Monday, October 3, 2005

Scarf Exchange Reveal

Greetings Fiona! Did you guess that I am your Scarf Exchange pal? Your Stripes and Bobbles scarf is on its way to you – enjoy it in good health!

Here's a photo of the finished scarf.

Photo of finished Stripes and Bobbles scarf

I'm still catching up on the blog backlog. When last seen (both here and on the Scarf Style blog, the scarf was bobbleless, a truly deplorable state for a Stripes and Bobbles scarf. Many thanks to those who offered bobble suggestions. After much hemming and hawing and not a few experiments, I decided on four colors: fuchsia, yellow, brown, and green. Here's another look at the Noro Kureyon stripes with the bobble yarn, DMC Tapestry Wool.

Photo of Stripes with Bobbles yarn

Amanda Blair Brown's design (in Scarf Style) is brilliant – the long, narrow stripes held together only by bobbles form a surprisingly stable and comfortable fabric. While it is possible to twist or tangle the scarf, one really needs to be trying. Most tangles drop out with a shake or two. The scarf coils around the neck and the loose ends swing in the most beguiling way.

Stripes and Bobbles is perfect for showing off the beauty of the long color runs in Noro Kureyon. The stripes remind me of a bundle of colorful Japanese ribbons, a traditional good luck symbol. Fiona asked for a thinner rather than a wider scarf, so this one has three stripes rather than the five called for in the pattern.

I like Stripes and Bobbles so much it's a good thing I blogged that this one is a gift I think I'll have to make one for myself. As an additional modification, I think I'll make the bobbles MUCH bigger or maybe use pom-pons instead of bobbles.

Many thanks to the adventurous Celia and the patient Cynthia for organizing this excellent scarf exchange. I've enjoyed reading everyone's blogs, getting to know everyone, and watching everyone scarfing* along. For me, that's the best part of the exchange.

Now comes the last bit of fun – I'm looking forward to a nice surprise from the mail carrier any day now and to finding out who my secret scarf pal may be.

*In regional American English, "scarfing" sometimes means "eating large amounts of food rapidly." Er, I don't enjoy watching that! and that's not what's meant here.

4 comments:

Michelle said...

Hi there!
I was in the scarf exchange, too, and I was really inspired by your use of the Noro on this scarf. I have some stash Noro that was going to become hats, but now...well, it's not going to become hats! Thanks for sharing your idea! I sent my scarf off to the UK yesterday, and I received my gift scarf about a week and a half (?) ago. I love these swaps!

CynCyn said...

beautiful stripes and bobbles scarf! don't you just love almost all the scarves from scarfstyle? (are you part of the scarfstyle a long blog? there's a link to it on mine). thanks for playing in the scarf exchange!

Anonymous said...

I personally handed your scarf to my mailman yesterday afternoon, so it should arrive soon! I'll keep my eye on your blog and once I know you have it, I'll reveal who I am! :)

Anonymous said...

Ooh, the anticipation! Thanks, mysterious Scarf Pal. :)