Osgood scarf

The Osgood scarf is done. Much too late I noticed that when I began I was working more loosely and the first stripe is a little wider than the rest. I will have to live with it. heh 

The scarf is about 8" wide x  14' 4" long. (I am still recuperating from surgery and can't get down on the floor to measure so this is approximate.) There are 47 stripes. It's longer than the original Season 13, or stunt duplicate. However, we don't actually know how long the Osgood scarf itself is because, to my knowledge, nobody in the scarf-making universe has seen it or measured it. Knitting rows were counted out as much as possible from screen shots but of course crochet rows are a guess.

I'm told the scarf is K1P1 ribbing while the original scarf is all knit stitch. I'm also told that the K1P1 creates a larger stitch than straight knit stitch. This means the usual half number of knit stitch rows for crochet rows doesn't really apply. That caused me a bit of a problem. Originally I was going to go with 3/4 of the row number, but as I looked at screen shots I saw that some sections just didn't look long enough worked that way. I ended up doing a mishmash of the two Osgood patterns (Sonya and Chris at Ravelry) and the Season 13/stunt dupe. The basic difference in the Osgood is the 3 yellow stripes, which was a pattern error on the old Witty Little Knitter site. In a way it's good because it makes the Osgood recognizable.

While I think the Osgood is probably made with worsted, or whatever comparable yarn is available in the UK, my personal tendency for such a long scarf is to go lighter weight. In sport or DK weight a one-to-one on the rows would, I think, work perfectly and give a less unwieldy scarf. I did use worsted, though it is the light worsted Knit Picks Brava. I don't plan to make a second scarf right now, but should I do one I would use Knit Picks Brava sport I think.

As with my previously made season scarves, the first one is always the experiment. LOL  

I had hoped to finish this scarf before my surgery but that didn't happen. I did finally finish the crocheting of it Sunday (10-9-2016) but still have tails to weave in. 

update: Here is a picture of the completed scarf with tails woven in.

Here are the yarns I used in this scarf. Most are Knit Picks Brava Worsted (which is a light worsted IMHO) - Red, Cream, Cobblestone Heather, Almond, Canary and Fig. The purple is I Love This Yarn Mixed Berry. The Bernat Satin Sable would also work in place of the Knit Picks Brava Almond. It was my second choice.

I chained 31 and used a single crochet stitch. I used an I hook for most of the KPBW colors and an H for the ILTY because it appeared a little thicker than the rest but it's a perfect color, in my view. The Cobblestone Heather is also a tiny bit thicker and you could use the H for it as well or adjust tension.

I think that is it for this scarf. I originally thought I'd work a second scarf with the other yarns purchased to find the right colors but instead I think I will just do plain scarves or something for charity.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Osgood scarf wip

I have long wanted to work a scarf based on the Doctor Who scarf worn by the character of Osgood during the episode The Day of the Doctor. As anyone who has been reading this blog for a while knows, I'm a Who fan and particularly a fan of the 4th Doctor's well known scarf. That scarf was brought back, so to speak, by Osgood in that episode. The character has worn other Doctor costume replicas - such as the 11th Doctor's bow tie - in other episodes.

Well, I'm finally doing it. With the help of a wonderful Who friend, I've got my colors down. It's very hard to come up with colors for this scarf since the only option is to look at multiple screen shots in different lighting to come up with the best yarns. I'm not sure I've got the best, but we made our best effort anyway. In fact, I've accumulated enough yarn to possibly make two scarves. :-)

Here is a picture of the scarf in progress.

Here are the yarn choices I made for this scarf. Most are Knit Picks Brava Worsted (which is a light worsted IMHO) - Red, Cream, Cobblestone Heather, Almond, Canary and Fig. The purple is I Love This Yarn Mixed Berry. The Bernat Satin Sable would also work in place of the Knit Picks Brava Almond. It was my second choice.

At this point, the scarf is about 38" long and 8" wide. I'm guessing I'm about a quarter of the way through. I began it last night (Aug 30). It is not known how long the scarf worn in the episode is. 

I chained 31 and am using a single crochet stitch. I'm using an I hook for the KPBW colors and an H for the ILTY because that yarn is a little thicker than the rest but it's a perfect color, in my view. I did buy KPBW Mulberry but it was a little too blue. I could have used it but figured I had the Mixed Berry and it was such a nice color. :-) If you prefer to work in sport yarns, you can probably get all the Knit Picks colors in that yarn and you could use the Mulberry then. I believe the Mixed Berry would be too thick to go with sport.

