The Coveted Noro Scarf

As promised, after briefly being sidetracked by the election I'm back with some real knitting content and it's good.

I finished the Coveted Noro Scarf last friday and hubbo immediately picked it up and threw it around his neck - just to see how it looked. It's not his and he knows it but that hasn't stopped him from casting longing looks and wistful glances each and every time I pulled it out to work on it. You think I'm joking? Think again.

It's understandable that hubbo would love the scarf. What's not to love? The pattern was easy to remember which made this the perfect pattern to take with me everywhere. I knit on it while watching TV and commuting to work. In a busy schedule like mine you grab a minute or 2 to knit anywhere you can so patterns that are easy to follow and don't require an hour of figuring to pick up where you left off are priceless.

Some people would be put off by entrelac and all of the picking up. Normally I would too but this is just 8 stitches at a time. Easy Peasy! I could totally make another one of these and that brings us back to hubbo because the only way he'll keep his hands off of this one is if I make one for him. Seriously. He has never, ever had this reaction to anything I made before.

So this weekend when I go to Stitches East a few balls of Noro will be on my list. I have never worked with it before this project but now that I have I get it. I'm not usually into such rustic yarn but the colors in the Noro are fabulous. This yarn is art. As I worked on the scarf I kept choosing new squares as favorites. Sometimes it was the rusty one with the green flecks, at others it was the bright pink or maybe the blue. What surprised me most was how much I loved the multicolored squares that should've been muddy with so many colors in them but, instead, were beautiful.

The success of this scarf also owes quite a lot to Ravelry. That's where I found the perfect pattern for the 3 balls of Noro that had been marinating in my stash for at least 3 (4?) years. That's also where I went when I realized that the pattern needed 4 balls. Ooops! After such a long time I had no hope of getting another ball in the right dye lot from my LYS so I trolled through Ravelry and found someone with one perfect ball. Amazingly, SinCitykitty said that she'd got it for free from someone on Ravelry and sent it on to me for the same price. How awesome is that?!

This has been a great project for me and I hope that all the good vibes knit into this scarf will stay with it when I gift it to an unnamed friend/family member at the holidays this year. I also hope they have the good sense to keep it away from my husband because he just can't keep his hands off it.