Doctor Who Scarf Update and Knitting in the Round

It’s about time for a Doctor Who scarf update. Over the past couple weeks I’ve made some progress on the scarf, as you can see, but knitting on size 4 needles makes for some slow knitting. I’ve made the transition from 14” straight needles to a circular needle to avoid having to hold such a long needle. I’ve found knitting on a circular needle takes less effort to maneuver them. I’ve also started to favor shorter needles more recently, I’m actually thinking of getting more circular needles for other projects, just to avoid having a long needle sticking out from under my work.

To the left is the stash of yarn I’ve acquired to help accomplish the infamous Doctor Who scarf. It was somewhat difficult to gather all this yarn as it came from various sources. I was also concerned because it’s not all the same fiber. Some is wool, some is acrylic, and some is cotton. It is often not recommended that these fibers be used together, but it’s working well so far.

Another thing I came across while researching how to knit this scarf is that there are many patterns. The pattern I’m using, The Original Scarf, suggests that the use of various fiber types should not impact the result as long as the knitter is able to adjust their tension if necessary. I’m only into the third color, involving both acrylic and wool fibers so far, and haven’t had any noticeable issues. I also think because the stitches are so small it’s less obvious that there are combined fibers. The website I’m using also insists that these colors match the original scarf closer than any other combinations. Having never seen the original scarf, I can’t agree or disagree with that statement, but it’s a good observation if nothing else.

To the right is my Doctor Who scarf so far. One of the problems I ran into is that the original scarf was 66 stitches across and about 11” wide, as referenced by the above website, however when I first did 66 stitches across on size 4 needles I ended up with a scarf 13.5” wide across as well.

After undoing my scarf and restarting several times, each time using a different number of stitches across I settled on 50 stitches across. This number seemed to work at first, however once I started knitting and the knitted yarn came together better off the needle, my scarf measured 9” – 10” in width. I decided I wasn’t going to undo it since I was already done with the first color. I decided this is my Doctor Who scarf, and it doesn’t need to be 100% identical to the original. Once I accepted this I was able to continue on.

Once my scarf was underway I decided I wanted to tackle double pointed needles. I had bought a set about a month ago along with a sock-making book, with hopes to make warm fuzzy socks for those cold days. Well, it’s starting to warm up now, but there’s always room for fuzzy socks. There’s still a long way to go until I master sock-making, but I was able to knit my first circle on double pointed needles.

The small circle to the left was knit on size 8 double pointed needles. To use these needles, you must first cast on your desired number of stitches, and then divide them evenly among a total of three needles. The fourth empty needle is used to knit, just as you would move stitches from a needle full of stitches onto an empty one when using straight needles. You eventually end up going in circles, emptying one needle and using that as your new needle. I was happy to have made a small circle. Next are socks!

Over the past week I’ve accomplished quite a bit. I never expected to figure out double pointed needles so quickly. I figured out while knitting what I thought was garter stitch, that the stitches are different when using double pointed needles because you’re never turning your work over to knit the other way as you would with straight needles. In order to knit garter stitch on double pointed needles you would have to knit all the way around on the first round, and then purl all the way around on the second round, and continue until the length of what you were making was complete. This really helped me understand how different stitches work, even when using straight needles. This coming week I’m hoping to progress further on the Doctor Who scarf as well as start another project. Happy Knitting!

Fearless!

Over the past couple weeks I've overcome several knitting feats. I picked up a book called Fearless Knitting by Jennifer E. Seiffert, and it has to be the best knitting book I've found yet. It takes you beyond the basics and helps you overcome what you thought you couldn't.

I've managed to knit several new items.

Sample Ribbing Pattern - This was done by using several variations of the knit and purl stitch. This sample contains a k1, p1 pattern, a k2, p2 pattern, and a knit entire row, purl entire row pattern:

Sample Textures (Checkerboard & Zig-Zag) - These patterns incorporate the use of charts/graphs to guide the knitter through different combinations of knit and purl stitches to create a patttern or texture:

A "pick up and knit" pattern (knit two different ways without sewing them together) - To complete this the left side of the pattern is knit in garter stitch (knit every row) while slipping the first stitch of every other row. To attach the left side the yarn is not cut, but is attached up the entire right side, and the piece is turned sideways and knit in garter stitch again until complete:

Some pretty nice dishcloths - This pattern was included in the Fearless Knitting book and uses a combination of garter stitch and yarn-overs to create the eyelets around the edge:

Overall I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished. I restarted my Doctor Who scarf last night since it needed to be re-gauged. It’s supposed to be 11” wide, and mine was 12.5” – 13”. I’ll update my Doctor Who Meter soon!

Happy Knitting!