Esprit de l'escalier

L'esprit de l'escalier was designed in July 2017 after I paid a visit to the Rohrspatz & Wollmeise store in Pfaffenhofen/Ilm while I stayed with a friend in Bavaria.

L'esprit de l'escalier is knitted sideways – mainly in garter stitch with an easy lace pattern. This scarf is designed to be knitted with one skein of Wollmeise Pure (or 150 grams of another fingering weight yarn). If you want yours to be bigger, you will need more yarn – in fact, I had to frog nearly half of my scarf, because I knitted one increasing tier too many.

I wanted something simple to show off the beautiful colors of this yarn, but not too boring, so I included some lacy rectangles. The lower edge forms a staircase pattern - hence the name L'Esprit de l'escalier (or staircase wit).

This pattern is available for purchase

• on Ravelry 
• on Loveknitting
• on Payhip
• on Gumroad

The price is 4 EURO (plus VAT).

Materials

• about 150 grams of fingering weight yarn - I used Wollmeise Pure (colorway "Campari Orange")
• 3.25 mm needles
• a removable stitch marker - scrap yarn or a safety PIN work as well
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Size
Blocked the scarf measures about 165 cm from side to side. At its widest point (in the middle) it measures about 39 cm in width.

Necessary Skills
To knit this scarf, you need to know the following techniques:

• Garter stitch
• Yarn Over
• K2tog
• Knitted Cast-On

This post was featured on the Wednesday Link Party by Oombawkadesign Crochet. Thank you!

Unfinished Business

I haven't posted much lately ... this is partly due to the fact that I have started a new job (in real life and totally unrelated to knitting), but partly my own fault ... Even though I have knitted a lot in the last few weeks (see pictures below), I haven't felt up to the task to finish writing up a pattern.

Here's an overview of some of my current unfinished projects (roughly from left to right on the picture above):

• The huge purple thing in the upper left corner is supposed to be a poncho scarf combination (here's a picture of it on Instagram). It's made from bulky yarn which is something I don't usually knit with and I don't like how the lacy edging curls in. I guess it will be frogged - and I might pursue the general idea, but with a different edging and different (lighter weight) yarn.
• The orange-pink piece with holdes in the lower left hand corner is supposed to be a light summer scarf. It is constructed with short rows and BO/CO-holes and made with Wollmeise Pure yarn. If you want to see a close up (with a better view of the colors) it's here on my Instagram.
• The small half-moon shaped piece in pale mint (lying on top of the purple poncho) is a small swatch for a scarf/shrug combination. I will design a lower edging that does not curl in, but I guess it will work.
• The dark blue lacy piece is supposed to be a short row scarf, with lacy short rows. It somehow worked with the small swatches I knitted, but when kinitting a bigger piece the inner edge started to curl. That's why I added a garter stitch edge that is five stitches wide ... but I really don't like how it looks. Furthermore, the main idea (short rows in a lace pattern) is not visible at all. So I guess this piece will be frogged .
• The green trapezoid shaped piece is going to be another Waterfall Tunic, but with some fancy stitches at the side. The back piece is already finished. 
• Finally, the small crocheted piece in colors from pink to orange on the right is a crochet version of my Helix Mitts. Somebody on Ravelry asked whether I could do them in crochet and I am determined to finish them - including a written pattern - for autumn this year.

On the plus side, I have managed to finish some pieces - and quite a few of them will be made into patterns.

• On the upper part of the picture above there is a new knitted scarf. It is knitted from side to side with CO increases and decreases which gives it a staircase look. It is made from one skein of my new Wollmeise yarn, that I purchased a few weeks ago when I visited a friend in Bavaria. I have written a part of the pattern and (hopefully) I'll finish it over the weekend. I
• The black and white piece on the left hand side is going to be a cowl. It is knitted in intarsia technique with short rows. I've finished the written part of the pattern, but I still need to finish the chart (and maybe a helpful "shorthand" version). I also need to get some nice photos for it.
• The blue/white pair of fingerless gloves was finished earlier this year, and I really love the look and texture of them. I have started writing the pattern and some of the explanatory schematics have been drawn ... 
• The brown/beige pair is basically the same idea - only in crochet. And the pattern is half-written, half-illustrated, too.

If you know of any techniques that make me actually finish the things I started, please let me know. In real life deadlines work fine for me. But there aren't any deadlines for my blog and my knitting patterns ... (which is actually a good thing :)