Sally’s Shifting Silk Scarf certainly seems simply stunning. (Try to say that tongue twister three times fast.) Karla Krueger’s straightforward design shows off these difficult-to-work Loom yarns to great effect.
Risoni. Speck. Fusilli 80. May we never meet again. Lordy. I did not like knitting with thread. There’s no other way to describe this stuff. Let me try again. Maybe I can capture it better. I did not like knitting with lumpy thread. The only yarn worse than Fusilli 80 was Risoni. Speck, the lightest orange in the bunch was better to work with. What made this doable for me were my ChiaoGoo lacepoint sharps and my conviction that a certain knitworthy friend of mine was going to like this a lot. (And she did.)
The Shifting Silk Scarf kit is the one you may have seen in shops stuffed into a clear plastic small container with a hole in the top to feed yarn through. The pattern is planted in the kit, through the hole, clipped to something that looks like what a florist stuffs into an arrangement to hold the gift card. I saved the container because that little gizmo may come in handy for wrestling with some future unruly yarn.
Here’s another view.
The scarf needed wet blocking. But, once blocked, it’s basically kept its edges uncurled. The pattern cautions to block the work dry and then wet it down because otherwise the threads may snap. Believe me I took that caution to heart. That was the nightmare scenario.
This was 490 yards of mindless knitting. Despite all my grumbling, I pronounce it a wonderful result.
I totally agree with your review — I have finished the first two and am going to be starting the 3rd — which will be a test of my patience!
@Betty…I had to have other projects to intersperse with this one. Good luck with yours. It will be beautiful!
I would like some advice on starting this scarf. The directions don’t indicate if the make one is to the right or the left and on the first row it is impossible! Any ideas as to how to increase before I go mad?
@Donna Long…oh lordy…it’s coming back to me now, as if in a…nightmare. I believe I tried to do the M1 right and M1 left pairing. But if it’s too hard at the very beginning, I think a little cheat for a few rows (knit in the front and the back) would be forgiven.
Did you ladies use size 5 needles as stated in the pattern. I have attempted to start this pattern 4 times, always ending up undoing it. Your comments didn’t provide me with the answer I was looking for. Namely, that I was the one that didn’t have the skill needed for this pattern. Tips would be greatly appreciated. TIA.
@Diane…Yes, I did use size 5 needles. I think even beginning knitters will have the skill to knit this thing. Patience is the problem. This REALLY tries one’s patience. The yarn is awful to work with. I strongly suggest getting lacepoint needles. If you don’t own any yet (or don’t have a size 5) maybe a local yarn shop would let you try out a pair, with this yarn, and see if it works for you. I have a set of Chiagoo lacepoints circulars (interchangeables). They worked. But any lacepoint should do. Addi makes them also. Anything other than basically knitting with a stiletto point isn’t going to work well. And, for me, slick metal needles is much better–not wood or plastic. If you are having trouble with the M1 right and the M1 left increase at each right-side edge, I think you could get away with just doing a knit-in-the-front-and back to increase. It won’t have as finished a look, but I don’t think anyone will really notice. I hope that’s helpful.
Thanks so much for the pointers. I’m going to find the right needles and try again.
This thread is a year old, but I had to comment and plead for help! I finally finished this scarf and am attempting to start the second one. On the 1st scarf, I did kfb on the first section rather than M1, then switched to M1. I thought that I had the hang of it so for the 2nd scarf I decided to REALLY make an effort with the cast on and M1…I’m so frustrated! For the life of me, I cannot find the horizontal bar for the M1 when beginning this scarf. I sure wish someone would make a video of just the first dozen rows 🙂 Any suggestions?! Thank you!
@ Mary Ann. I share your pain. Personally, I plan to never make one of these again. I really disliked the yarn. If you are starting with Fusilli, my guess is that the problem is the yarn. I would suggest casting on those first three stitches with the loosest cast on you know or can negotiate.If the cast on is loose enough, I think the horizontal bars will be apparent. Some of the cast-ons that put an extra bit of yarn in play–like the German twisted would be good. If that doesn’t work or sound appealing, maybe try casting on with a size larger needle. Also, I think that if you knit the first row it wouldn’t mess up the look of this. I don’t recall feeling like I had a problem with the make 1s, so I am really just speculating on what might be the problem.