Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Wallenbatkus




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.