The Berry Edged Scarf/Shawl.......................

As you know one good thing about my trip to Iowa was a LOT of knitting time.  And in that time I knit on this very simple garter stitch scarf.  I restarted it several times until I got it just right.  When I got home I had a few more rows to finish before I decided on the border.  I had pictured it all in my head but still am surprised at how great it turned out, much better than my imagination.  Here take a peek, sorry for the photo overload, but I am pretty excited about it.

Here are the particulars.  Made with Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo with a size 8 knitting needle.  I cast on 3 stitches.  At the beginning of every row I knit one and immediately knit into the front and back loop of that stitch.  I knit all stitches in the row until the last two, I knit in the front and back loop of that second to last stitch, and knit the last stitch.   

Here is how it looks in knitting terms:

K1b/f  = knit one back and front in the same stitch (increase stitch)

k = knit

Cast on 3 stitches

Row 1, K1b/f, K1b/f, k. (you will now have 5 stitches)

Row 2, and every row until you have the desired length, K1b/f, knit until the last 2 stitches, K1b/f in the second to last stitch, k or knit last stitch. (each row is increased by 2 stitches)

Easy Peasy because the increases are the same in every row, and you are knitting every single row.  No purling for those of you who find it slow or cumbersome. 

It is fiddly the first row you knit but after that it all works out much easier.  It makes a nice, long triangle that really isn't to wide.  And sometimes you just can't beat the simplicity of garter stitch. 

I ended up using every single bit of the 312 yards of the gray yarn.  

The berry is also  Sirdar Snuggly, Baby Bamboo.  I used almost one full ball of this yarn for the border and used an H hook.  This border is adapted from the book, Around The Corner Crochet Borders, # 30.  It is an extended shell pattern, which is really quite easy to make.  I left off the picot border as I thought it would be a bit too much.  I simply made a single crochet border, slip stitching in the little V that separates the extended shells.   Does that make any sense at all?

So my finished scarf/shawl is pretty much something I made with no real pattern, well I did use that shell border as inspiration.  I love the contrasting yarn for the border, I think it makes the whole scarf just POP!  Oh and this is all stash yarn, more I bought last summer as that yarn store of mine went out of business.  I think I am doing pretty good with my stash busting this year.  I will be linking up with Linda for her Stash Buster Party.

Hope you like it too!