This week, I share a scarf so easy it's a bit silly and chat with Sarah-Marie Belcastro, queen of mathematical knitting (she's too humble to call herself that, so I will).
Knitters' Emergency Scarf
Yarn: Colora by Lang Yarns (I am 75% sure of this, I made it a long time ago, but this looks right to me. I have no idea what color or dye lot.), 2 skeins
Needles: 10.5
Gauge: 22 stitches to 5.5 inches, but it doesn't really matter
My mother is wonderful at choosing colors and yarns, but is not a knitter. So, she sometimes gives me lovely yarns which basically spur me on to a "Top Chef"-style challenge.
"Make something wonderful with this. Your time starts...now."
I don't mind. Lovely yarn is lovely yarn. But, lovely is as lovely does, so sometimes a yarn sits in my stash for a very long time before I use it.
This started life as "emergency" travel yarn. I knew I was taking size 10.5 needles, for a 5-hour baby sweater (link), and I wanted something I could knit in case the sweater wasn't enough for my trip.
It wasn't, so I was faced with a 2-hour stint as a passenger in a car, with just those needles and 2 skeins of this yarn.
I cast on 22 stitches and worked two very easy rows until I almost ran out, then bound off, darned in the ends, and started arguing with my partner about if I should keep it.
I almost gave the scarf away. At the time, I didn't really wear scarves. I never thought they mixed well with camera straps. I'm a bit clumsy and get tangled up easily. My partner convinced me that the colors looked great on me and that I should keep it. Now, I'm glad I did. It adds just a little more protection from the cold, now that I don't use a camera every day.
Slip the first stitch of every row.
Row 1 (RS): Knit every stitch.
Row 2: (knit 2, purl 2) to the last two stitches, knit 2.
This could work with nearly every yarn and needle combination and could be made wider or narrower, as long as the number of stitches you use is a multiple of 4 + 2. Mine curls up on itself, but I've never blocked it. A good, stiff blocking could probably make it lie flat. I don't mind the curling, because it makes the scarf that much more cuddly.
Chat
I have admired Sarah-Marie Belcastro for a long time, so I am really excited that she had the time to chat with me. I hope you enjoy it, too.
Links
"The promised links to the Crafting by Concepts book:
My webpage is http://www.toroidalsnark.net/mkbook2.html
The publisher's webpage is (CRC Press) and of course it's a book in Ravelry as well."
-- sarah-marie
Klein Bottle Recipe I seem to say it every week, but Cat Bordhi is a genius. Discrete Mathematics with Ducks Daniel Pinkwater Book about Ducks! Co-Editor of Fiber Books, Carolyn Yackel Making Mathematics with Needlework (use discount code CRAFT for 25% off)
I wrote about this book back in 2010. Rachel's Cool Increase 1,000 Fabulous Knit Hats, by Annie Modesitt All Things Considered Cool radio story where Ari Daniel Shapiro interviewed Sarah-Marie: A Unique Expression Of Love For Math Noro Aurora Yarn Scarf With No Name I was talking about my Bold and Blended Wrap for all of the mathematical geekiness. Wolfram Alpha could have saved me a lot of trouble.
