Wide Bordered Scarf

Okay, well, I know that I'm actually a project past the wide bordered scarf but I also realized that I hadn't done a proper write up of the pattern, etc. Plus, I don't want to take pictures of my current project yet.

Wide Bordered Scarf Project Stats:

Pattern: Victorian Lace Today, Wide Bordered Scarf, Page 96.
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk, in green
Needles: Size 7 Straights
Mods: Different yarn, removed a pattern repeat

First, I substituted a yarn in this pattern (the pattern sample was made from hand spun silk.) And I didn't have quite as many yards as the pattern called for. This meant that ultimately, I made the border five repeats wide instead of eight, and only worked one repeat of the center panel to compensate. The resulting scarf is very long. I looked at it on me again on Friday in front of the mirror. It's probably close to 120" long (twice as long as I am tall.) I love it. I actually like my scarves very long.

The yarn: this is my first sea silk purchase. It is very soft. It is also on the heavy side for a lace weight yarn. In fact, it's about on par with Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock (a fingering weight yarn.) I really like the way it feels and the sheen of it. It's really beautiful.

Except for one small glitch, the pattern was perfect. You do have to flip to the back to read the instructions for the cast off and the knitted on border, but the instructions make sense and are easy to follow. My one suggestion for anyone knitting from this book is that you might wan to draw out your own chart for the lace. There's nothing wrong with the chart in the book, but it rather small. I kept having to lean over and count little squares (how many knit stitches in a row?) I would also recommend putting a stitch marker between the two separate halves of the border (one half being a garter stitch diamond stitch, and the other half being a stockinette trellis stitch.) This will help you keep track of where you are in the chart.

Might I just say that I really like the effect of the wide border? The center panel stitch is very pretty, and the border itself sort of ruffles and flows really well because it is wider than the scarf itself. The best thing is that this scarf requires less than 450 yards of yarn. In fact, if you bought a skein of sea silk you could conceivably make two 60" scarves. That's pretty economical.