I’ll try to get a good shot of this one. It’s in a charcoal-grey alpaca, a notoriously difficult color to photograph.

The stuff is sport weight. I mentioned before that I got it at a Maryland Sheep and Wool Show, circa ’95 or ’96. There was a big rainstorm that year, and many of the vendors in outdoor tents were soaked through and/or blown over. The Tess Designer Yarns booth was particularly hard hit. Sunday afternoon as the owner was packing there was still a large pile of sodden yarns laid out on a tarp that were being sold as-is. I bought this one-skein orphan, took it home and dried it out and wound it, and have been trying to figure out what to do with it ever since. There’s a ton of yardage on this 8 oz. ball. I’ve barely scratched the surface and could probably do another three or four scarves with what’s on there.

My gauge over my Kombu is K1, P1 rib is roughly 6spi , on US #4 needles. This gray scarf is about 6 inches wide, measured point to point. I’ve completed about three feet so far, averaging about eight inches per hour. Both the center pattern and lace edges are quick to memorize and knit. Alternate rows of the center are K1, P1 rib; alternate rows of the edgings are all knit. Because the scarf is based entirely on a combo of ribbing and garter stitch it lies absolutely flat, without curling.

I hate to brag, but I really like this pattern – even though it’s one of my own. It’s rare I go back and do another of anything I’ve finished. Even that Dreaded Second Sock can be agony, but this is the fourth Kombu I’ve done. Two were done in Little Lola (including the same photographed on the pattern website) at a slightly smaller gauge (befitting the slightly thinner yarn). The other was done on US #7s and a 4.5 spi in pink/turquoise/yellow/lime green Red Heart variegated, picked out by a (then) 4 year old. Both my eyes and fingers hurt doing that one, but the kidlet was delighted with the all too bright result after she decided that the yarn wasn’t so scratchy that she couldn’t wear it as an "outside the coat" type scarf.