How to Know a Geek Knitter Loves You

The Yarn Harlot is knitting a Doctor scarf.

If you are not a knitter, but you are a Doctor Who fan, you might want one of the scarves of your very own. You might even think, “Hey, I wouldn’t think of asking someone to knit me the 7th Doctor vest,1 but a simple scarf? Surely (s)he wouldn’t mind!”

No, it’s not that the scarf would be hard to knit. It’s just 12 feet of garter stitch.

That’s the point. Twelve feet of garter stitch. Friends, unless you’re a knitter, you have no idea in the world how tedious that can get. I mean, you can talk about the idiot knitting of a sweater all you want to, but twelve feet of garter stitch… My word. Yes, I’ve done it, though it was years ago, and it turned me off learning any more complex knitting for about fifteen years.

What brings this to mind?

The sweater I am knitting for my son. I asked him what he wanted in a sweater. He wants a plain color –red. He doesn’t want any fancy patterning in the stitches, but a simple knitted hem and raglan sleeves. Thank goodness for sleeve and neckline shaping (I’m making a Seamless Raglan Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Without Tears) or it would be almost as bad as that Doctor scarf.

If you have ever been knitted a Fourth Doctor scarf, never doubt that you are loved by that knitter!

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1 Reality check: This would be a pleasantly challenging but not too insane knit, especially if you could figure out way to do it in the round.

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