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Gift Making

A certain someone in my life has a birthday coming up at the end of November---Paul.  In the past I've knit him the following each outlined in this blog:  a stuffed dachshund, a pair of socks and a nightcap.   So the question was, what do I give him this year?

A few weeks ago a friend sent me information about a company she'd found named Camas Creek Yarns.  The company appears to specialize in securing the rights to incorporate U.S. college and university logos or mascots into knit patterns.  (For my Canadian readers you'll just have to trust me there is a real market out there to be able to make knitwear using the mascot and logo of your own college or university.  We U.S. citizens love our college football!)  A light went off in my head.  I know someone very loyal to his alma mater, The Ohio State University.  But having grown a bit older and wiser, instead of just ordering the stocking cap or toque pattern I thought it would be appropriate if I asked what HE wanted and Paul decided on the scarf instead.  An order was placed, the kit arrived and I am off to the races to meet or beat the birthday deadline.  Here's the version photographed by the company.  (BTW those squared off corners of the O are very important to the look of the logo.)


This scarf is simple to knit.  It is done in the round on circular needles using 66 stitches (this is roughly twice as many stitches as normally used to create a scarf.)  The end result is a cylinder with the stylized O on both sides one in red (crimson) and one in gray.  The fringe is a must because it is used to close off the ends of the cylinder.  This O scarf will be a very warm, arguably too warm for the temperate weather of the Lower Mainland, but perfect to watching college football in Ohio.

Here's what I have done so far.  You can almost see that there are 5 colour blocks complete.   There are 13 in total so I have a fair amount of knitting yet to complete the scarf.  You can almost see the rather large red cake of yarn in the upper left-hand corner of the photo.  This scarf uses a whole lot of yarn.

My O scarf, so far.
The simplicity of this knit has been used to stave off the frustration of knitting and then having to tink the shawl.  And I have a sense if I stay diligent this birthday gift will be ready on time, this year!

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