Yarn Exchange Scarf

Hello All!

This is something we've been looking forward to and it's not a hat! Melanie designed the pattern for us so that we could do a yarn exchange scarf. All of the instructions are below - let us know if you have questions. Please let us know if you want to participate. That way I know who to wait for in case something doesn't arrive.

Yarn Exchange Scarf

The Yarn exchange scarf Project is an experiment that we are pretty excited about. The basic idea is that at least 12 knitters purchase all the same kind (but any color) of yarn. Then divide it up into a set length (30yrd bundles). Send all the bundles to the Pinkknit-a-thon PO Box with a self addressed stamped envelope for a return package. We will divide the bundles up between the participants so that each person receives one bundle of their original yarn - and 11 new bundles. This will give you the opportunity to knit with yarn you might not have a chance to knit with otherwise. And even though everyone will be getting the same yarn, each scarf will be unique based on how you decide to put the colors together. We recommend following the pattern - the scarf is beautiful! However - if you can only manage to knit the whole thing (in garter stitch) it will still be a very beautiful scarf.

Here are more precise instructions:
Exchange

Recommended Yarns:

Mixed weight sport and chunky weight yarns and anything in between. Choose a natural fiber that has stretch and memory. Wool and wool blends are best. Cottons, silks, feel really lovely against the skin and drape in a lovely way, but don’t work so well when mixed with other yarns.

Choose a yarn that you might normally choose for a scarf. Buy 400 yards of it. Make 12 bundles of 30 yards each. Send the yarn with a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Pinkknit-a-thon

PO Box 8352

Philadelphia, PA 19101

All yarn must be received by July 15th. I will do a quick turn around so that you will have almost two months to knit the scarves.

*Note about mailing stuff: If you've never done something like this before - here's what you do. Go to the Post Office. Pick up two Flat Rate Priority envelopes - these are made out of something that feels like paper but is much stronger. These are provided free of charge by the USPS. Yarn isn't fragile or heavy so you will waste money if you get a box. Put the yarn in the envelope - but don't close it yet! When you are with the clerk - explain that you need to include an envelope with postage for return mail on it. Make sure to address the second envelope with your address! Once the postage has been paid, put that envelope in with the yarn, seal it up, and send it to us. This should cost $5 to $10 (each way) depending on how you send it.

Materials:

Knitting needles: 9mm (size 13 U.S.)

Tapestry needle to weave in ends

Pattern

Row 1: (RS) Knit

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: K1, [(K2 tog) 2 times], [(YO, K1) 4 times], [(K2 tog) 4 times], [(YO, K1) 4 times], [(K2 tog) 2 times], K1

Row 4: Knit

SCARF INSTRUCTIONS

Layout exchange yarn in desired order. Consider weight of yarn as you arrange your order. Try to have weights flow gently into each other.

CO 26 stitches

Rows 1-4 Work in pattern

Rows 5-8 Rep rows 1-4

Rows 9-12 Rep rows 1-4

ALWAYS change yarn after a row 4. Any other time results in an uneven look and is much harder to do.

Change colors

Continue pattern, changing yarns after every 8 rows until all exchange yarns are used.

If pattern is overwhelming—just knit instead!

Weave in ends. Block.

Two hats down

Life and other things have gotten in the way of my knitting of late, but I do have the first two hats in the bag. I really like the second pattern (even more so when it's turned inside out), so I think I might do another depending on my yarn supply. My yarn's ready for the next hat, which looks pretty challenging; but I'm looking forward to the challenge and hope to get it started this weekend!

The Third Pattern

Greetings! Here is the third pattern - the one on the logo. My great aunt helped me design this hat so I named it after her. She was 99 at the time. I've made this hat four times now and I change it every time, intuitively. So please let me know if you find there are problems with this pattern. It all makes perfect sense in my head... but that isn't very helpful when it doesn't make sense on paper!

Happy knitting!

Tante Ursel’s Hat (Aunt Ursula’s Hat)

Materials:

Yarn

Needles, circular and double points

Stitch holders

Tapestry needle

Stitch markers

Choose yarn of your choice and knit a sample swatch to establish gauge. Break off yarn and block.

Start knitting the braided rim.

Multiply your gauge (stitches per inch) by three. Cast on this amount. Knit the brim in a rib pattern as follows: knit all stitches in the gauge inch except for last stitch, purl this one. So if your gauge is 6st/inch. Knit 5, purl1, three times. Turn work, and on the back knit 1 purl 5, three times. Knit one inch of the rib.

Start knitting the braid. You will separate the band into three sections and knit I-chords. Place the stitches you are not working with on stitch holder or double pointed needle. Working with the first “rib” (including purled stitches) knit 7-8 inches of an I-chord. You will increase once stitch in the second row of the i-chord and in your last row you will decrease on stitch. I found that the cords need to “plump-up” a bit or they look a little spindly in the braid.

How to knit an i-cord: using double pointed needles, knit off the first rib. Work only with the first rib hold needle with all stitches on it in left hand – push all of the stitches to the right side of the double pointed needle. Bring the yarn around the back and knit the same stitches again. Never turn the work around, only push the stitches over. This will seem counter intuitive at first, but take a look at it from all sides after an inch or two and you will see that it all falls together nicely.

As you finish each i-cord, place the stitches onto a stitch holder or double pointed needle. With new thread, repeat with the following two ribs so that you now have three separate I-cords.

Braid these. Be careful not to braid to tightly or too loosely. Once braided, transfer all stitches back onto one needle. With a new piece of yarn, begin knitting in the rib pattern again.

