I'm frugal to a fault and although I love the more expensive yarns I do my best to make my own specialty yarns by mixing two, or more, skeins of unique yarns together.
Big Lots has been one of my favorite shopping stores and especially since they started carrying the Gala brands for $1.00 a ball. I find that for about $4 - $5 dollars I can create a one of a kind scarf that works up really quickly.
I knit to relax while watching tv so most of the time I will knit a straight garter stitch, knit every row, which means I don't have to count stitches or pay much attention to the work in progress.
I like soft yarns but I also like to contrast them with something colorful and different.
For this project I'm using a soft tweed like yarn that is a mixture of blue and brown along with a more colorful ladder yarn. I'm working with circular needles because they are easier for my little hands to manage and I can pull up the ends when I'm not working on it and keep the stitches from falling off more easily.
For this scarf I cast on 20 stitches of the blue tweed yarn. On the second row I mixed the tweed and the ladder yarn together and knit across the row.
On the next row I drop the ladder yarn and work two rows with only the tweed. The ladder yarn just lays on the side and on the third row I pick it up, along with the tweed (working a double strand) and knit across.
Repeat the process until the scarf is the length desired.
When it comes to the fringe I will probably just use the tweed yarn as the ladder yarn isn't quite as pliable. It all depends though...I might decide to not fringe at all.
I woke up at about 4:30 this morning and started the scarf but I will probably have it completed by lunch today. I'm on a mini-winter vacation so have time between blogging, checking my email and checking my Facebook updates to knit!
I have a box in the basement where I'm keeping my completed projects that will either be used for gifts throughout the year, at Christmas, or sold at the craft bazaars next fall / winter. Until I start making rocks I should get quite a few scarves completed.
