The Illusion Scarf, my way

Someone thought this scarf said dor-v.... :O) It actually reads the name of the motorcycle hubby used to own, by Harley, called the V-Rod. We still have the scarf, though.

Well, I watched Knitty Gritty's show on Illusion Knitting (another word for Shadow Knitting) a long while back and decided to give it a try.

I downloaded some knitter's graph paper with a grid of 70x120. After charting my design, I realized I only needed the grid to be 40 wide. The design seemed simple enough...once I got the understanding down. The smaller letters took up 56 rows each with the letter 'V' taking 109 rows.

What helped was having the book Shadow Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro.

With Cascade 220 in black and one in a dark orange, I started my project. I used size US 6 24" circulars and cast on 40 stitches, in black, over both needle tips held together using the long-tail method (my all-time favorite cast-on). With very little time into it, I found myself ripping back because I lost my concentration. This is soooo much like lace knitting! There should be 'No interruptions!'

Needless to say, I have lots of time into this and had to make very good notes. It turned out great at 8.5" wide by 49" long.

Even with all the 'frogging' throughout the whole process, I enjoyed seeing the letters 'pop!' When you look at the scarf straight on, you only see stripes. Then when you look at it at an angle, like in the picture, you see the magic!!

After I finish the ever increasing project list, I want to make another (designed by me) scarf.