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Dear Kay,

Seriously fun, this little scarf. I’ve worn it for a week straight now. Feeling very Linus about it.

The Euroflax Mini Skeins have haunted me from the day we had the idea to offer them. They now threaten to hijack other knitting. 

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I started scheming up ways to combine multiple batches.

You got your Earth. And you got your Sea. What if you overlapped them to get a sort of transcontinental gradient blend-off?

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I remembered a pattern that Kay made 400 years ago, called Baktus. (This may be the only knitting pattern in existence that lives on a Flickr page. Remember Flickr?) It’s a long, shallow triangle. At the halfway point, you stop increasing every fourth row and start decreasing every fourth row. 

I’m fascinated with one-ridge garter stripes these days, so Baktus allows for a lot of that action.

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People who have a yarn scale can really get their aim on by weighing all their yarn at the beginning, then carefully weighing their progress to the halfway point, then decreasing. I’m not a yarn weigher. I’m a yarn optimist. Off I went, eyeballing the yarn as I cranked garter stitch. 

A Gradient Baktus: How to Do It

Basic idea: a section of one shade blends into the next color, overlapping until a shade runs out, then introducing another color.

Here’s exactly what I did—which results in a highly irregular pattern of shifting gradient colors. I used 8 shades of mini skeins from the Sea and Earth colorways. Didn’t use the 2 green shades for this. They just looked too . . . woodland. Too minty.

Color A: Following the Baktus pattern instructions, knit 30 garter ridges. Do not cut A.

Ridge 31: Add Color B. Work pattern in 1-row garter ridges, alternating A and B for total of 28 garter ridges. Cut A.

Using B, knit 22 garter ridges.

Ridge 81: Add Color C. Work pattern in 1-row garter ridges, alternating B and C for total of 14 garter ridges. Cut B.

Using C, knit 12 garter ridges.

Ridge 107: Add Color D. Work pattern in 1-row garter ridges, alternating C and D for total of 14 garter ridges. Cut C.

Using D, knit 9 garter ridges.

Ridge 130: Add Color E. Work pattern in 1-row garter ridges, alternating D and E for total of 10 garter ridges. Cut D.

Using E, knit 11 garter ridges.

Ridge 151: Add Color F. Work pattern in 1-row garter ridges, alternating E and F for total of 10 garter ridges. Cut E.

Using F, knit 14 garter ridges.

Ridge 175: Add Color G. Work pattern in 1-row garter ridges, alternating F and G for total of 32 garter ridges. Cut F.

Using G, knit 45 garter ridges.

At this point I ran out of G, which was a little sad. I finished up the final 15 garter ridges in A.

If you notice, there is no rhyme nor reason to when I started and stopped the colors. I eyeballed it all, so my Baktus has a festive aka random quality to it. You can’t tell, wearing it, anything at all about the rhythm of the shades.

How to Weave in the Ends

I’ve been asked how to secure Euroflax ends in a project. I guess the worry is that the ends won’t stay in place, due to the generally unwoolly nature of linen.

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I do what I always do: I weave them in, duplicate stitching along a row in the same color, probably 7 or 8 stitches. So far, so good—I have been wearing my Baktus as a good-luck talisman during launch week every day, and none of the ends have popped out.

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I have been wearing it in a lot of new and fashionable ways.

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Some more successful than others.

Love,

Ann

 

30 Comments

  • LOL – love that last photo & caption!

  • I love your linen Baktus. Love the randomness that doesn’t look random at all. Most of all I love the generous size that allows you to keep your ears warm while performing creative writing!

  • I think that cat is making a snarky cat comment on the babushka style of wearing. Typical.

  • We need more linen scarves! Says the woman in Atlanta who’s wearing sandals to work in October. Thanks for this.

  • I actually snorted at that last photo.

  • So happy you showed the last photo!! I guess once we are over 50, we are confident enough to share, even overshare. (You should see my Facebook profile picture; I took it at the beach in gale force winds, and a “friend” suggested a resemblance to Medusa. I don’t care) 😉

  • It’s also my new Ravelry photo! Over fifty, don’t care

  • Ann your last photo made me laugh! Laughing on a Monday morning is a miracle. Thanks for the suggestion, of a new project. I can’t wait to try this.

  • Thank you for the Monday morning laugh. 🙂

  • I am knitting up linen dishcloths for stocking stuffers. Solid colors till I only have snippets left; then the random striping will begin.

  • Kermit looks worried. That’s all I’m sayin.
    I made three Baktus (Bakti?) over a couple of years and gave each away so I could make another one. Have you tried the “lace” version? That’s the one I really, really find delightfully addictive.

    • Kermit worries about pretty much everything. In this case, he’s justified.

      Would love to try a lace Baktus! This pattern was 100% funfest even when I ran out of the “correct” color with 15 rows to go.

  • What’s the blue sweater pattern you’re wearing in the second to last photo?

    • That’s the dreamy Carpino sweater by Carol Feller, a truly wonderful pattern and a sweater I wear regularly. Madeline Tosh something or other is the yarn.

  • Normally, Sea + Earth = Mud. Just sayin’. And what is that Thing to Lay Upon Kermit is testing?

    • I thought “barrier islands.” And the colors work for that 🙂

      • Ha! I was thinking “sandy beach” myself.

  • Don’t you hate when you feel like the poster of Meryl Steep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman but you look like an extra in Fiddle on the Roof? XOX

    • At this point I’d settle for Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins.

      • LOL!!

  • Looks great. Adding it to my list. xxoo

  • Baktus Babushka….Baktbushka? Babushktus? Babakbushtuska? Whatever – it’s….. a look! 😉

  • Love the scarf and that last styling! Such a breath of fresh air after an awful weekend news-wise.

  • This is so FUN! (and “fun” has been a litte lacking, lately.) Thanks, Ann.

  • The new scarf is very charming. Multipurpose on purpose. The new MDK is superb! You’ve set the bar very high. Excellent and outstanding. CHEERS!

  • Love the last photo! What is it with pets/children and sitting on craft projects? Our dog always used to make a beeline for anything I had spread out on the floor for cutting, measuring etc.

    PS – just bought the ebook version of your first field guide, it is SO good! I can see many pairs of Squad Mitts being knit for various family and friends #squadgoals

  • The last photo is very Little Edie! (Complete with cat!) Or, at least, Little Edie in the 21st century. Were you practicing for another episode of Grey Garments?

  • I so love Snippets now. I watch for them on Saturday mornings and drink my coffee and read through all the lovely bits and am inspired by the yarns and colors and patterns. You do an excellent job…first rate artwork, pictures, writing. Just sayin’ .

  • Hi,
    I bought four of the euroflax mini skeins and ultimately used 3 of the four color groupings for a slightly modified Stephen West Unicorn parralleogram scarf. I love my new scarf.

  • Hey! That’s a tease! The Baktus pattern is no longer available! I would love to make this! How do I get a copy (buy) of the pattern?

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