Knit the brim to fit one inch less than the circumfrence of your head. Measure your head – if it is 21 inches – continue knitting in the rib pattern until the entire brim measures 20 inches.

Finishing the brim. For the pink hat on the logo, here’s what I did:

Do not bind off. Leave the stitches on the needle. Block the rim very well. This will establish the shape.Once the rim is blocked, use the Kitchener stitch to sew the rim together.

For all of the other hats I made in this pattern I did not block – I just Kitchener stitched together, and it worked fine without blocking.

Once the rim is in a circular shape, pick up stitches, one for each row of the hat. Place a marker at the beginning of the round. Note: this is not the correct amount to the rest of the hat!

Figure out how many stitches you want to end up with. (The text in pink is my example)

1. What is your gauge:_______ (6 stitches)

2. Circumference of your head:_________ (21 inches)

3. Multiply these to get the initial amount to go around your head_______ (126 stitches)

4. Count how many stitches you already have on the needle. __________(84 stitches) Subtract this amount from the amount in #3. _______ (126 – 84 = 42)This is how many stitches you need to increase in round two.

Round two: Increase _______ (42) spaced evenly around the brim. You can either knit in the front and back of the stitch, or pick up a stitch. I find the second technique a nicer look. To increase evenly. I should now have 126 stitches on my needles.

Round three: Increase the amount one more time. This hat should be a little loose so I chose to increase 3 more inches. Using my gauge – 3inches x 6stitches = 18 stitches to increase. Current number of stitches 126 plus increase stitches 18 = final total 144. The final amount of stitches on YOUR hat must be divisible by 6. This has nothing to do with my example gauge – it has to do with the multiples when we bind off the hat. So let’s say you wind up with 154 stitches. Increase to 156 so that the number of stitches is evenly divisible by 6.

Once round three is established, knit 5 inches.

Finishing:

Divide the number of stitches you have by 6_______ So for me: 144 divided by 6 = 24.

Round 1Knit the number of stitches above (24) and place a marker. Repeat all the way around. You should have 6 markers.

Round 2: *knit to 2 stitches before the marker. Slip each stitch off of the left needle onto the right needle one at a time, put the left needle back through the stitches and knit the two stitches together. (Ssk) Slip the marker to the right needle knit two together. Repeat from *

Round 3: knit

Round 4: as round two

Repeat the decrease row followed by a knit row until 12 sts. Remain. Cut thread and pull through remaining stitches to bind off.

One of our participants decided she didn’t want to do the decreases for the second hat. She just did the same bindoff as the first hat and it looks fabulous. I don’t know how that would look with this hat – probably fabulous, but if you would like to do that, you will probably need to knit more like 7-8 inches of the hat before binding off.

Three more pictures of the hats:

This last hat is a fun variation of the original. I will post what I did soon.

Get together!

Hello All -
Short notice but we have the chance to get together and meet this coming Saturday at Bartram's Garden in West Philadelphia. Bartram's is hosting "Art in the Open" and on a whim there will also be Knitting in the Open. If you are in the area, please stop by and say hello - bring your knitting and knit a while.

Here are the details that Leslie Gale (the coordinator) sent me:

Saturday, June 11th, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
54th and Lindbergh Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19143
(215) 729-5281
www.bartramsgarden.org

Of course, there's more! There's a lot going on at the Garden that day:
In celebration of Art in the Open - a citywide art-making festival, there will be artists on site working 10 am to 2.

There will also be Printing in the Open with The Print Center noon to 3 pm - Free!
Bring a blank tee or tote to create a screen-printed design inspired by Bartram's Garden's botanic collection.

There will also be field games for kids and the Education Department will be making ice cream!

The knitting and crocheting will begin in the lawn area by the barn which faces the parking lot, but if it's as hot as it was last year, we?ll move to even more shade.

There are directions on the website, www.bartramsgarden.org, and the Garden is very easily accessible by the 36 trolley.

Well - hope you see/meet some of you this weekend!
Tara

Welcome Ravelry Knitters!

Thank you for joining us for this project, we are very excited to have you!

A little background:
Last year our project was a sampler scarf knit-a-long. (Feel free to browse the archives for 2010). The scarves were beautiful but for advanced knitters only. We were thrilled with the results and in December received the Pink Ribbon of the Month award for the project. The only criticism we got was from beginner knitters who said, Oh, I really want to participate - but that's way too intimidating! So this year we decided on hats/cloches starting with the easiest of easiest, a Knit-only hat. The second one is a knit and purl hat - and so on.

Where should you start?
Where ever you wish. Want to start at the beginning and knit 10 of that hat? Great! Want to start at the beginning and catch up? - Yay! Want to hop right in to the second project? Fabulous. Want to do something - but none of this stuff? We aren't picky. All projects are due by September 15. The more we have the more women will benefit.

The biggest question: Do I have to use pink yarn?
Heavens no. Not everyone likes pink. I'm using it because of the iconic color. Feel free to use up stashes, purchase something special... experiment!

Please join us as a blog contributor. Send an email with your email address to pinkknitathon@mail.com . Once you've accepted you will be able to post to the blog any time you wish. We will also granted administrative privileges to post a profile to the Meet the Knitters Page for one week. This will give you a chance to put up a brief Profile and photo of who you are. We hope you will! If you are a yarn shop and would like to be on our Participating Yarn Shops Page, let us know!

Last year the blog was migrated to a book on Blurb.com and we would like to do the same this year. By the way - there is no profit being made from the book this year. But hopefully next year so that we can fund a bit more advertising.

Thanks again for joining. We are looking forward to "meeting" you!

Tara