Black and White and Knit. All Over Again.

I wanted a black and white striped scarf to go with my winter gear. Something modern, but not quite the look that only black and white stripes would have given me. So I made an in-store decision and added a bit of gray to my basket. I was super pleased with how this came out.

But both pairs of boots and the hat I wanted to wear this with have pom-poms and I wanted the scarf to match. Now let me just say that I love the actual knitting but am not really a fan of things like weaving in all the ends produced by these stripes, making pom-poms, or adding fringe. Yet I really wanted this scarf to match my winter gear, so I got out the little plastic pom-pom maker and started the tedious task....oh wait, I mean finishing touches.

Eight little tiny pom-poms later I was finished! And just in time to wear the scarf out to a fun night at a friend's house.

The next time wore this scarf was on business trip to NYC. While on the train somewhere between the Connecticut and New York border I noticed that one pom-pom was missing. Immediately my thoughts jumped to my cat- and the vulnerable night my newest scarf had spent in the living room. No doubt she was stalking the innocent pom-poms. Relentlessly "sneak" attacking them all night long.

I was annoyed but there was nothing I could do about it now. It would have to be fixed when I got home.

Back on the train that same afternoon (it was a turn and burn one meeting trip) I noticed I was missing yet more pom-poms. Drat! No cat to blame this time.

Something was wrong. The poms looked O.K., but clearly they were dropping like flies for a some reason. I thought I had tied them tight! Maybe the cat had loosened a few by playing with them?

Gathering my stuff to get off the train I even found a clump of yarn that had once been a pom-pom on the seat. Looks like I'd left a bit of a yarn trail through NYC.

In denial- I kept wearing the scarf anyway (just tucking the ends into my jacket). But I kept finding little clumps of former pom-pom all over the place.

And pretty soon it looked like this

Just the thought of doing the pom-poms all over was enough to make me want to weave in the tattered ends in and forget I ever intended them in the first place. But I've let the scarf sit for a while now and it just won't be the same without the poms, so I'm going to re-do it.

Originally I made the poms on the smallest ring and I think the problem was likely due to the yarn being too big to hold the knot tightly. So I've picked-up some embroidery floss to tie around the middle this time.

Hopefully that'll hold... and hopefully the tiny handful of yarn I have left will be enough to make eight more pom-poms. All over again.