Thank You Gift

My Mom had visited Taiwan a few years ago and had gone a bit overboard on getting me some yarn.  To top it off, while she was visiting with old friends, she told them that I was knitting now; in turn, her friend's wife said she tried knitting but it didn't capture her so, she "gifted" me with her entire stash!

So, as a thank you gift for her entire stash, I'm making her a scarf.  I hope she enjoys it this fall when she and her family is traveling in the States with my parents.  I'm using my Sierra Pacific Paragon yarn (no, it's not the yarn she gifted me; I'm still pondering what to do with all her yarn!) and Chiaogoo Twist US 13 needles for this project.   After many attempts at various widths and stitch patterns, here's what I finally figured out: I casted on 24 stitches, did a 2 row garter stitch while the majority of the scarf was done in stockinette stitch to show off the yarn (and ending with a 2 row garter stitch). This seemed to be the best width and stitch pattern for this variable width yarn.  I used the entire three (3) skeins I had and it came out to: 20 cm (8 in) wide and 156 cm (5 ft 2.5 in) long (pre-washed).  Here's how it looks:

Then, I machined washed it (so I know it'd be easy for her to take care of it).  It didn't shrink much after washing and blocking (although it did seems to grow a bit longer :P).  Here's its final dimensions: 19 cm (7.5 in) wide & 186.5 cm (7 ft 2.5 in) long.  Here's how it looks like after being washed and blocked:

Amazing ... I cranked this baby out in 3 days! :D  Chunky yarn and B-I-G needles are great!  They really do churn out projects like nothing! ;P

Ok ... Now back to the original project I was working on (more socks for Hubby).  Hopefully, a post on that will be coming out soon! :)