I’m having so much fun seeing what color comes next that I don’t want to work on other projects until this scarf is done!
Because of the random knit or purl rows, there’s no “front” or “back” to the scarf.

Here’s a (lousy nighttime) pic of one side of mine:

And the other side:

At first I was annoyed that there was so much burgundy and not enough black, and now every second row seems to be black! Oh well- I’m going to follow my rules, and I’m going to like it!

There’s been some questions about how many stitches to cast on.  It depends on your personal preference of how long you want your scarf, and also how thick your yarn is.  Six feet long in sock-weight will require many more stitches than six feet long in worsted weight.

I’m using all my yarns on a 5mm needle, and tried to measure out my cast-on row against a scarf I wear and like the length of.  I counted a row for fun and it turns out I have 264 sts.  It should be long enough once it’s off the needles, but at 15 or so rows in, I’m not starting over so it will have to be!

Oh, a small note about beginning:  I wanted my scarf to be random right from the beginning, so first I rolled the die to see which yarn I’d be using to cast on.  I got a 6, which meant my sock yarn/shiny yarn combo.  I didn’t flip the coin yet, I used my preferred method (long tail) to cast on the amount I felt was right.  (I cast on about 15, figured out that the width of those 15 stitches about 17 more times was the same length as my current scarf, undid the 15 sts and multiplied the length of yarn it took to cast on the 15 sts by 17, made my slip knot at that point down the yarn, and cast on until I had a 6″-ish tail left over.)

I just did the math on that, and it turns out that 17 x 15 is 255, and I cast on 264, so that’s pretty good!

When I use long tail, I count the first row as a knit row, ‘cus you’re basically casting-on and knitting the row in one step.  For stockinette I’d turn, then purl back.  Once the cast on was complete I flipped the coin, and it gave me “tails”, telling me that my first row was a purl row.  I then turned my wip around so it was as if I’d purled the cast on row, and immediately rolled and flipped for row 2.  That way I didn’t have to actually purl to cast on, but it’s as if I did.

Also, for the sake of symmetry, I did a little fiddling to the end.  Long tail leaves both end tails at the same side of the work- the starting end, and the ball end, which for this project is cut after every row.  That meant I had fringe started at one side, but none on the other.  Once I had a few rows complete I went back and cut a 12″ length of my sock/shiny yarn combo and knotted it at the end that didn’t have it, so both sides of my cast-on row now had 2 6″ lengths of alike fringe.

The KAL for my scarf pattern started today! I didn’t get a chance yet to post pics on Ravelry or Facebook, but I can post here from my phone quickly.

I pulled my 6 yarns last night:

Patons’ Decor is my yarn #1. Remnants from who-knows-what, colorway Black. Decor’s a worsted-weight, 75% acrylic and 25% wool yarn.

This Pompelmo from Tricot Studio Filpucci is my #2. I’ve got 2 balls of this colorway (#1/1750?) from an assorted bag of different colors of the same yarn. It’s 55% Viscose, 29% cotton, 8% silk and 8% polyamide. The core is kind of a burnt burgundy, with a strand of something shiny, surrounded by a thin chain of plain white which I’m guessing is the cotton.

#3 is an old Patons Cotton Club from my Bubbie’s old stash. It is56% acrylic, 33% cotton and 11% viscose, very soft, white, and with the shiny wraparound it reminds me of Bernat Baby Coordinates.

I feel like I want to say #4, Katia Ingenua is left over from the original Vegas Scarf, but I think that one was a different color. This one is black, and is 78% mohair, 13% polyamide and 9% wool.

#5 is my fun fur contribution, Shimmer by Estelle. I used to collect fun fur for trims on the dog sweaters I used to sell, and I think I’d bought this from my lys for that purpose before I realized how unprofitable it was. Color 738 (deep wine color), and 100% polyester.

My last yarn is actually 2 held together. I’m using a 5mm needle but really wanted to use this roll of unknown gunmetal stuff. It’s really shiny, slick like rayon and more of a chain or braid than plied yarn. I decided to pair it with a hank of Free Verse Sock by Perfect Day Yarns that I got in a club kit from my cousin’s old yarn store (now defunct). The colorway of the 75% Superwash wool/25% nylon sock yarn is “Vintage Rose”. Holding both together works better with the needle I’m using and still lets the pops of color and/or shine come through.

So these are my 6(7) yarns. I was home for the day after a very painful doctor’s appointment and managed to get about 8 rows done, but I’ll save those pics for tomorrow. In the meantime here’s a photo of a special guest we had at our Knitting Guild meeting tonight. Hint: it’s not my cousin. 😉

We had a visit/lecture tonight from the Quinns of our local Quinn Farm and Rare Breeds Canada and Baa Baa Black Sheep (actually her name!) won everybody over with her charm. There were also a lovely husband and wife team who make items with merino wool, but I left their business card in my purse so I’ll link to them tomorrow.