Starting the Teardrop Scarf

I cast on this weekend for the Knitscene teardrop scarf, which my husband refers to as a "spider web scarf" because of its lacy pointed ends. I didn't do a gauge swatch because finished size wasn't all that important for me. The pattern seems pretty straighforward, but I made a couple of mistakes early on before I caught the rhythm of the yarnovers. I've decided to treat my first efforts as a combined trial run/gauge swatch. Here are my observations:

The design, which is knit sideways, is very well thought out.

• For one thing, it's garter stitch. No purling involved.
  
• For another, all yarnovers are worked at the beginning of the row so you don't have to worry about where to start the pattern on the far end of the scarf.
  
• Beads are attached as you go, by using a bit of thin flexible wire to hook an existing stitch into the bead hole. This certainly beats stringing them in advance and pushing a hundred beads, more or less, along several hundred yards of yarn as you work.
  
• The pattern won't suffer from accidently casting on a stitch more or less than called for. Since all the fancywork happens at the beginning of a row, you can easily adapt the total length however you want by adding or subtracting stitches. Ideally you'll cast on an even number, but if you cast on an odd number, you can correct for this on the first all-yarnover row by substituing a simple k1 for one of the k2tog's. In fact, by switching yarns and needles, and by changing the total number of rows or stitches, you could easily miniaturize this pattern into a doll stole with lace-weight yarn, or enlarge it into a stole for yourself with a worsted-weight mohair and large needles.

On the down side, each row begins with a yarnover. If you don't form the yarnover correctly, it will combine with the next stitch you knit, messing up both your lace pattern and your stitch count. Be very careful that the beginning yarnover is a distinct, separate stitch! This has the potential to cause a lot of grief to a knitter who isn't being careful.

I did a long-tail cast-on with needles a size larger than I used for knitting. The cast-on still seemed too tight, so next time around I'll go up two sizes for that part.

By the way, my copy of The Principles of Knitting is now on eBay, with an opening bid of $170 (no reserve). If you've been wanting this book but were put off by the super-high ending bids it used to bring, here's your chance to own it for under $200.