Mom's Piano Scarf

Let me start by saying that this silly scarf is the epitome of what blood sweat and tears means to my knitting career. It was by FAR the most difficult and frustrating project I've ever worked on, but also the most satisfying to offer as a gift. Especially to my mom, who knows the meaning of homemade projects and appreciates them more than anyone I know.

My mom is a piano teacher and fellow craft enthusiast, so once I had started knitting, I had this picture in my mind of knitting a scarf that looked like a piano keyboard. I had no idea what kind of undertaking this could turn into when trying to find a pattern that was JUST what I wanted (since obviously I stubbornly passed on several easier versions as I already knew exactly what I wanted it to look like). My knitting teacher and guru, Lisa, helped me put together a double-knit pattern from a simple piano chart that I found online here.

I honestly couldn't even tell you how she helped me cast that bad boy on, but using a ball of white and black each in Cascade 220 yarn, I (Lisa) cast on 39 stitches of EACH yarn in alternating colors. I placed a stitch marker where the black keys would end, so I knew (and didn't have to count each row) where to change colors mid-row on some of the rows on the chart.

So basically everything was knit or purl... but you were doing it at the same time, holding both yarns together. Whatever yarn you were knitting with, was the color that you wanted to be on that side... so if you were doing white keys, you'd be knitting with the white and holding that yarn with your index finger. Whatever color was the opposite of what you were knitting, you were purling that one and holding it on your middle finger. Following the chart, the first row was read right to left and knit with that color. The second row, and all subsequent even rows were read from left to right and knit with opposite color of what was shown. It took me a good 4-5 hours to get the hang of knitting with two yarn, one on each finger, till I could finish one row mistake free in under 20 minutes.

I had a fairly major setback about 7 inches into the scarf where I took an ambien for sleep... DO NOT KNIT WHILE ON AMBIEN. I basically "slept knit" and without following any resemblance of a pattern knotted my poor scarf into oblivion. Since I knew I couldn't cast on again by myself, I spent the better part of 6 hours taking out (unknitting) what I had done.

Ironically enough, my mom saw this mistake and knew it would take a miracle to recover from that enough to continue on with the scarf let alone finish it (this was in October). She even said she would be happy with a potholder of the piano pattern (liar) but I knew I was somehow going to make this happen for Christmas. That being said, I think I spent an average of 4 hours a day for the next 2 months working on that silly scarf and now am so glad I did, as it was truly one of my most proudest crafting accomplishments and I was thrilled to give it to mom for Christmas.

So the finished product is essentially two scarves in one... the front being white with black keys and the back being black with white keys. I learned that in double knitting you have to always start each row with a purl, and make sure you twist the yarn at the beginning of each row so that your two scarves stay sewn together as you go. And again, always hold the yarn you're knitting with on the index finger and the purling yarn on the middle finger. Other than following the chart, there wasn't much else too it... but this in NO WAY says that it was easy from here! Admittedly, this scarf made me cry and then of course made me even more determined to conquer the damn thing!

I actually wasn't sure how to bind off for this one, and after taking the scarf with me to a knitting shop AND having a neighbor take a look, we decided that the best method would be to bind off using the black yarn only, and just weave the white in. It looks only okay... I don't love it... but it works and I was honestly just happy to call it a completed project! I made mine to be a full keyboard of 88 keys (on each side obviously since it's essentially two scarves in one) and all in all ended up using almost 3 full hanks of Cascade 220 of each color on size 7 circular needles.

After I finished this scarf, I found THIS site that shows an almost identical project. It just offers additional insight as to how I got this done.

I have heard a few times that "knitting a sweater is like saying 'I love you' 150,000 times in a row" and as corny as that is, with the work and effort I put into each of my projects (especially this one) it is really true. I love you mom, at LEAST 150,000 times.