Scarves Galore!

This winter, it became clear to me that I have failed my husband. He did not own a single solitary scarf! How can the husband of a knitter not have a scarf? Well, it took me a couple months to complete it, but he is now the proud owner of a hand knit scarf.
I followed the This Way Up pattern found on Ravelry. It was a really nice pattern with the perfect amount of interesting changes. Scarves can get awfully boring after awhile! I also took this as my first opportunity to try out blocking. Blocking is basically getting a garment wet and then shaping and stretching it to your desired shape and size. It makes things look really pretty and finished, and can give length when you stop short on a scarf, which I am prone to do! This scarf was definitely not too short, but the edges were curling in on themselves, so I thought I'd give it a shot! I used my iron on steam setting, and I think next time I do it, I will use more pins and more steam, but it worked pretty well.

All laid out for drying after being steamed and set into place.

See the pretty chevron pattern?

Damn having such a tall husband!

In the middle of the scarf, it switches directions so that both sides point up. This was the hardest part of the pattern, but eventually I figured it out!

But the scarf excitement doesn't end there! Last week, the Seattle Sounders FC did a campaign around the city, putting up scarves in several neighborhoods for people to take and show their pride with! They canvassed Phinney Ridge, and Kevin went out to see if he could get any for us. Most of them were way out of reach, on the tops of light poles and such, that one would need a ladder to get down, but he did find on in the community center's garden. That one may have been dropped unintentionally, but he took it and was very excited to have his own. That afternoon, my friend Danielle and I were heading out for a walk around Green Lake, and tried to get the few left that we saw down, but they were too high up for a couple of shorties.

Then later this week, I came into work, and sitting on my desk was a present from Danielle! She had found one of the scarves outside of work the night before, and nabbed it for me! What an awesome friend!!! I was so thrilled (especially because I really didn't want to have to knit one for myself after spending so much time on Kevin's scarf!)

Well, the excitement continued yesterday. When Kevin was biking through Fremont to go to school, the Sounders had struck again! He said there was somewhere around 40 scarves hung up in various areas of Fremont, and he had come prepared with his pocketknife to cut some down! They were all ziptied to posts and whatnot. So he cut one down, and then waited a little while, then cut another down and waited awhile. He didn't want to look greedy, but he needed 4 more scarves to deck out the family for our first match next week! So all told, we now have 6 scarves: me, Kevin, Adam, Erin, Neal, and Susan! No mini ones for Corbchops, but maybe an auntie will have to remedy that! Are scarves safe for 9 month olds? Perhaps some wristbands or a hat? :)

Look ma, it's reversible!

Apparently, Kevin has a scarf pose!

So we are looking forward to the first match on Thursday, should be a very exciting event! Everyone root for the Sounders! WOOOOHOOOO! Oh, we also got our tix for opening day for the Mariners, so let baseball AND soccer season begin!