The Mindless Scrap Scarf

The idea for this scarf came about in the fall of 2016. I thought it would be a great project for taking with me in situations where I would be waiting (doctor's offices, car repair shop, dentist). I would tie together bits of scrap yarn, threading some big metal beads I had onto the yarn as I went. Then I would just cast on a scarf about 8" wide and knit until the ball of yarn was used up.

I ended up with a ball of yarn weighing about 7.5 ounces. It was mostly worsted weight yarn, although a little bit of Baby Clouds snuck in there, and on several occasions, I doubled up sport weight yarn. I cast 28 stitches onto size 10-1/2 needles and started knitting.

I got bored rather quickly. And I got orders. Lots and lots of orders. The ball of yarn and few inches of knitting that I had completed got put into a "project bag" and stashed away (probably when I was puppy-proofing the house for Christmas company).

Then came the wind storms of January 10. I came home from work, chilled from being out in the wind for just a few minutes, and put on a pot of decaf coffee, then went to change into my comfy "home clothes" (sweat pants and a threadbare old sweater). As I was changing my clothes, the light in the closet went out. Hmm... light bulb must have burned out. Oh, wait... the light in the bedroom is out, too. And I had turned the TV on, but it's not on. Power outage!

Coffee had finished brewing, so I settled into the semi-darkness with my cup of coffee and tried to figure out what I could do by candlelight. Counting rows and trying to read a pattern would be difficult. Then I remembered the scrap scarf. Perfect! I pulled out the project bag and got to work. Since it was just garter stitch, knitting each row, I could multi-task while working on it. I pulled up a book on my tablet's Kindle app and read as I knit. So I guess you could say I was knitting by Kindle light!

After one evening of knitting, ball was down to 3.5 ounces

Power was out until 7 PM, so I got in several hours of knitting. The ball was getting smaller, and I was getting excited about actually finishing up a project, so I kept knitting until bedtime.

The next morning, power went out again, so I got to work on the scarf more. Then I finished it that evening. I deliberately left all the yarn ends hanging out. It's just a funky, colorful, Bohemian look. Not for everybody, but I certainly had fun with it, and it's very warm and cozy to wear! It ended up about 5 feet long, so wearing it as an infinity scarf, I wrap it twice around my neck.

Step 1:
Wind a ball of scrap yarn, threading beads on as you go. I started and ended with black yarn, so that the seam of sewing the ends together wouldn't be as obvious.
My ball ended up at 7.5 ounces, with 12 beads (wish I would have added more).

Step 2:
Cast on 28 stitches on size 10.5 needles

Step 3:
Knit each row until you run out of yarn.

Step 4:
Sew ends together.