Pam Alison Knits

Seems like the whole (knitting) world has been enamoured of the mini scarf in the past couple of years. I have been running with the resistance on this one because I hate being part of the crowd. However, I visited a new local yarn shop – Yarn in a Teacup – during May and, for some unknown reason, the wool I bought was crying out to be made into a mini scarf.

(You can read about Yarn in a Teacup here: https://yarninateacup.co.uk)

I had to convince myself a mini scarf/scarflette would be a useful item, but I soon realised it might be just the thing to fill in the open neckline of a rever-collared coat on chilly but not desperately cold days, when you’re in and out of shops etc. It turns out this is a good time to jump onto the bandwagon because lots of new mini scarf patterns have appeared in the past year or so. I had some fun looking into this accessory.

But, come on, this is me! I’m not going to knit some recent pattern am I? No! I’m going to search Sirdar’s amazing “Heritage” selection on their website and buy something that no-one else is knitting! Thus, I present the splendid Sirdar pattern 5983 – catchy title eh? Three different neckwarmer patterns, all of which I will knit. Plus a glove pattern with three cuff options which I may not knit, but I will adapt into fingerless mitts. All for less than the cost of Petite Knit’s Sophie scarf (the source of the current craze and grandmother of all mini scarves) which is just one design in two sizes. Can’t possibly go wrong with this Sirdar one. My choice for a first project was the right-hand scarflette which the pattern calls the Ribbed Scarf. I think this perfectly fits my requirements.

The yarn which prompted this project is from a local hand-dyer who I hadn’t come across before: Silver Road Yarns. The dyer works with natural dyes and this colour – named Frost on the Field – includes dye from scabious, rose and alium. It’s so local to me that my daughter actually lived in a house on this very road for several years. Continuing the local theme, Yarn in a Teacup is only five minutes walk from my sister’s home. Golly, I’m racking up the eco-credentials with this purchase! To make it all the more perfect, Yarn in a Teacupt is lovely, friendly shop, and serves tea and cakes (thus the Teacup part of the name).

I knit the majority of the scarflette whilst away on one of my breaks then put the finishing touches to it when I got home. It was an enjoyable and quite simple knit, apart from a self-inflicted problem with the needles I chose to work with. Note to self: for the scarflettes I need a set of double-pointed needles 8″ long in 3.25mm.

All in all it took relatively little time to go from a pretty skein of yarn to an even prettier little neckwarmer. I can’t wait for the autumn breezes to come along and prompt me to bring this out. I particularly love the little twisted stitches in the ribbing through the scarf ends, and that loop which holds it closed at just the right place, not close to the throat, but close enough to keep out the chill.

This little scarf used just 49g grams of the 100 gram skein of yarn which means I have plenty left to make a matching pair of fingerless mitts. I’ve cast this on as my travel project ready for my next trip away. For these, I’m doing plain ribs and I’m going to use the pattern with the little twisted stitch on the back of the hand. I think that should look pretty with the scarflette.

Looking towards autumn, I’d also like to knit the centre pattern – the polo-necked neck-warmer (Sirdar call this a windcheater). The last few winters travelling to and from work I was dreaming of exactly this as a way to keep out the winter wind at bus stops. Before that, even, I was considering ways to have an add-on polo-neck to match a jumper. That way you have a crew-neck for indoors but can add the polo-neck for extra warmth when you head out. I think that I’d knit the collar a bit looser – not quite a cowl-neck, but somewhere between that and a tight-to-the-throat polo-neck. It may take a little fiddling, but I’m sure it’s easy enough to do.