Pattern: Boteh Scarf by Kathy Merrick, Interweave Crochet Spring 2007
Hook: G 4.0mm
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids, Amethyst, 1 skein

This pattern is a beauty. It is so simple, amazingly quick to work up, and yet the result is stunning. It almost feels wrong to only pay $5 for such a great design.

My scarf came out quite a bit wider than what’s given in the pattern—over 6″ at the widest point. I also only did 12 repeats of the pattern instead of 16; the scarf is for my five-foot-tall sister-in-law who would drown in the full length of the scarf. And a good thing too, because it grew quite a bit in the blocking.

I am sorely tempted to make another for myself. I adore Grumperina’s Caribbean blue Boteh and two hanks of this cotton/silk blend in Teal would only cost me $12…tempting, tempting.

Other entries about the Boteh Scarf:

• New Year, New Beginning

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• Red Herring Scarf
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• New Year, New Beginning
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© 2009 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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Pattern: Amy Scarf, by me, download it now!
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto, color Eggplant, 6 skeins
Needles: Addi Turbos, US 6 (4.0mm)

The scarf was designed for and named after my Maid of Honor, a dear friend of…oh gosh…16 years? Something like that. Forever! She still lives in Wisconsin where we grew up, and a big warm scarf like this is very, very useful.

I wanted the pattern to be graceful, but regal. I spent a lot of time staring at stitch patterns before settling on a traditional Saxon braid for the center panel. I can’t remember exactly where I got it from, but it’s either adapted from Knitting on the Edge or the giant 1970s needlecraft book I stole borrowed indefinitely from my mother. The side panels are from Cables Untangled.

That was back in May. Fast forward six months. I finish the scarf, give it away, and promptly lose the pattern notes.

The good news was that six months of scarf knitting had burned the 32-row repeat into my brain. That was easily reconstructed. A little scribbling, calculating, and swatching generated the rest (slightly improved, too).

The pattern is free to download and knit, but I hope that if you like it, you’ll hit the donate button and send me whatever you think the pattern is worth. As always, if you have questions or find an error, just shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment on the blog and I’ll do my best to help you out.

Happy knitting!

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© 2009 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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Pattern: Haruha Scarf
Yarn: Joseph Galler Superfine Prime Alpaca 3-ply, Black, 1 skein
Needles: Addi Turbos, US 7 (4.5mm)

The Haruha scarf had been bound off for months and just needed a good blocking before I could add it to the list of completed projects. The problem is that the only real blocking surface in my apartment is the floor. And while my apartment is carpeted, the padding underneath the carpet is virtually nonexistent and I suspect that I often wind up pushing pins directly into the wood subfloor.

Which: ouch. Blocking lace with straight lines requires an obscene number of pins. I tried, but gave up after pinning out maybe a third of the scarf because my fingers were red and sore.

So at the same time I splurged on yarn at WEBS, I also hit up KnitPicks and grabbed a set of blocking wires.

Much better. I only needed about a dozen pins to block the long edges of the scarf, and a few more to secure the ends.

Pattern commentary and lace porn after the jump.

Continue reading Haruha Scarf (96 words) »

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© 2008 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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Pattern: A curved shawl with diamond edging, from Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr, color Cinnabar
Needles: Addi Turbos, US 3 (3.25mm)

The finished shawl is about 5.5 feet at its widest point and 2 feet deep in the center, which is slightly bigger than the dimensions given in the book.

Pattern
The construction of the shawl is pretty simple. You cast on 49 stitches, increase steadily until you have 301 stitches, and then do a picot bind-off. Then you attach the edging. The shawl isn’t so much curvy as trapezoidal.

This is a true knitted lace pattern, with patterning on every row. Both the main body of the shawl and the edging are garter-stitch based. My other lace projects have been stockinette-based with patterning only on right-side rows and I found this to be a step more difficult.

This is one of those projects that requires too much attention to knit while watching TV, but is much too mind-numbing to just sit and knit. In other words, it’s perfect podcast-listening knitting.

Continue reading Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging (135 words) »

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© 2007 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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Pattern: My own, download it for free here!
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK, #521, 4 skeins
Needles: Addi Turbos, US6 (4mm)

I really, really, really like the finished scarf. The pattern has the slightest bit of texture to it, and it produces an pseudo-illusion effect when you look at it from different angles. At some angles the pattern shows up as a zigzag; at some angles you see vertical stripes. The effect is subtle, elegant, and looks good dressed-up or dressed-down.

Continue reading Red Herring Scarf (199 words) »

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© 2007 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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Pattern: My own, download it for free here!
Yarn: Gedifra Cashmerino, #1446, 3 skeins
Needles: Addi Turbos, US 4 (3.5mm)

Looky, looky, it’s done! I was a little uncertain about the design as I was knitting it, but I do love the finished product. It looks great either under or over a wool pea coat. The finished fabric has a nice, flowy drape, but is still nice and warm. This one’s a winner.

Continue reading Achernar (186 words) »

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© 2006 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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Pattern: Print o’ the Wave stole, from Eunny
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, #590, 3 skeins
Needles: 1 set 32″ Addi Turbos, US 4 (3.5mm)

This was my first real lace project, with actual laceweight yarn and an actual picked up edging. It was fun. It was time-consuming. And they ain’t kidding when they say blocking lace is like doing crazy voodoo.

Continue reading Print o’ the Wave Stole (432 words) »

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© 2006 Yvonne Kao for CogKnition. All rights reserved.

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