There is also no pattern so I've sort of devised my own pattern by looking at the two knitted patterns done by Sonya and Chris at Ravelry. I know that Chris counted out all the rows that were visible. I don't know how Sonya devised her pattern. Many color sections were not fully visible and guesses had to be made. Since this pattern was not made using the same technique I have found the usual two-knit-rows-for-one-crochet row did not work. That being the case, I chose to go between the two or choosing one or the other based on the pictures I could find.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to crochetwise. I also have a plain scarf in progress with yarn that didn't make the cut for the Osgood. I haveyarn for a second scarf in regular worsted / aran yarns. Those colors would be
Purple -  I Love This Yarn Mixed Berry (so perfect that I'm using it for both scarves)
Tan - Loops and Thread Impeccable Soft Taupe
Yellow - Vanna's Choice Mustard 
Red - I Love This Yarn Fire Red
Grey - Red Heart with Love Pewter
Cream  - I Love This Yarn Ivory
Green - Vanna's Choice Dusty Green or Loops and Thread Impeccable Fern 

When Osgood is done, I'll have made the Seasons 12, 12.5, 13, 14, 16/17 and 18 scarves. I haven't made a Season 15 yet. I also haven't done a Romana or stunt dupe scarf and am not planning to in the near future anyway. Some folks have made Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor scarf and of course there are many other thins out there that I have no interest in attempting - vests and such. 

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Mandalas for Marinke and Osgood scarf

Just over a year ago, Kathryn Vercillo began the project #mandalasformarinke in honor of sweet Marinke (also called Wink) who lost her battle with depression the end of June 2015. Kathryn has been sharing the mandalas collected throughout the past year. I missed the post that featured my own mandalas and happened across it today so I thought I'd share the link. You can find it on the June 12th posting. She did a lovely job combining the pictures of the mandalas along with important facts to help those suffering from depression.

I've really fallen down on my crocheting lately. I started a hat weeks ago and this is as far as I've gotten. LOL  The yarn is made in Italy and is fingering weight Knit Picks Felici in the colorway Time Traveler. I wonder why I chose it? :-)  This yarn is a limited time offering. The wrapper says "special reserve". It's a very nice yarn and I do recommend it if you have fingering weight yarn needs.

The hat pattern I'm using is Big Button Beret. It's not a difficult pattern. I've just been spending too much time away from my hooks and at my coloring desk.

I do have big plans to make another Doctor Who scarf. This time it will be the Osgood which I've not done before. I've been collecting yarn trying to match the pictures I've been able to find online. There is no "official" pattern that I'm aware of but there are a couple out there that have been posted on Ravelry. They are not crocheted, of course.

You can find Chris Starfire's pattern here. (You have to sign in to see it.)

You can find Sonya Shelton's pattern here. It's set to public so you can see it without signing in.

From all accounts, the Osgood is based on the second half of the former Witty Little Knitter's Season 16 scarf. (Witty Little Knitter domain was let go by Tara Carstensen and has been taken over by Gene Fender of doctorwhoscarf.com . There's nothing there right now but there will be at some point.) The reason we think this is the pattern is because that particular scarf pattern had a one stripe color error in it which is shown in the Osgood - yellow, red, yellow, green, yellow instead of yellow, red, purple, green, yellow. Many, many hours of looking went into figuring that out. LOL

I've accumulated a number of skeins to try and find good colors for the Osgood. At this time, Vanna's Choice Mustard is the lead contender for the yellow. Red Heart with Love Pewter is the lead contender for the grey and the I Love This Yarn Mixed Berry for the purple and Fire Red for the red. I have Vanna's Choice Dusty Green currently for the green but will have a look at the Loops and Thread Fern to see if it fits better as I've not seen it in person yet. The tan is giving me fits. I've found a few light tans but none have that pink tinge it looks like in the photo. I may have to settle for one that comes close. We'll see which yarns win. Since there are two online patterns, maybe I'll do two of them. :-) I've still never worked a Season 15 though, nor a Romana S16 scarf.

All that said, it will not be perfect because lighting and other factors affect how the colors look on TV and online. Not having seen the scarf in person, it's all guesswork. And of course the original is not crocheted.

If you're interested in more details about Doctor Who scarves, you know where to go ... my own Gallifreyan Crochetin'.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie