Ta-Da!

The soccer-scarf-that-wouldn't-end is finally finished! And here it is--in three parts since it's too long to fit in one photo. (The "Ridge" part is actually the same size as the rest; I don't know why it looks so much wider in the photo.)

I did it from my own design on the knitting graph paper you can download right from the Internet customized to your own gauge. Very cool. And yes, Barbara, it is intarsia. I had to look up the term. Of course, I thought I was just changing colors of yarn in my own bumbling way. If I'd known I was doing intarsia I would have been far too intimidated to even attempt the scarf. The very sound of the word gives me willies of incompetence.

I made mistakes, of course, one of which was doing the scarf all in stockinette stitch. That lovely garter stitch border you see was a valiant attempt to kill the edge curl. It seems to have worked fairly well. At least, I can get it to lie straight on a flat surface. However, if you pick it up, the curl comes back.

You may wonder what the odd symbol in place of the "i" in "Ridge" is. That, my friends, is a gas lamp, the symbol of our small town. We have more working gas lamps than any other place in the U.S. We buy them from other municipalities when they decide to remove them. Why would a town get rid of their gas lamps? Possibly because they shed virtually no light whatsoever. We in Glen Ridge feel their charm makes up for their lack of illumination but other folks evidently want to be able to see where they're walking at night. Strange people!

My son does not intend to wear this scarf--that would be embarassing. Instead it will decorate his already soccer-intensive room (curtains, rug, wallpaper border and bedskirt all bear soccer balls). However, he seems quite happy with it, even though--and this is hugely embarassing to him--Mom made it with love.