On knitting to infinity

After all my blanket-making last year, I found myself unexpectedly with nothing on my needles shortly after Christmas.  A crafty friend had just cast on the 'My Favourite Things' scarf (free pattern available at ravelry.com but you need to sign up for an account first) and her first two stripes got me itching to start my own.  The pattern is completely custom, no two scarves will be the same.  There are some motif ideas on the pattern page and some links to other motifs from the website.  Otherwise, it's entirely up to you.

I'm using up my leftover Stylecraft DK in about 20 assorted colours on a 4mm circular needle so I cast on 96 stitches.  I initially used double-ended pins (because I couldn't find my circular needle - it was half-way through a baby hat that I started when I was pregnant with Anna), which is something I hadn't done for a while so I was getting used to knitting in the round at the same time as I learned how to do a provisional cast-on (the video that the pattern links to is excellent).  Oh and I've never really done two stranded colourwork before.  So that was new too.

And just in case that wasn't enough technique for one project, I finally learned how to knit in the continental style (i.e. yarn in your left hand).  I'm finding it much quicker and it was fairly straightforward to adapt to two-handed kniting (i.e. one colour in each hand).

I'm having fun choosing motifs for this scarf, including hearts, sheep and elephants.  I've added a few plain stripes to separate out all the different patterns, I just like the way that looks.  And that chevron-y stripe in blue and purple?  I made that up.  Just saying.