Men Who Knit Promoting and inspiring the art of knitting amongst men.

well - a while back I joined the yahoo group for the Mystery Stole #2 from Melanie at PinkLemonTwist. (she also wrote the pattern for Leda's Dream that I finished recently - well, my version of it anyway)

As usual I used a different yarn and a different sized needle - so I truncated the pattern by about 150 rows or so. 8 foot long is really sufficient.

since I really can't call the result 'Scheherazade' since it it only BASED on 'Scheherazade', I'm calling it Aladdin's Carpet.

I used US #8 needles (5mm) and jaggerspun heather 2/8 yarn in 'burgandy'. will try for some pictures tonight or tomorrow. Got to get it blocked as it is a wedding gift for Saturday morning. (Not that I work under pressure or cut deadlines close!)

So I figured - that takes care of the bride, but sort of shortchanges the groom - and the result is that I've cast-on using some of the remainder of the cone of the yarn to do a quicky muffler/scarf. Went up to a 6.5 mm needle (US 10.5) and using an old standby pattern - one that I find maximizes square footage of fabric knit for the time spent. it's simplicity itself as well.Using a (multiple of 4) + 3 stitches, do a garter border of five or six rows then every row is:

Slip 1, k2, * YO, k2tog,k2; repeat from * across.

or you can do the slight variant that is what I realized I actually do - alternating

slip 1 purlwise, p2, ,*yo,k2tog,k2
with slip 1, p2, *YO, p2tog, p2

because what Ido is knit backwards every other row - yielding a stockinette ground rather then a garter ground.

But it does work up quickly - especially with large needles. But it also gives a warm, but open fabric. Nearly mindless knitting but with a look of being slightly complex.