Deadline Knitter (with apologies to Calvin Trillin!)

So we are back from the wilds of New York State safe and sound, and my gift scarf was well received. So now I can tell you the story of my scarf!

To start, I have been using a Leisure Arts leaflet from 1990 called "Fashion Scarfs to Knit" to make this scarf. I use the pattern for the triangular scarf pictured on the front cover (the picture on the lower lefthand corner is a different pattern). When I bought this in the mid-1990s, I could not get any of the fashion yarns used in the patterns even at the very nice LYS where I purchased the leaflet. How times have changed since then! Over the years I have made many versions of this scarf, and here are a few I have kept for myself. (The top one, in green, is actually a Fiber Trends pattern with a crocheted border.)

So last Sunday and Monday, I started in on my gift scarf, and after 2 days of hard knitting, I had used up the two balls of yarn I had on hand, and I had this:

Apparently, this pattern requires 3 balls of yarn. Despite having used this pattern 6 or 8 times before, I somehow forgot that it took 3 skeins and I had decided that 2 skeins would be sufficient. (I almost always use Reynolds Odyssey. If I use something else, I seem to pay more attention to yardage requirements!) So Wednesday morning, despite having a 10 A.M. dentist appointment, I made my way up to the LYS in Southbury by about 9:10 in the morning on the off chance they would have another skein. Since I had bought this yarn over the Labor Day weekend, I was doubtful, but what else could I do? Luckily, there were still 18 skeins in the same dye lot available, so my project was saved! It took until Thursday evening, but here is the end result:

I am glad that I got it done and that my SIL liked her gift, but I have to say that deadline knitting (or crocheting) is a tad stressful. I'm glad I don't have to do that all the time. Now when is that November deadline for the hat, mitten, and scarf sets? What do you mean, it's less than 3 weeks away!? Ack!