The Traveling Scarf, A Series: The Seed

After completing my husband's fisherman's sweater, I wasn't sure what I'd knit next. It wasn't too long before an opportunity arose. I've decided to try something a little different and completely new to me. A friend of mine on Facebook decided to start a Traveling Scarf project. What's that? Well, it's sort of like a chain letter, only much better and not so annoying. Basically, you find a group of knitters/crocheters who are interested and start a scarf chain. It's best to have between 10 and 12 participants so that the end result is impressive and so that it takes some time and the scarves get some travel. It's a way to harvest creativity and to "meet" others with the same interests in the process.

Here's how it works (at least, it's how this one works): first, each person starts a "seed" section. We each decided what preferences we have for our respective scarves (color, yarn weight, textures, fibers, etc.) and wrote those preferences in a little notebook to be sent along with our seed. Each person is asked to add a little bit of information to the accompanying journal. Once we determine our specs and preferences, we started our "seed" which is about a 5"- 6" section of knitting. Once finished, the seed is mailed off to the next person on the list of participants. There are twelve people in this traveling scarf chain, so when it's all complete each scarf is going to be around five feet long. Long scarves, yes, but a very cool outcome to see what everybody comes up with!

So, our first mailing date was actually March 27, and I am a little late getting to the post office. Our mailing dates are in two week increments; and while I was a little worried that between work, chasing a toddler, and being pregnant it might be challenging for me to keep up, I really didn't want to miss out on this experience because I think it's a really unique thing. I made it to the post office today; so I'm only 3 days behind schedule, but that's only because of the weekend. I'll do better with the next mail date!

My little seed is pictured above. I wanted to keep it simple so I could get it in the mail, but I wanted to try something new, too. Someone in the group had mentioned a past scarf in which she only specified everyone use "mistake rib" pattern. I am not familiar with mistake rib, so I Googled it and found some tutorials and decided that's what to use for my seed. For color, I want different shades of blues and greens; preferably alternating. I asked for no 100% wool yarn because I have some sensitivity to wool; blends are okay. My last request was that worsted weight yarn be used to keep it consistent. If this scarf is not ridiculously long, it will likely be shared by me and my son. If it's huge, it'll be too long for him. In that case, it may just be a decorative memento. My seed color looks grey in the picture, but it's actually a light shade of blue. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn in Light Country Blue. I am excited to see how it turns out and I can't wait to start receiving the other scarves!