Linen Stitch Scrap-fest!

I absolutely fell in love with linen stitch while viewing The Malabrigo Scarf on Ravelry. The gorgeous way the colors play together, and the small amounts of yarn required per row, made me realize what an excellent stash-buster this project would be.

I have a large tote full of scraps of acrylic yarn that I've wound into neat little balls, keeping the smaller ones aside in another bag so I don't lose them in the abyss of the tote. It's used up a lot of my yarn already- I am looking forward to replenishing my stash when all of this Red Heart and Caron yarn is gone! :)

The linen stitch is SUPER easy. I cast on 360 stitches on size 9, 60" circular needles. The recommended needle for most of the yarns I am using is an 8, but after trying some swatches (this is a super dense stitch!), size 9 gave me the look I wanted without being too stiff. Looking back on it, I probably should have used a 10! If you are contemplating this stitch in ANYTHING, swatch it up a bit and size your needles up - it can get tight!

My color logic is as follows: stitch yarn each row; do two rows of colored yarn followed by a row of a neutral. Try not to let the colors clash too badly. ;)

"Wrong" side

So far I have maybe a foot knitted up. It is a great easy stitch to play with while catching up on movies (*cough* Harry Potter marathon) and so fun to pick out a new color for each row. It really does keep it from being monotonous (like my chevron afghan is becoming...). I can't wait to see how this looks when it is done - my DH calls it my confetti blanket! :)

 In case you are new to knitting, linen stitch is done as follows: Cast on an even number of stitches, preferably on circular needles (will explain why later)

1. *Knit 1, slip one as if to purl. Repeat ad inifinitum. ;)

Row 2 can proceed one of two ways:

2.1: *Purl 1, slip one as if to purl. Repeat. 

2.2: Slide all stitches to the other end, and *Slip one as if to purl, knit 1, and repeat, and you will only ever have to knit on the 'right' side. :) For me, knitting is way more fun that purling. Don't know why. I like the 2.2 version of this stitch personally, but the other way may work as well. 

I am doing a twisted fringe which I will elaborate on later for the edges. Very fun. 

That's it! Enjoy! :)

Confetti Blanket progress so far!