Scarf it Up!

     I was digging through my stash recently when several pink-ish balls of yarn called out to me "I want to be a scarf!"  They insisted so loudly in fact I cast on immediately - 300 stitches finished off the first fragment, and my 'scarf the long way' had begun!  One week later and I am oh so pleased with the result that I've started a blue version :)

      Now I've suddenly become hooked on scarf-up-your-stash scarves! Here's a plan if you've got extra yarn in small quantities creeping out your closet that you can't think of anything to make with and don't want to donate.  Gather up several balls of pink-ish (or whatever color) leftovers, not worrying about size or gauge. Lay them out in the approximate order you want, deciding which colors look best next to each other. They don't need to match - in fact they probably shouldn't.  Get creative!

Scarf it up!
Needles: Size 8, circular, at least 24", or whatever you have on hand.
Yarn: However many random balls of whatever sized leftovers in generally one color. Any fiber, any gauge, pretty much anything! I do suggest throwing something really fun/furry in there.
Gauge: Don't bother! (knew you would like that)

CO 200-300 sts, depending on how long you'd like your scarf.  I did the pink one 300 sts and it was rather long. Dropped down to 219 sts on my blue one, I'll let you know how it turns out.  The best way to cast on this many stitches is with this trick: take two ends of your yarn and tie them both together in a slip knot. Now cast on using long-tail cast-on where both ends of the yarn form the ball and tail strands. On the next row, when you get back to your double-strand loop, just knit it as one stitch.

Knit in garter stitch.
When you get to the end of a ball of yarn, just grab the next one and keep going.




Fringe as you go:
When you get to the end of a row, leave a long tail/large loop, knit a couple of sts of the next row, then set the needles down, take out the scissors and cut the middle of the loop. Tie the two ends in a square knot, then pick up them needles and knit on!


Leave enough for a bind off:
Continue in this fashion until you are getting close to running out of yarn (but not too close!).
To determine how much I would need to bind off all 300 sts, I measured out a length of yarn, like from my hand to my elbow, then counted off several of those lengths.  Then I knit a row and watched to see how much I used up. If you don't want that fuss, I would estimate about 20 feet of yarn you'll need to bind off. It's best to leave some extra which you can always use to thicken up the fringe.