker's Judy. Can you see the teal, turquoise, purple and black that I added? When Jenn was showing us the colour options, I fell in love with what I thought of as "peacock colours," those bright colours at the "eye" of the feather. I knew they would look amazing on the platinum background.

Now I want to come up for an appropriate name for my yarn; although it will be considered a one-of-a-kind yarn, I think it deserves a lovely name.

I have some ideas, but what would you call it?

FO Friday - Shades of Gray Infinity Scarf

Silver, steel, and charcoal altogether in one snuggly scarf and set off by a lovely wine-coloured edge.

Let's face it, knitting brings so many wonderful pleasures: it's relaxing (when it's going well!), it's creative, and it's social (how many of you belong to the Knitting Club in your local yarn store?). But no matter how much you already know, there's always more to learn. I love that! 

This project started after I found three skeins, each of a different shade of gray, in our local yarn store They were gorgeous and the softest yarn ever. I knew I had to have them. The yarn is a blend of 70% alpaca and 20% bamboo. It has the best of both those fibres: Incredible softness and springiness (loft) from the alpaca with the tiniest bit of sheen from the bamboo. 

And as is often the case, I didn't have a pattern in mind for this yarn, but I knew I had to make something that could be worn close to the skin—it's just so darn soft! I did find a pattern in a magazine that I adapted: simple garter stitch using three shades of gray and edged in a lovely wine colour.And that book seemed to be making headlines everywhere, so I arrived at the name easily.

Because the pattern was so simple, I didn't mind trying some new skills: the pattern called for a provisional cast-on,  a three-needle bind off, and a crochet edging to finish. I was so excited to try all of these (I did practice the provisional cast-on with some junk yarn first . . . I wanted to make sure I wouldn't do anything to the lovely alpaca yarn!). I was even more thrilled when I was successful with the cast-on and bind-off methods.

I never did get around to learning how to crochet though: Shelagh finished the edging for me. So this scarf really is a family product.And I guess I'm going to have to learn how to crochet sometime soon.  

Y-Knot? Visiting Amazing Graze Alpaca Farm

This is the first in our Y-Knot (for Yarn Knot) series exploring different fibres and yarns and everything we are learning as fibre enthusiasts and knitters.

I had been researching alpaca because I have been working with some beautiful yarn made of that fleece and I'm loving how it feels: soft and bouncy. I discovered there are a lot of alpaca farms are here in Canada, including many here in southern Ontario. That's how I stumbled upon Amazing Graze Alpacas in Stirling, Ontario. Shelagh and I had "Liked" their Facebook page, so when farm owner Marj Brady posted about their open house and the weather man said the weekend would be warm and sunny, Shelagh I decided to visit the farm.

So this past Saturday, we headed out. It was gorgeous! A perfect day for a drive; and we took the scenic route along the Trent River. Most of our directions (from an online map) were good, and we only got lost in the centre of Stirling (we don't think County Rd. 14 was clearly marked at the corner 

of the three main roads, at least, that's our story). But we got to the farm and were thrilled to see the beautiful alpacas grazing around the land.

Co-owner Steven told us about their farm. He explained that their animals are sheared once a year and told us about some of the care they give: toenail clipping, teeth checking. He also relieved me of some of my own misconceptions: alpacas are not pack animals, although llamas are. In their native countries they are bred for their fleece because it is much softer than llama (or sheep) fleece.

Marj and Steven appear to be typical of what I've read about alpaca farmers in general. Their respect for and genuine pleasure they get in caring for their alpacas shines through. Check their website (http://www.amazinggrazealpacas.ca) to learn their alpaca's names and get a sense of their personalities. 

Steven also introduced us to the two young males in a pen: Zodiac and Jupiter. They are so beautiful with lovely big eyes beneath their curly "Beatle cuts," as Shelagh called them.

Zodiac (foreground) and Jupiter calmly survey the visitors.

We knew Amazing Graze alpacas and their fleeces were award winners; but we had no idea just how many and, it appears, how consistently Marj and Steven's alpacas win. Take a look at their ribbon board! And that gorgeous alpaca shawl: so soft.

Award winning alpacas and fleece are turned into these beautiful yarns, felt balls, and other finished products, such as shawls and scarves. Everything is locally produced.

So, why alpaca? How does alpaca fleece compare to wool?  Here are some interesting facts about alpaca fibres:

• There are two main types of alpacas: Huacaya and Suris. The former is more common and more commonly raised/bred and its fleece is thick and dense, and grows vertically from the body giving it a very woolly appearance. Huacaya's also have a very crimpy fleece and a fine micron (micron = 1/1000 millimeter). The smaller the number, the finer the micron and a fine micron is sought after for luxurious high fashion garments.

Shelagh checks out a beautiful alpaca fleece.

• Alpacas do not produce the lanolin that sheep do, so processing of the fibres is much easier on the environment. Add that to the fact that alpacas are raised organically to make this a truly eco-friendly fibre. Lack of lanolin also means that people allergic lanolin or sensitive to sheep's wool may comfortably wear alpaca. 

• Alpaca fibre has good thermal capabilities, so it's perfect for our Canadian (or northern U.S. and northern European) winters.

As they say on the Alpaca Canada website, alpaca fibre is "as soft as cashmere and warmer and stronger than wool." And I have to add that it is a joy to work with if you are a knitter.