Dragon Scarf Pattern

 I had an unusual year this year, because we did quite a bit of cosmetic work on our house, which was built in 1989, and we had to move out briefly.  I kept on knitting, though, because I took portable things with me.  I stopping putting any new patterns up for sale.

After we got settled again, I had a good, hard look at my inventory of new but unpublished patterns.  Sometimes I design a new pattern, and decide that it isn't all that great, but I had accumulated a long list of unpublished patterns.  It wasn't just the remodel giving me a backlog - it was my coming up with new ideas instead of finishing the old ones!  I was also insecure about whether people would like my patterns.

So I decided to "respect my work" and get some of these patterns out.

This one I'm putting out today is the Dragon Scarf.  I originally did it in 2023 for my knit club, and used Shawl in a Ball to make several.  Then I made one with Caron Latte Cakes.  It got put away during the house situation.  This is a good time of year to put out a gifty pattern like this.  You can make it with just one Shawl in a Ball, or about 5 ounces of self-striping or scrappy yarns.  I converted it to mid-gauge and standard gauge, too.  I decided it would be digital with links to a complete step-by-step video and then put short videos on YouTube with related and alternate technique ideas.

I put up three videos today and I have three for next week.  

With the BIG video, that's six videos, but I couldn't resist sharing these optional and highlight techniques.

First - I-cord is the foundation cast-on for the whole long scarf!  Have you used it for casting on?  How about trimming an open-stitch edge?  It's easy and terrific.  I used it to death in my shawl book, because it's great on all kinds of shapes.  I used it on my ripple afghan to give it a little thicker, sturdier edge since the edges of afghans get a lot of handling.

Okay, next video for today.  What if you want to make the bulky (9 mm) scarf, but all you have is a standard (4.5 mm) garter bar?  Well, bulky garter bars are rare and expensive.  I use one a LOT for teaching, because it's so easy for everyone to see, but a friend of mine said she frequently uses her standard gauge garter bar to turn work on her bulky.  She's a wizard who does beautiful work, so I had to try it for myself, and yes, it works so well, I turned it into this video:

And then, what if you don't want to use a garter bar at all?  A friend told me recently that even after seeing me teach garter bar repeatedly she just doesn't like to use one.  Hmm, that gave me an idea.  While I wouldn't turn the work for garter stitch using waste yarn - it's easier to hand knit that - but for these dragon triangles, it isn't so many turns and it works just fine.  So, here's how to turn the dragon scarf using waste yarn instead of a garter bar.