Princess Scarf - About It & Tutorial

My submission for Challenge No. 6: Knitting for Little Girls ... a Princess Scarf. I am calling this a "Princess Scarf" because it's Cinderella's trademark colors, it has beads knit throughout for some pizzazz, and there are knitted pom poms on the ends! (And, the recipient may be a little princess herself.).

Now if you like it too, then vote for it! :-)

This is my first knitted project in a while (there are a couple of UFOs sitting around here begging to be finished) and it was cool to knit again.

About It. The finished measurements are 31" (excluding the pom poms) x 2.5". The yarn is supersoft: Tajmahal Superfine Merino  (70% merino superfine, 22% silk & 8% cashmere ... nice!). For the knitters out there ... made with size 7 Addi turbo needles and I strung the beads onto the yarn. The pom poms were a fun addition and easy to do because you can just tie them onto both ends of the scarf at the very end (as opposed to knitting them on at the beginning and ends). Pom poms are knit flat, edge seamed and stuffed with polyfil. Oh and there are about 400 beads in here. Whew.

Here's a close up of the beads:

You can see them sparkling here:

I think she rocks this scarf!

Fun for watching all the airplanes go by ....

When we go to Polar Express in December, I hope this keeps a special princess warm & snuggly!
The Pattern.

Materials:

• skein of Tajmahal Superfine Merino (or other sport weight yarn)
• size 7 needles
• a crochet hook (you never know when you'll drop a stitch)
• beads (about 400)
• polyfil
• tapestry needle

Directions (this is SO very similar to making simple dishcloths).

• Thread as many beads as you can stand onto the yarn. My yarn broke a couple of times and I had to re-thread the beads; so you may want to plan and do them in batches. Also, it would be really annoying to have to push the beads back down the entire down. (See below for tip for threading small beads onto yarn).
• CO 23 (don't use beads yet).
• Row 1: k2, yo, k to last 5, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1 (still, nothing with the beads).
• Row 2: knit. This is where the beads come into play. I used 3-5 beads on each "row 2") and I hardly ever knit a bead into the first 5 or last 5 stitiches of this row - to keep the yarn overs neat looking. So, as you are knitting Row 2, knit 3-5 beads into the row. (Pictures below).
• Repeat Row 1 and 2 combination to desired length.
• Knit another row.
• Bind off.
• Make 6 pom poms. I used the "Queen's Balls" pattern from Nicky Epstein's Knitting Over the Edge book (awesome book!).
• CO 8 leaving a long tail
• Row 1: kfb every stitch (16 stiches)
• Row 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: purl
• Row 3, 5, 7, 9: knit
• Row 11: k2tog (8 st)
• Run needle through the remaining 8 stitches and gather, but do not tie off yet (you'll use this opening to stuff the polyfil in and tie up later)
• Using the cast on tail, thread needle and go through the cast on stitches; gather them and continue to use this yarn to...
• edge seam
• once at the top stuff with polyfil
• pull both "tails" tight and knot them together (don't cut yet).
• Attach pom poms to scarf: using the 2 tails, tie them onto the scarf & knot it up.
• That's it ... you're done! Enjoy your princess scarf! :-)

And here are some helpful pictures about knitting with beads:

so sorry this pic is blurry ... but in the middle of your knit stitch (see how my needle is already "in there") slide the beads RIGHT UP to the needle and knit as usual; the stitch will tuck it right in place

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this is how it looks once you knit the bead it ... it'll sit RIGHT THERE where you knit it.



you can see the remaining beads on the yarn, just waiting to be knit in...

TIP: When you knit with beads, you'll soon learn that the diameter of the beads is not identical and some are too small to fit over your needle. When that happens, use some sewing thread WITH A SMALLER NEEDLE and tie into a loop and then put your yarn through that loop and tuck it down.  See the picture above. The beads will fit over the smaller needle and slide down to the yarn; once they are on there, just pull the yarn out and you're good to go.

Have fun!