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Found: one flamboyant winter muffler.

Materials: 2 skeins Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% wool, 15% mohair) in Creme. 2 skeins Trendsetter Dune (41% mohair, 30% acrylic, 12% viscose, 11% nylon, 6% metal) in #95, Strawberry Jam. 1/3 skein Crystal Palace Splash (100% polyester) in Berry Parfait. Size 11 aluminum needles.

Time: Two weeks during finals.

Cost: $45 (eek!)

Anybody and her brother can knit a fabulous (and I mean fabulous) fun and funky scarf from novelty yarn. I, too, like colorful and nicely textured things, but what I really needed for this winter season was a thick 'ol muffler to pull over my face when I wake up and it's -20°F with a -40°F windchill, but I have to walk a mile to campus. Funky scarves be damned; I require a muffler that means business.

On the other hand, I'm not so into the classic (and, therefore, boring to knit) woolen scarf thing. When I'm barrelling through snowdrifts in the bright arctic cold, I want at least one thing to distinguish me from the other hordes of bundled-up pedestrians. So, I decided to combine my woolen and my funky into one mufflery package.

I'm not normally so into pink, but I really liked the wildness of Trendsetter Dune. And, because I couldn't match it to anything, I decided on giving it a sturdy (and blessedly cheap) backbone of Lamb's Pride bulky wool, as well as a Splash-y fringe. I knit a swatch in garter stitch, decided it was far too hella boring for its own good, and got creative with the stitch pattern.

I had a vague idea that I wanted to do something with ribbing, so I ended up using an adaptation of this pattern (which I got two-thirds of the way through last month before I ran out of yarn and realized that I'd never wear it, anyway).

I improvised the transition of the hat's pattern onto the muffler, so I can't explain it too well; neverthless, it's very easy to get the hang of. My one major stylistic alteration was to cast on two extra stitches and slip the first stitch of each row purlwise while knitting the last, so I ended up with a nice chained selvage edge. In the middle of those two designated stitches, I had 7 2x2 ribs, which I alternated by following half of the linked pattern. I'm not going to try an describe it, because it makes sense in my head, so send me an email if you'd like me to transcribe my thoughts.

I really like the intersecting rib pattern -- it's dual-sided, so it looks cool on both sides of the scarf; after I blocked it, it's impressively rectangular; and it adds extra warmth. I bet cables would look equally spiffy, but I'll let you try those yourself.

The finished product is very thick, muffly, and warm, and I could even use it as an emergency rescue signal if I got caught in a snowdrift.