Dr Who Scarf

[jan_andrea]

Okay, the universe wants me to make David a Dr. Who scarf.

I was reading my Google Reader feeds and clicked on a pattern for a neat looking scarf. While I was checking it out, David glanced over and said, "Oh! Could you make me a Dr. Who scarf?"

So I googled it and found www.doctorwhoscarf.com (who knew?) and spent about 10 minutes checking it out before going back to Google Reader. Read a few more articles, scrolled down... and there was this.

So, clearly, I am meant to make this scarf.

However, I'm not sure quite how. I mean, I have the directions (he wants the season 15 version), but I'm not sure about the yarn. Wool makes me itch, and him, too, so I'm stuck with non-woollen yarns. The directions call for a sport or DK weight yarn, and I would prefer to use something that feels nicer than the cheapo "pound of yarn" crap (I hate that stuff). OTOH, it's a *crapload* of yarn, and I don't want to pay more than, oh, say, $50 for the yarn. I can't tell exactly from the pattern, but it looks like I need between 200 and 400 yards each of 7 colors.  Of course, the pattern calls for it to be between 10-12" wide, and David wants something about half that width (and maybe shorter, once he sees how very long it is), so I guess I don't need quite as much.

Knitters, do you have recommendations for nice-feeling but not bank-breaking yarns? I like working with soft but not too stretchy yarns; have had success with a lovely chenille I got at my LYS, but it was years ago and I don't remember what it was called.

Comments

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

Are you *sure* it's wool in general that makes you itch and not just coarse wool? There is a ton of variety out there in terms of wool and there are definite differences between them--I would have said that wool made me itch before I started knitting and learned more about the fiber and the different breeds of sheep.

That said, Knitpicks.com has a decent line of cotton blend yarns that may be suitable--I'm thinking specifically of Shine Sport which is $2.50 for 110 yards so, if they have the colors you want, you could get enough for around your target price. If they do not, they do have a cream yarn that you could over-dye with fiber reactive dyes to be the right colors--heck, you might even want to check Etsy for folks who do custom dye jobs and see what they charge if you don't want to faff about with that yourself.

Too Lazy To HTML Code

[artemis-rich.livejournal.com]

Caron Simply Soft is cheap and actually quite lovely considering it's a generic acrylic yarn. I've knitted some costume shawls from this that need to be hard wearing and machine washable and I find this yarn fits the bill perfectly. Not to mention the fact that the yarn is quite soft. (This is coming from a yarn snob, BTW). http://www.caron.com/color_cards/cc_simplysoft.html

It's a worsted weight yarn, but that shouldn't be too much trouble to convert. Just go up a needle size or two and change the number of stitches per row accordingly. I can help you figure this out, if you like.

The biggest challenge for you will be finding the right colors.

Another good resource is Webs (http://www.yarn.com/). There is a lovely DK weight cotton/microfiber blend called Longmeadow by Valley Yarns (http://www.yarn.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/categoryID/E2AB2957-FA64-4734-9962-53AA2A644DBD/productID/43B108F7-7006-40C8-8E49-5004F4435543/) that has a good color selection.

You can also try Knitpicks. http://www.knitpicks.com/KnittingA.aspx

Also Yarndex can help you search by weight and fiber and may give you some good ideas. http://www.yarndex.com/

[bafleyanne.livejournal.com]

I like the Naturally Caron "Country" yarn. It is very soft. It's 75% microfiber acrylic and 25% wool, I am sensitive to wool and it doesn't make me itch at all. On the down side though, the color choices are somewhat limited for it. naturallycaron.com if you want to check it out.

[rudbekia.livejournal.com]

Stay away from chenille, it will only break your heart. Soft, yes, but not hand-knitting friendly. Others have already suggested what I would have, as far as yarns types to seek out.

http://community.livejournal.com/crafty_tardis/tag/the+scarf is just the place for this question.