Scarves and Lion's Brand Fisherman's Wool

The first thing you learn to knit or crochet is a scarf. There are a few reasons for this:

Flat things are easier.
"Square" things are easier...as opposed to things that involve working in rounds, such as hats.
Scarves are quick. Relatively speaking.

I love to make scarves. Sure, they're easy, but they are also a great way to try out new stitches. It's very easy to make scarves that are different with a simple tweak here and there. Take this scarf for example:

While the majority of the scarf is done in stockinette stitch (the simplest of knitting patterns), the edges are a bit of fun, with a purl 5, knit 5, purl 5 set of stripes that move one stitch with each row. The effect is a couple sets of stripes that just make the scarf a little more fun.

I totally dig details like this. Scarves (or other accessories or pieces of clothing) don't have to be crazily ornate to be beautiful.

And may I just scream the praises of Lion's Brand Fisherman Wool?

For those of you who don't work in the fiber arts, there are two basic types of yarn -- acrylic and wool. (In reality, there are hundreds of different fibers, but I would say that these are the two most common). Acrylic is cheap, so I often use it for crochet projects because crocheting in general uses up more yarn than knitting. But when I began to knit with some regularity not long ago, I started exploring the world of wool yarn. Paton's makes a decent yarn in some fun colors, but until recently, that was all the wool my Michael's store had....

Until November. I found a beautiful wool made by Lion's Brand, which, as previously mentioned, is called Fisherman's Wool. This evokes awesome memories for me, as I had this sweet fisherman sweater in high school that used to belong to my Dad. But this yarn...oh, the yarn.

Wool is usually a tricky thing. It can be scratchy, frankly. But the Fisherman Wool is "100% pure virgin wool", and it has all the natural wool oils in it, which make it just wonderfully soft. And the colors are all browns, whites, and ivories -- nothing dyed or fake. (Don't get me wrong, I love me a good chartreuse green or variegated striped yarn, but there is something soothing about muted tones.)

I discovered this wool when I was making a scarf for my father for Christmas, and I bought way more than I needed. So I've been created projects here and there from the remnants, like the scarf above, and another of my reusable coffee sleeves:

Love, love, love.