I knit them in lace, in 1-1 rib, and everything else in between.
Even if they are always the same - a longish piece of fabric to wrap around one's neck - they are always different: shorter, longer, narrower, wider, bulky, skinny, silky, wooly, scratchy, smooth, unicolor or rainbow. Every one tells a different story, every one made with dedication and love.
But making scarves is not just a simple rectangle of mindless knitting or crochet. There is a method. To look really good yet simple the scarf’s edges have to be neat and straight, the corners at right angle. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right. The slip stitch edging works great for knitting, with crochet you may need a few passes to figure out the best method. The cast on and cast off edges in knitting often stretch and widen - not very attractive. You can call it a design modification or you can try some tricks - smaller needles for the first five or ten (depending on gauge) rows or a tighter cast on and cast off methods.
In crochet my chain is usually too tight when I use the hook required for the gauge, so I use one a size or two up for the beginning chain. Sometimes I use foundation single crochet which is a lot more stretchy. This is very important for crochet scarves made longitudinally where the small amount of tightness multiplied by the length of the scarf results in a big smiley instead of a rectangle.
Once you have the edges figured out and the cast on edge at the right tension, making a scarf is simple and easy. It can be done a few rows or stitches at time or completed at one sitting. Scarves are portable. They can be done mindlessly, although the repetitive stitches of the simplest scarves actually allow you to experience the moment much more fully and as such can be used for meditation.
There is nothing more elegant than an unembellished scarf with even edges and rows and rows of even stitches. It is the essence of knitting, a sample of one’s abilities and a showcase for the intricacies of a pattern or the beauty of a new yarn.
Then there is the triangular kerchief:
And the fabulous curvy or modular crochet scarves:
And I have not even mentioned the imaginative architectural scarves of Lynne Barr!
It took forever. Almost five feet of 55 stitches across (diagonally) in garter stitch on 3mm needles - enough to make you suicidal. But: no thinking required, just pure brute force of perseverence, so I persevered. And I noticed something else entirely - I could not stop before I finished the whole skein. Just could not. Halfway through I decided that I will give it to my friend Jacek, so it could have been a lot shorter (guys prefer shorter scarves), but no!, the Noro effect would just not let me stop. I had to see what color will come up next, how the plys will mix and match, how the colors will bring each other out as different combinations come together on the diagonals. It was surreal, I was in its clutches and could not free myself. And now I cannot wait to start another project with a Noro yarn. [It will either be a Evelyn Clark's swallowtail lace shawl in Noro Silk Sock in rainbow or Erica Knight's ribbed shrug in Silk Garden Chunky in red-orange-limey green.] And I love coming across the thicker and the thinner sections, the fluffy parts almost not fitting in the previous row's stitches. Nothing boring about Noro.
