I have been on a scarf kick. I recently made a hat and scarf for my coworker; it was such a big hit that another coworker asked me to make a scarf to give as a gift. She saw the pattern for the "Batkus" scarf and asked for that. The Batkus is a scarf knitted "side to side," beginning with 4 cast on stitches. You increase every fourth row until you get the desired length, then decrease accordingly.
I used a 100g ball of Jojoland Melody Superwash wool on a Size 3 needle. I loved the wide array of fall colors, which is what the recipient wanted. This project had a lot of trial and error on my part. I had started out with a Size 4 and didn't like the drape; I started over with the smaller needle and casted on again. Again, I didn't like the fabric it produced. I then casted-on for the Lacy Batkus, but still wasn't satisfied. I went back to Ravelry and found the pattern for the "Wallenbatkus" (wavy batkus). I did an eight row knit and purl rib and increased the width of the scarf until I reached the end of the first 50g ball. I wanted to keep the same "gradient" with no obvious color changes, so I rewound the 2nd 50g ball to get to the center.
As I was decreasing, I held my breath, praying that I wouldn't run out of yarn before I reached the end. I did run out, but not until I was down to six stitches. I had to do some creative decreases at the very end. To block, I simply hand washed the scarf and laid flat to dry. As I dried, I gently pulled up the ends so the ribbing would stand out.
The scarf was a big hit with the recipient and I was happy to have a coworker be the model for this blog post.