29 October 2013

How long shall I make this scarf?

Elizabeth Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
One question I was asked last week is how long a scarf should be, especially when the person is knitting it as a gift. Unfortunately, my answer was: "Well, it depends!" ...  Not very satisfactory, I agree.

So I am going to look at a few scarf patterns to see if I can offer some more suggestions, including the Elizabeth Scarf in the photo above, and my newly‐published pattern, the Beckenham Scarf, pictured below.

I tend to think of the Elizabeth Scarf as a ladies' scarf, and the Beckenham Scarf as one for the men‐folk, but of course this is rather a sweeping generalisation and both could be suitable for anyone on your gift‐list with the right yarn and colour choices.
Beckenham Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Both of these scarves feature reversible stitches which means that they will suit any style of wearing. If a scarf is made from a regular knit stitch, then it is harder for it to look good when casually draped around the neck or thrown over the shoulder. But a reversible scarf can be tucked in a dressy fashion inside an overcoat or allowed to wrap or drape at will, so will suit a variety of uses.

So, how do you choose what length to make your next scarf? Well, the best rule of thumb is that you should make a scarf approximately equal to the height of the person who will be wearing it. This will give a nicely proportioned scarf without being too short for a tall person or swamping a more diminutive figure.

However, you can modify this "rule" by thinking of how the person usually wears their scarves.

Scarf for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​The first category of scarf I think of as Senatorial or Executive. You see this style often at places such as Washington's Dulles airport on a Friday afternoon.

The scarf is neatly draped around the neckline and allowed to hang open with the scarf ends exactly aligned, then the blazer or overcoat is shrugged on over the top.

​If the temperatures start to drop, then one end of the scarf can be folded neatly over the other and the coat buttoned up.

For this style you will want a reasonably narrow scarf, say 15‐20cm/6‐8 ins wide, preferably worked in a soft and fine yarn such as a luxurious merino.

​For the ladies, continue until the scarf measures about 112‐120cm/44‐48 ins long. ​For a man's scarf, 120‐135cm/48‐54 ins would make a good draping length.


Scarf for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​The next style of scarf is for the Active Set.

​It is a bit longer than the previous version, so can either be flipped back over the shoulder or wrapped tightly around the neckline.

This is a popular style for walkers and cyclists. The wrapping gives extra warmth at the point where the wind usually finds a gap at the top of your coat, yet is not trailing to risk getting caught in the spokes of your wheel.

Knit these scarves with a width of 18‐22 cm/7‐9 ins using a cozy medium‐weight wool, and with a length of about 135cm/54 ins for a lady and 150cm/60 ins for a chap.

Scarf for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​That brings us to the Regular Scarf. We all have some of these don't we? They are perfect for most uses – just a good average width and not too long or too short.

If you can't decide what length of scarf to make, then go for this one. It will find a happy home somewhere!

Keep the width as for the last scarf but make the scarf about 165cm/66 ins long for the ladies on your gift list, and 185cm/72 ins for the men.


Elizabeth Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​​The next style is for the Artistic people you know. Adding an extra 15cm/6 ins to the length of the scarf gives extra scope for more innovative wrapping methods.

​One example of this would be the four-way wrap which you can see in the Elizabeth Scarf on the left, beautifully modelled by our daughter Anna!

So for the ladies, aim for 185cm/72 ins long for this style and for the men make it about 200cm/78 ins long.

Beckenham Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​​Or you can go wider. Knitting a 22‐ 25cm/9‐10 ins scarf will give a good wide result, but going further to 28‐ 35cm/11‐14 ins will give a cozy extra width for scrunching and folding into shape.

The chunky Beckenham Scarf shown here, for example, is 28cm/11 ins wide and 185cm/72 ins long.

Scarf for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Then there are the Fashionistas among us! And the trend this year is for super‐long wrapping styles and volume for both ladies and men.

Go for the same width as above but just keep knitting until it looks right for the seriously fashion‐conscious recipient. Just stop before Dr Who might consider wearing it!

For this type of volume‐wrapping continue knitting until the scarf measures about 200‐215cm/78‐84 ins in length.

(Oh, and in case you want to know, there were several Dr Who scarves, and the longest measured a cool 26ft! That's some serious knitting there...) 

I hope that gives you lots of scope to adapt both of these knitting patterns so that everyone on your gift‐list will get just the scarf they were hoping for.

