Well I started, and since I am still quite a basic knitter, even though my gramma showed me how to use those two needles before I was 10 years old, I have not progressed much with knitting. I am STILL trying to figure out SOCKS -- mind you, the sock I am working on is in a drawer and I am trying my best to ignore it!
So after trying to understand the linen stitch which goes like this
Any odd number
Row 1 (RS): k1, *sl1 wyif, k1; rep from *
Row 2: k1, p1, *sl1 wyib, p1; rep from *, end k1
I did finally get it, but the problem was that wind yarn in front, knit one, I kept forgeting which stitch I was on and after casting on 250 stitches it got too frustrating going back and undoing 20 or 30 or 50 stitches!
So. Instead I made a similar idea scarf using crochet. The thing about crochet, at least in this case, there is no winding yarn in front or in back or changing or slipping or any of that. I know. For some using two needles to create a fabric from yarn is the way to go...
So I made this scarf. It really doesn't look at all the same as the knitted version using the Linen Stitch.
And for me, it is simpler than making pie -- I am not so good at pie making, but a champion at cake baking! -- so we shall call this The Cake Scarf... (it kinda looks like some kid put too many sprinkles on the birthday cake when Mom's back was turned!)
I used a multi-colour acrylic yarn -- I think it was a red heart or bernat. If I was using scraps of different colours I would still end the yarn at each end of the scarf. One of the neat things about doing it this way, is that there are no ends to weave in along the way. AND you can make this scarf as long or as short as you want it to be.
Also with the acrylic yarn, I used one of those specialty fuzzy type of yarn and I cannot tell you what it was because it was a 2nd hand store find with no label on it...
So what I did here, was chain about 200 for the foundation, which is actually the middle of the scarf -- remember this is longways, so create the fringe as you go leave about 6 inches when you first make your slip knot and then at the end pull through the last loop so it doesn't come undone and leave about 6 inches at that end.
Now making sure you are in one side of the chain, single crochet starting at one end leaving a 6 inch start up tail and finishing leaving another 6 inches at the end, and always remember to loop the yarn through the last stitch so that it doesn't pull out.
Your next row is with another scrap of yarn, a regular acrylic on the other side of the foundation chain stitch. Mainly I did it that way so that the rows would look more even, because sometimes if you make your chain stitches too tight or too loose you have a sort of curve in your piece.
Next I did a row using the fuzzy yarn, a row on each side of the regular acrylic yarn. So now once you get a fuzzy yarn on each long ways side, you have 5 rows. On each side of the scarf I then did two rows single crochet remember to start and end leaving a tail. After the two rows each side of centre, one row single crochet of the fuzzy yarn. You can continue in this manner to make the scarf as wide or narrow as you like. I think my scarf is 17 rows ending with the fuzzy yarn on the outside edge, because I liked the way it felt, wrapped around my neck...
Oh! and I should say, that I wanted a thicker fringe so I actually added lengths of yarn between the ends of the rows to double up on the fringe.
Here are a couple of links if you want to investigate this Linen Stitch further and try a knitted scarf using this method.
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/stitches/linen.htm
this is the link where I first discovered this stitch
http://www.karenjoseattle.com/karenjoseattle/2007/10/linen-stitch.html
and here is a photo of a scarf done in the linen stitch along with the pattern that you can purchase if you like
http://www.knit-purl.com/store/pc/Koigu-Linen-Stitch-Scarf-Pattern-p4651.htm
There is even a You Tube video of how to knit this particular stitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FClVwxz0c3o
This was a fun little experiment, now I shall try some more in single crochet with some different yarns that are in my yarn stash...
