My New Year's resolution for 2012 was to use up my abundant stash of excess yarn. I called it Operation Stash Be Gone. I spent many evenings searching through ravelry.com for free patterns and I came across Jill McGee's My Favourite Things Infinity Scarf. It was perfect. First, it allowed me to use up odds and ends of worsted yarn that was in my stash. Second, I got to practice knitting with a variety of colours. Since the scarf is knit in the round, the carried stitches on the "wrong" side are hidden. This was a major bonus as the mess of the reverse side makes me twitchy - it's the perfectionist in me. Finally, it was really fun to make. 
McGee's instructions includes different fair isle patterns to get you started, but the whole point of the scarf is to find your own favourite patterns. I went back to ravelry and searched for stranded mitten designs. I also found colour charts on Pinterest and on Google. I decided to go for an animal motif and included birds, elephants, and even sheep. What I loved most about this scarf is the way it emerged. After finishing each section, I got to choose the next colour combinations and pattern. It truly was exciting!
The scarf took me a couple months to knit - mainly because I was juggling three knitting projects at the same time (oh, and not to mention two small kids and a masters degree). I was going to keep the scarf for myself but when it was halfway done, my best friend Melana saw it and fell in love with it. Her birthday was in May so I gifted it to her. I am planning to make one for myself - hopefully in time for winter. For my scarf, I'd like to integrate designs that represent some of my favourite travel destinations. Trickier to visualize but I'll come up with a plan.
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