For more details about the all my various scarf pattern for men then please click here, and for the ladies please click here.

​If you would like to explore some reversible stitches so you can design your own reversible scarf, then please read more details about our Reversible Knitting Stitches book here. There is also a gallery of sample pages to look through and the book is available for immediate download from the site.

Happy Knitting!

Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Mens Patterns, Patterns/Women’s Scarves & Wraps, Pattern Notes/Scarves,
Beckenham Scarf, Elizabeth Scarf, scarf, scarves, scarf length, scarf width, ladies scarf, mens scarf, knitting, reversible knitting, reversible stitch, reversible scarf, zR-231114

24 October 2013

Beckenham Scarf

Beckenham Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
One of the coldest apartments that I ever lived in was in an otherwise delightful town called Beckenham in Kent, down in the South-East corner of England. The flat seemed pleasantly cool in the summer when I moved in, but when winter arrived in full force then it was seriously  cold.

I rapidly learnt that good quality knitwear was essential to keep the winter chills at bay.  So, what better name for this new knitting pattern than the Beckenham Scarf!
Beckenham Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​The pattern features a strongly graphical design which is just perfect for a man's scarf.  The stitch pattern is called Seeded Chevron and has been taken from our book, Reversible Knitting Stitches. This is a wonderfully dynamic stitch and the scarf pattern includes three different versions to give a slim, medium or wide scarf.

The slim scarf has deep "V" pattern shapes which gives a modern, dynamic feel to this version. This could be emphasised by using bold colour choices. The medium scarf has a slightly wider chevron patterning while the Wide Scarf has a low-rise chevron design giving a pleasing, classic result.

All of these can be worked in either a soft worsted-weight merino wool or a super-warm chunky yarn, giving lots of different options.
Beckenham Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​All of the scarf options are completely reversible so it doesn’t matter which side shows as the breezes start to blow. To red more details about the Beckenham Scarf knitting pattern, please click here. It is available for immediate download from the site so you'll be able to start your knitting straight away!

I shall be back next time with a blogpost addressing the age-old question: How long shall I make this scarf?

Until then – Happy Knitting!

Moira

Keywords: Patterns/Mens Patterns
scarf, scarves, reversible scarf, reversible stitch, knitting stitch, Beckenham,



06 October 2013

Derwent Cove Cushions

Derwent Cove Cushions  by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
There's something magical about Southerly light. In Europe, you notice it as you leave Provence and head for the Mediterranean. Here in the Eastern USA you see it first as you drive into North Carolina.

The sky seems bluer... the colours brighter... There's just a certain clarity to the light.

You continue on your way through South Carolina and Georgia, and then you arrive in Florida and the transition is complete. Everyone is dressed in colourful shirts and tops, an intensely pink bougainvillea scrambles over a wall, bright green ferns nestle under swaying palm trees, and the ocean is an amazing turquoise colour.
Derwent Cove Cushions  by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
We visited a yarn store after a pleasurable afternoon strolling by the harbour in Venice, Florida. The gulf waters were a deep turquoise blue and we had been lucky enough to see the dolphins who frequent that area as they slowly made their way along near the shoreline.

And there were the colours we had been seeing, right there on the yarn store shelves – the same turquoise as the sea, the blue of the sky, the whites and royal blue colours of the yachts sailing out to sea.

Now we don't need to go down to the ocean to be reminded of those colours as they are right there in our sitting room, in these Derwent Cove CushionsThe bold diagonal stripe pattern captures the very essence of that perfect summer's day.

The pattern is knit in Garter Stitch taken from our Reversible Knitting Stitches book. This is an easy stitch to work so it won’t take you long to make a new set of cushions for your sitting room. The pattern features thick and thin stripes in four different colours, and each cushion looks slightly different depending on which colour starts the patterning. 

And of course you can also work these in other colours, too. Make some Spring cushions in a verdant mix of fern greens and young oak leaves, or capture the colours of Autumn with the orange and red colours of crisp fallen leaves.

So what colours do you see from your window? Whether you make just one cushion or a whole set, it will bring those wonderful shades right into your living room.

For more details about this new pattern please click here.

Until next time – Happy Knitting!

Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Cushions,
cushion, pillow, blue, turquoise, white, cotton, Garter Stitch,

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