Scarf. Jacket. Scarfjacket?

Way back when winter was approaching I did my usual scarf, hat and glove swap: that is, take the summer-weight items off the hanger on the back of the coat cupboard door and choose the winter-weight ones to replace them. At the same time I culled a few things.

A couple of knitted scarves were frogged, since I never wear them and the yarn is so nice I will enjoy weaving something instead. One scarf went into the refashion ‘pile’. I knit it during my 2005 trip to the UK, buying a ball of yarn at each location we stayed at and knitting until I bought the next. When we got home I repeated all the stripes to use up the yarn, and wound up with a very long scarf.

(I’m amazed I found a pic of it, since it was knit before I started this blog!)

Very long scarves were in fashion back then but eventually that went the way that all fashions do, which left me with a scarf that was really too long to be practical. It’s been sitting, rolled up, in my wardrobe for years.

I could have shortened it, but other ideas were percolating in my head. The first was to separate it into four pieces and sew them together to make a squarish tv-watching lap rug. Then I’d use it practically every night in the colder months. Trouble is, I have plenty of knee rugs already.

Then I had the idea of incorporating it into a long jacket, so I draped it over my dress form and began playing. My first design involved separating the scarf into two, draping the pieces over the shoulders and filling in the gaps between with narrow garter stitch strips. I could then machine knitting two stocking stitch sleeves. The Bond Sweater Machine only does stocking stitch so I started knitting the garter stitch strips by hand. I cast on 20 stitches and did 20 rows a night for three nights, which was about 30 minutes a night.

By then my hands were really hurting. They still are weeks later. There really is no going back from RSI – at least RSI as bad as I had/have it.

Accepting that I would never be able to knit the strips, I came up with another design. This one used half of the scarf as a collar, a quarter of it around the waist and the two eighths as cuffs. The rest would be done in stocking stitch on the Bond.

I found a free pattern to adapt and bought some yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills and, when it arrived, set up the Mega Bond and began making the back, which was in one piece. As I worked, I decided that I would make the whole garment, minus the collar, then when finished I’d separate the waist section and shorten the cuffs ready for the scarf inserts.

But as I worked I realised that the way the collar would sit would show the colour joins on the back side of the garter stitch. I could fold it in half along the length, but that would make it skinnier than the collar in the pattern and perhaps not meet in the middle.

But what if I used both halves of the scarf as a collar and doubled them up? I draped them both on the dress form and instantly loved the way the colours lined up. So instead of cutting the scarf up further, I just attached the two pieces:

I’m pretty happy with how my new jacket turned out. It’s casual and warm, and full of happy memories.

3 thoughts on “Scarf. Jacket. Scarfjacket?

  1. Wow, your original scarf was of Tom Baker Doctor Who proportions!! I love your scajacket. That was such. Clever idea and the scarf looks fabulous as the edging.

    • Thank you! It used to be mistaken for a Doctor Who scarf.

      I’m wearing it right now. Nice and waaaarm. 😀

  2. Love the jacket. Must get one of the Bonds out and reduce my stash before we are back in the heat again.

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