The Rose Fern Scarf

For the last three Saturdays, I’ve been learning about fine lace knitting in a class hosted at Unwind the Yarn Shop. We learned to knit The Rose Fern Scarf, a design created by Cynthia Carter of Whistling Beagle Knits. Cynthia, herself, was our instructor.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. (L) Me, (R) Cynthia

This was the most carefully planned and executed class I have ever taken. Cynthia thought of everything and organized her instructional material in such a way that we learned, applied our new knowledge, and actually managed to execute the exquisite lace design.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. Cynthia’s beautiful scarf served as our inspiration.

Instead of written pattern instructions, we used Cynthia’s charted pattern—something I had not worked with previously. However, Cynthia included chart reading as part of her class plan.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. One end of my scarf.

Along with learning various lace techniques, Cynthia shared the history of lace knitting with the class. I love knowing such details as it makes what we do so much richer and honors the artists.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. Adjacent to the section shown in the photo above is this component of the scarf.

My sister students and I learned about gauge, choosing yarn for lace, as well as what knitting tools will serve us best.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. The central section of the scarf.

We also learned how to avoid mistakes and, if we do make one, how to apply simple fixes to rectify the situation. Our final lesson was blocking.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. My blocked scarf.

My completed Rose Fern Scarf will be a Christmas gift for one of my sisters. My yarn was madelinetosh's Tosh Sock superwash merino wool fingering weight in a rich berry color.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a class taught by Cynthia, jump on the opportunity.