Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

In the pattern I wrote "jp" for "joined picot." This maneuver combines both the picot and the joined ssk, so please be sure to watch both of those videos first and work those techniques a few times so you feel familiar and confident.   This maneuver appears in only one row of the pattern. If you like, you can just work a regular joined ssk instead, but I noticed the missing picot in the selvedge. Basically, you'll set-up the two stitches to be joined, work most of the picot, then finish the join, then finish the picot. By the time you get to this row of the pattern you will have knit many picots and made many joins, so this really shouldn't give you a lot of trouble.

In the pattern I wrote "jssk" for "joined ssk." You'll need to rearrange some stitches so you can work a left-leaning decrease that will join the triangular and square sections of the scarf as you knit. The joined ssk is worked at the beginning of certain wrong-side rows. For those of you who are very clever and know how to combination knit, you can reverse-wrap the last stitch of the right-side row. When you turn, that stitch will already be turned and facing east, so all you will have to do is slip the other stitch over. This will save you a wee bit of time and effort.

In the pattern, I simply wrote "fh" for "fill hole." You'll make the holes on the right-side rows, then fill them in on the wrong-side rows. Notice that this technique could be used for different-sized holes. The ones in Bootkicked involve binding off five stitches. Whatever size you use, be sure to bind off an odd number of stitches on the make hole element because the fill hole element is (knit, yarn over) repeated as many times as you need, ending with knit. So the fill hole will always be an odd number of stitches.

In the pattern, I simply wrote "mh" for "make hole." There are other ways to make holes, but I particularly liked this version from Lucy Neatby. If you want to try this technique to make other sizes of holes, be aware you should bind off an odd number of stitches. It is easy to bind off any number you like, but when restoring the stitches on the following row, it will be easier if you are restoring an odd number rather than an even number. This is because you restore the stitches by working some variation of (k yo k) or (k yo k yo k) or (k yo k yo k yo k) into the large hole. While you could work (k yo) or (k yo k yo) or (k yo k yo k yo), I suspect ending with a knit stitch rather than a yarn over will be tidier.

Bootkicked is an intermediate level scarf. You'll be doing three or four things at once: shaping (triangles or squares) pattern (half-drop holes separated by three ridges of garter stitch) edging (picots) joining motifs as you go None of these things are difficult, per se. But all of them are probably a little more interesting than your usual knitting. So over the next few days I'll be posting five short videos to show you clearly the odd little steps to this strange little dance. First up: Picot Edging Be aware that in the pattern, I simply wrote "mp" for "make picot." There are a lot of different ways to make a picot, and you can do what I did or something you like better or you can just delete the picots entirely. Picots are made by casting on stitches and then binding them off immediately. In Bootkicked, you'll always be casting on and binding off three stitches, but you can do more or fewer to make your picots longer/larger or shorter/s...

Back in the autumn of 2008, I came up with a scarf pattern I named Bootkicked. It all started with a bad, bad skein of yarn. I am not the person who purchased the bad skein. No, that was Woofgang Pug. She fell in with a bad skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. Remember when we were all smitten by Noro Sock? The colors were lovely, and it knit up in the mysterious long gradual color changes we adore in Noro. Except this skein. Woofgang Pug started with a toe-up sock. The toe was green, then the foot was black. And there was an intriguing midnight blue that was supposed to be in there. Woofgang Pug kept knitting, but the yarn stopped changing. She was nearly to the heel turn, but still, the yarn was black. Where was the blue? You've probably guessed this was a "norotorious" skein. Yes, we all love the beautiful colors of Noro yarn. But we also hate the way Noro all too often has knots or joins with breaks in the colors. This was one of those bad skeins. This is also a...