Showing my newb/inspired by last post.

[jackandahat]

I liked this pattern so I turned it into a scarf (picture pre-blocking, it's still drying).

Now, I want to do one in the round so I can have both sides of the scarf looking the same. But I have two questions:

1. What do you do with the ends of a scarf knit in the round? (I've never done one before). Leave them open? Sew them shut? Do a provisional cast on and graft them like sock toes so they're all neat? (Both a general: "What should I do?" and "What do you do?")

2. When making it round - would I just repeat the pattern, side by side, or would it help to add a stitch either side so it will lie flat? (I was thinking a one or two-stitch-wide stockingette strip to be the "fold", if that makes sense?) Of course, I don't know what I'm doing here - never knitted a scarf in the round, just socks and hats and such - so I could be talking out my ear here.

Comments

[princess]

I close with fringe, or do a three-needle bind-off on the one end, and sew shut on the other end.

[jackandahat]

I've never tried three-needle bind-off, now could be a good time to learn (I looked up a video on KnittingHelp). Thank you.

[aunty_marion]

It's reasonably easy - I take it slowly so as not to drop stitches by accident - and it looks quite nice. It makes a ridge on the 'right' side (i.e. the side you're working on), but for the end of a scarf that's fine.

[hugh_mannity]

You could do a provisional cast on then close both ends with a 3-needle bind-off :)

[pinesandmaples]

Blocking a lace pattern knit in the round like that is a real pain in the butt. To get the lace to open up well, you're going to have to jump through some hoops and (probably) annoy yourself a few times.

What do you do with the ends of a scarf knit in the round?

Quite literally, whatever the heck you want. Some people believe in the way of the fringe. Some people are fond of a clean edge. Some people don't care and want to wear their scarf now then never get around to sewing it closed. I do not knit scarves so I do not have to worry about finishing them.

[jackandahat]

I'm actually not likely to block it that much - I'm not as keen with how it turned out when I blocked the first one (I suspect I overdid it a bit) - I liked it better when it was textured rather than flat. But that's good to know in advance, thank you.

[aunty_marion]

Any of your 'ends' alternatives are fine, though personally I wouldn't be inclined to leave them open. You could do something like Judy's Magic Cast-on for the start, and then graft the end, or the provisional cast-on/graft. Or sew together and/or fringe.

I'd be inclined to do *reverse* stockinette between the two pattern panels - i.e. purl when you're working in the round - as it tends to fold 'inwards' making a ridge, rather than knit which will try and make a 'ditch'. You might want to try it and see if you want the edging strips to be garter stitch (knit one round, purl one round), moss-stitch, or whatever. (So you'd be working, say, purl two, moss-stitch/whatever four, pattern across, moss-stitch/whatever four, purl two, repeat.)

[jackandahat]

Ah-ha! Thank you, that sounds like what I was thinking - I just wasn't sure if it would actually *work*, and I didn't want to get a foot in then realise it was impossible.

[aunty_marion]

Stocking stitch on its own will fold OK (think socks?), but when you've got all that pattern, you might need to 'force' a fold, which is why the purl might work a bit better. I'd advise trying a bit though, before you decide.

On the matter of 'counting' (as in other comments) - just use a ring-type stitch marker at the beginning and end of the 'pattern' sections, then you know when you reach that you move from moss-stitch/purl two (or whatever you've decided on) to pattern and then back again. Will you be using four dpns or magic loop?

[jackandahat]

Needles - neither, I have a 40cm circular. I've given up using DPNs for now because they wre aggravating my thumb, I've found this so much easier. I've checked, it'll fit.

[glace]

My first scarf-in-the-round was the Harry Potter Azkaban scarf (pattern archived here). It looks like your SH2 scarf is pretty much the same thing, just narrower and with color changes in different places, so you could use this as a jumping off point. As for whether to make a "seam" or not so it folds well - I'm sure that will work if you're careful with the counting, but I think it would be very annoying to have to. My PoA scarf has a 'natural' fold that works fine - and half the fun of knitting in the round like this is NOT having to count so much - you just zoom to the end of the round. :)

[jackandahat]

SH2? Colour changes? *Is confused*

I'm having to count constantly for the pattern, so I'm not really sure where zooming comes into it.

[glace]

Whoops, I think I replied to the wrong person. I had two tabs open that day, and one was making a striped scarf from Sherlock Holmes 2. Sorry to have confused the issue!

[hobbitbabe]

I've never done a scarf in the round but the other knitter in my family has done several. (She can make an intarsia colour pattern for a sports-team logo and not worry about the messy back.)

One purl stitch on each side helps them to lie flat, although interestingly they don't choose to fold exactly on the purl.

She just sews up the ends, but you could also graft if you like grafting.

[jackandahat]

Grafting isn't really up there on my "ways to spend a Saturday night" list, but I think it looks nice - and trying to sew up knitting drives me nuts, so it's definitely a possibility. Thanks for the info.

[ironed_orchid]

Pretty.

Sometimes I like tassles, sometimes I like adding a scalloped edge.

And sometimes I read the actual question, but still, it usually would depend on the sort of scarf. For something lace, I might add some scalloped edges and leave it open.

[jackandahat]

I am having fun with the design - I'd never tried to follow a pattern like that before (shaped stuff, yeah, but not making a pattern out of it, if that makes sense?) so I decided 3am was the perfect time to cast on and learn, and it came out OK!

[ironed_orchid]

I've had knitting moments like that.

Scarves are great cos you can just pick a stitch you like and go for it.

[aquaeri]

I'd have maybe one knit stitch on each side of the lace panel, and then as others have suggested, a single purl between the two sides, which should help it lay flat in the right place.

As for the ends, I'd probably cast on all the stitches in one line, and for the first rows, knit only every second stitch, so the starting end is already grafted together. At the finish, graft and/or knit together in the same way, picking up one stitch from each side at a time to close the tube (I think this is like a three-needle bind off).