The Traveling Scarf: More Creative Fun!

Scarf #2 arrived and I love the theme! She wants a "hippie" style scarf, but retro hippie from the 60's and 70's; not modern hippie. So, this is how it appeared when I received it in the mail. The seed section is purple chunky yarn done in garter stitch. The second is crocheted star stitch. Some other specifications for this scarf included, "no craft yarn or granny yarn," and "natural fibers."

So, I had to think about what yarns I have that are natural fibers, worsted weight, and will fit into this hippie theme. I remembered I have some skeins of Lamb's Pride which is 85% wool and 15% mohair. It looks nice and it feels nice; not scratchy! Then I decided on a color. I thought orange was fitting. When I think of retro 60's and 70's I think orange, green, red, and yellow. I'm not a fan of yellow, though, (and I don't have yellow in this brand) so orange was perfect! Finally, I had to pick out a pattern. What screams retro in knitting more than anything (at least to me, anyway)? Bobbles, of course!

Now I had to take to Google to get some ideas for retro knits. I did a Google search for just that; "retro knitting patterns," "vintage knitting patterns," "1970's hippie patterns," and "1960's hippie patterns." I found a website, (that of course I can't find now) that had a lot of different stitch patterns. One that caught my eye was blackberry bramble. I decided to give that one a try. Each pattern on this website had a reverse as well (the reverse of blackberry bramble was briarpatch). So, on the right side (RS), you have blackberry bramble and on the wrong side (WS), you have briarpatch. I thought it looked pretty retro and in orange would look fantastic, so that is the pattern I chose.

To my surprise, I enjoyed knitting it and the bobbles don't look as bad as I had feared they would. I have always steered clear of bobbles because I thought a lot of bobble patterns look too "crafty." I guess I go for a more en vogue look for my knitting. I don't like patterns that look homemade, if that makes any sense at all. I want it to look like something you might see at a store. That's just me, though.


I did have to go through some trial and error. When I originally started my section, it was too skinny compared to the rest of the scarf. This is probably because my yarn choice was not as chunky/bulky as the yarn I was picking up and knitting from. It looked a little bit silly...

I ended up ripping it out and starting over...a few times. Finally, I figured out the best solution (besides shopping for chunkier yarn!) which was to increase evenly until it was about as wide as the rest of the scarf. This worked! I also created a small border to prevent curling. It would have looked cool without, the border, but given the shape of the previous sections, it may have still looked too skinny in the end.

I managed to get the edges to match up the the other two sections, but it still looks a little skinnier than the previous sections. I think a lot of that is due to them not being perfectly square. The corner on one side is more rounded and blends into the side on the crocheted piece, from what I can tell. I think it will be okay once the entire scarf is completed. I'm happy with it; and so far, this was my favorite to knit! Bobbles aren't so bad! Best of all, I got it in the mail EARLY!