Mossy Cottage Knits

I think you can make it however you want to - its your knitting :-). After looking at the picture, I think it would look just fine with the other acorns "upside down".

Oh, to be more of a leader than a follower, Melissa! I'm getting better about not asking for reassurance from other knitters everytime I do something even faintly "bold," but I guess today just isn't one of those days. You're absolutely right on all points, of course. Thanks for leaving a comment!

In the words of Bonnie Marie (Chicknits) "Boss your knitting around!" I agree with Marie, do what YOU want! In fact, the provisional cast on in the middle the reason I was not whipping out my credit card to purchase the pattern when you sent me the link. Loved the pattern, didn't like the center cast on at all. So, rather than you who opted to make it differently, I just ran away from it!!!! Well, more precicely, I ran to Feather and Fan to which I am currently enslaved! Sending big hopes for a lovely weekend for you and TMK, L

PS I just realized the Faina scarf is one that I saw knit up at my less-than-favorite LYS in red tencel yarn and I also lusted for it, but I thought it looked too complicated for my tiny mind. What do you think now that you own the pattern??? hard?? intermediate???

Naah, do whatever you want! Who needs conjoined oak leaf hiccups?

Wear the scarf so the right side up acorns are in the front and fling the upside down ones over your shoulder. That way you'll never see them.

umm, i just looked at a pic of an oak tree and all the acorns are not growing the same way- when worn around the neck it will look most natural-

alpaca is *not* my fiber of choice- i love the look and the feel of the finished product but the process is not as pleasing- i probably make poor pattern choices for it but i prefer to blame the fiber- certainly never my fault!!

stay happy-

The only problem I have had with knitting some lace patterns all in one direction is that the cast on edge may have a lovely scallop but the cast off edge will be straight across. Maybe try casting off your swatch to see if there is a difference, and if there is, then decide whether you can live with it.

All great points, Dear Readers! Thank you!

Melanie, I had the same thought that you did, about the scalloped edge, and that, in the end, proved to be my biggest concern. Perhaps I can ask the designer, who belongs to my Guild, what she would suggest because I know she addressed this exact same issue in a class once but I don't remember what she recommended.

Lisa, in my initial brief glance at the pattern for Faina, the one thing I noticed is that the pattern is incredibly looooooooooooong. The pattern is printed on both sides of one sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper PLUS a double-sided extra insert--which adds up to lots and lots of rows, somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400, if I remember correctly. However, when all is said and done, ultimately I would call it just an intermediate pattern, since the design is just composed of the usual suspects: knits, purls, yos, k2togs, etc. The other thing is that the finished scarf is, in my opinion, unusually wide: 10". Still, it is so beautiful; how could I not buy it?

Well...I agree, for the most part, that if the pattern (especially THIS pattern) goes up on one side and down on the other - so what? And I absolutely agree that you don't want a lace hiccough in the middle of your work. What I'm wondering about is if you start with the provisional cast-on as recomended and work the first half of the scarf and then, when you pick up the stitches for the second half, knit a few inches of ribbing (like a seaman's scarf?) or just a few rows of stockinette or seed to balance out the curves of the lace before starting the descending part of the pattern. Would that work, do you think?

Faina's scarf is just gorgeous; I've been drooling over that pattern for months now. I'm definitely going to have to have that one eventually :)

Oh my....that many rows? Umm, I don't think that is the project for me at this point in my life! I so rarely have uninterupted knitting time that I much prefer easily memorized patterns. I guess I don't have the attention span (or opportunity) at this point that would be required to complete such a task!I'll just live vicariously through you! It is a lovely scarf, no doubt about it.

You know, I have been longing to try something in alpaca but haven't been able to make a decision (story of my life, I fear!). I was thinking about a baby hat or some such small thing. I really like the Blue Sky alpaca and organic cotton they have at my LYS. Good price, lots of yardage...yeah, like I need more yarn or the excuse to buy more ;)

I had a pattern like this, and while you seem fairly relaxed, I am the type to lie awake nights, tortured by uneven ends and leaves running the "wrong way".

What I did (after much soul searching, I must say) was knit a fancy border, begin the scarf and knit the body, then leave those stitches live, cast on and knit another border, and graft those to the live stitches.

Not a perfect solution (but neither are colliding motifs in the centre of the scarf), but at least the two ends match.

Let me tell you, Faina's Scarf is very lovely, I'm on my third one! It knits up quickly and repeats a portion of the rows. I use the 'read' pattern instead of the chart and keep my stickies handy to mark my rows. Pay attention to the types of decreases, they control the slants. The finished scarf is stunning!

Make your knitting your own, always!

I like spinning alpaca. I even like knitting it. I will never again make a sweater out of it (or anything larger than a hat or mittens).

Alpaca is one of those fibers that GROOOOOOOOOW. Heavy fiber. Smoooth Fiber. ALthough I like long sweaters I do not like them down to my knees (unless it is the famous Vogue mohair bubble). I also like them to stay the width I wanted them at.

Oh, Faina's scarf is one of the half-dozen lace scarves on my needles right now! It is more complicated than it looks, and I find it takes a lot of concentration. (I haven't gotten as far as the "repeats" part, yet; perhaps it gets a little easier there.) It will make a gorgeous scarf, after all of that knitting.

What bothers me about Faina's scarf, though, is that it is stockinette -- so, it's like, you can't escape the fact that the two sides aren't going to match. (The top side is smooth stockinette, the reverse is purl bumps.) Perhaps it would be better worked in garter?

Have you looked at the Bronte scarf in Rowan's A Yorkshire Fable? Fairly simple (I'm nearly finished with mine). Garter stitch. Both ends mirror each other. Available from your favorite on-line store, too ;-). I've shown it on my blog a couple of times.

Oh - forgot to add, about that Bronte scarf: not only do the two ends mirror each other, but you knit it from one end to the other. None of that provisional cast-on stuff.