ATTENTION: DIVERSION AHEAD

de·ba·cle

dāˈbäk(ə)l,dəˈbäk(ə)l/

noun

1. a sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco.

   "the economic debacle that became known as the Great Depression"
2. 
   

_____________________________________________________________________________

Last post, I discussed socks and how they really pulled me in to the knitting world. I mentioned sock vs. scarves. I began to really get off track while writing the post. The "aside" became so large, that I thought it might make a better story on its own. Errrr....incidental rant. Here we go.

So, about scarves. As Joan Rivers used to say, "Can we talk?"

Yes, scarves are simple and wonderful and I do soooo love to wear them. For experienced knitters, they make great mindless knitting like for sitting with friends or in front of a 5 hour binge-watching of BBC's Pride and Prejudice. They are a great idea for teaching beginners to work the basic stitches and they can sometimes help to work a difficult-to-learn stitch in repetition.

But can we please face it? Can we call it out? Let's hold hands and do it together:

SCARVES ARE HUGE AMOUNTS OF FABRIC! (If you want to actually wrap them) They have up to thousands of stitches, rows and rows of potential monotony.

Picture this:

You are working your first project. It's a scarf. Easy enough. A rectangle. You started out with such excitement!! The first knit and purl (or maybe only knit!) stitches were so exhilarating! Now, believing yourself to be nearly finished with your project, you have mastered those stitches. You hold up your monumental accomplishment. The piece looks really long. You say, "This must be like 3 feet! Whew! What a task! But it was worth it. I am almost there! I cannot wait to wear this and show it off! Hmm....what will I make next?" But when you whip out your tape measure, the piece measures only 10 or 11 inches long.

Realizing that you have so much more to go, and setting the project aside -- possibly forever -- and possibly with some force, you might then say something like, "I GET IT ALREADY! KNIT AND PURL THIS!!!" And you hope it was not out loud because you are with friends. In public, in a coffee shop. You sigh a little sigh of relief as you realize that no one noticed the whole debacle. Your friends are laughing at other things. You sit in mad frustration. You attempt a smile, looking around as if to say, "I just put my knitting down because I needed a little break." You try to casually reach for your coffee. It's cold. Crap.

Sometimes, isn't nice to finish a project? Especially as a beginner? To feel accomplished; that is a treat! And isn't that why God created cowls? Hats? Fingerless mitts without thumb gussets? Disclothes? Bookmarks? Amigurumi?

This is why I have only made one scarf. I did it as a beginner. On super-duper bulky yarn and US13 needles. Huge. Sort of fast. Had a cable, too, that improved the experience too.

Will I continue to make them? Of course! They definitely have a real and useful place in our knitting lives. I just don't want to make that many

;) Happy cozying,

Janelle