Another peek into Santa's knitting factory. Mom, you'll have to sit this one out again!

again, if you're NOT mom, click on the present for a peek

The elves here are dying to tell you about the fabulous cashmere they've been using to make a scarf for mom. Mom picked out the yarn at Habu a while back, but the yarn gave no gauge suggestions, and the pattern was left open. The elves started out with moss stitch on US7's, but that proved to be too textural and prevented the softness of the cashmere from coming out. Stockinette on US8's was much yummier to the touch, but curled way too much for a scarf. At knitting group, the elves spotted the awesome scarf that Colleen was wearing. It was simple garter stitch, but it had flattened out so nicely that it looked more like the extended garter stitch at the top of the Klaralund sleeves. Very pretty. So, the elves decided to go up one more needle size and use the extended garter stitch for the scarf. And now it's perfect. The single garter stitch row repeated every four rows provides just enough of a horizontal line to keep the scarf from completely curling up, and it also leaves just enough stockinette that the feel of the cashmere isn't lost. If only you could touch it.

And that's not the only cashmere the elves are working on in the present factory.

more cashmere socks!

The elves will definitely be asking Santa for more cashmere this Christmas.