Dad's Scarf

I don’t normally show my knitting in progress to the intended recipient until it is all done, but I wasn’t sure my father would actually wear a scarf I knit for him, so I showed him the yarn before I even started and asked him a few questions. I then knit most of the scarf while we were on vacation together this summer in Hokkaido. The first time I ran out of yarn I confused the wife of our ryokan owner by asking her if there was a local yarn store. I figured that given all the delicious lamb we had been eating there should be wool available SOMEWHERE, but apparently not. I ended up having to drag dad to the nearest department store so he could help me pick out a simple contrasting yarn.

When I realized I was going to run out of yarn again, I put the project aside until I’d have enough time to go to the specialty store in western Tokyo to buy some more of the beautifully coloured brown yarn, and moved on to other projects. With the holidays approaching and the cold weather starting to hit my father’s corner of the world, I realized I’d have to get cracking on his scarf if I hoped to give it to him while I was in Canada for the holidays. Finish it I did, and in perfect timing to use my brand new blocking wires too! (While I didn’t really need blocking wires for this type of a bulky project I was THRILLED to use my Christmas present and loved loved LOVED just how easy it made the whole process!)

As for the scarf, it is a reversible cable pattern, and despite what a number of people have said about how intricate it looks, it was a mind-numbingly easy knit – 23 rows of simple 1 x 1 rib and then one row with a big and somewhat awkward cable, then 23 more rows of 1 x 1 rib… Simple and very easy to do on the move.





Dad seems happy with the finished project – he’s contemplating buying a new jacket to match and has already started muttering about wanting a toque too…