Fibonacci scarf
stitch

Fibonacci scarf

stitch

fibonacci scarf

The title of this post should really be: my uncle gave me a car so I made him a scarf.  Fair trade, right?

  A little backstory: One day this summer, my husband takes my daughter into the city to have a picnic in the park.  Before they left, he says he bought some almonds so they can feed the squirrels in the park.  Sounds lovely, they bond, I get some time to myself.  Fast forward a few hours later when I get a text that reads: “Don’t be alarmed.  I just got bit by a squirrel.” I am alarmed. I google. I read lots of scary facts about rabies.  I get in the car to pick them up and take the husband to the hospital to get rabies shots.  It was a scorcher of a day, high 90’s.  And on the turnpike heading to the ER, the car overheats and dies.  True story.  I wish I was making this up.

Fast forward past a grim pronouncement from our mechanic and 5 rounds of rabies shots. We get the bill from the hospital.  $20,000.(Obamacare did not come soon enough for us).  Clearly, we are not buying a new car.  And it is fine for the summer.  We live in a city, we have public transportation.  But then school starts.  No bus to school, so we walk. 2 miles there and back, twice a day.  Which adds up to 40 miles a week.  And it starting to get cold.

Enter Uncle Jim.  As a child, days that Uncle Jimmy was coming over I spent staring out the window, anxiously watching for his car to turn into the driveway.  He would give my sister and I car rides, which was him picking us up and running through the house while making motor noises.  He would tell us stories of the little man who lived in our lamp. He had a tickle finger that would attack at random moments.  I thought when I grew up I would marry him(before I knew you couldn’t do that).  When I grew up and moved to California, he gave me a snow globe of New York to remind me of home.  And on my wedding day, as I walked down the stairs leading to the beach where we had our ceremony, it was Uncle Jim who stood at the bottom of the stairs to help me down.

And he’s not just fantastic to me.  He is the relative everyone turns to when they need a hand.  He always helps.  He took care of the cranky old aunt no-one could stand.  He lived with my grandmother until she died to take care of her.  He is selfless and kind with a gentle soul.  Everyone adores him, including my daughter who now watches for the tickle finger.  I could write 10 more pages and still not do him the justice he deserves.  And when my mother told him the squirrel bite story, he offered me his old car since he was buying a new one.

He refused to take money for it.  He told me to stop it every time I tried to thank him.  He balked at me paying for the pizza we got when I went to pick up the title.

So what do you do when someone gives you an amazing gift that changes your life, but won’t let you thank him?  You make him a scarf.  And you write a blog post about him so that everyone knows what an incredible person he is, and how deeply you love him.  So thank you, thank you Uncle Jimmy. Not just for the car, but for everything.  I am so thankful to have you in my life.

fibonacci scarf

Since he is a math teacher, I decided to make the pattern of the scarf a fibonacci sequence, which is a famous sequence of numbers where each number is the sum of the the two numbers before it.  It goes like this: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13…..Fibonacci devised this in the 13th century as a way of predicting the population growth of rabbits.  (Impressed? Don’t be.  I first learned about it reading The Davinci Code, then I wiki’ed the rest.)

supplies:

  • 2 skeins lighter color yarn(Vanna’s choice, linen)
  • 1 skein darker color yarn(Vanna’s choice, dark grey)
  • size 10 circular needles

gauge: 17 stitches and 30 rows= 4″ x 4″

finished size: 5″ x 96″

Cast on 400 stitches in your lighter color.  The pattern for the fibonacci sequence goes like this:

  • purl 1 row light
  • purl 1 row dark
  • purl 2 rows light
  • purl 3 rows dark
  • purl 5 rows light
  • purl 8 rows dark
  • purl 13 rows light
  • bind off

After finishing each color, cut yarn, leaving a 6″ tail.  Once the scarf is finished, weave in all your tails.   I used a stretchy, invisible bind off method that I found here.  It’s my new go to bind off method. It blends right in.

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29 Comments

  1. Pingback: DIY Handmade Gifts for Him – The Organised Crafterbrain

  2. Sandy

    I love the scarf, but have to say I think I love it more because of the story behind it.
    p.s. Your family adventures sound similar to ours growing up, looking out the window for our Unlce Jeff. Cherished memories for sure. He started my many adventures into the lands of hobbits and dragons and the like. <3

  3. Marny CA

    Love that you had such a family member.

    My brother and I had no such luck. Mom was the youngest of her siblings and we were the youngest cousins, with me being the youngest of the youngest.

    Mom was divorced – and so we were rather shunned … how wonderful that we both turned out to be nice people, in spite of no male role models from 4 uncles, grandfathers, cousins, cousins’ husbands.

    However, my mom’s best friend’s husband stopped by once every couple of weeks – with bubble gum – rationed during WWII – but he worked for a confectioner. ;-o
    We loved him very much – and I have reconnected with his younger daughter who lives about 2,500 miles away. She tells me often that she remembers how cute I was.

  7. Katherine Coutin

    Just wanted to tell you I LOVED your story about your Uncle and the scarf!! I really loved the design and I am going to make one for my husband for Christmas. I have a cousin Jimmy who reminds me VERY much of your uncle! What would life be like without them? I don’t even want to think about it! Thank you for making me smile with your story! All the best and keep those stories and designs coming!

  8. Pingback: DIY Handmade Gifts for Him - Crafts and Creative Living

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  10. Deborah Dye

    I love the scarf and want to make it for my son. I am a fairly new knitter and have a dumb question. Since all the rows are purled, couldn’t we just knit every row instead and turn the scarf over so the purled side is the right side? Thanks for the pattern!

    1. June Higgins

      I think you’ll want to do the scarf by purling. For a scarf like this,there isn’t any “right” side. It looks good on both sides if the pattern is followed. I’ve only made one of these scarves, but expect to do another one for a Christmas gift. People like them!

        1. June Higgins

          I made this scarf for my son-in-law in a lovely oatmeal and dark brown. The scarf and the Fibonacci idea were a big hit. I can’t remember now whether I used 400 stitches or more, but the scarf is very long. I’m sure I will be making the pattern again for others.

  13. Lynn Martin

    Krista, I found your beautiful scarf and lovely story about your beloved Uncle Jimmy through AllFreeKnitting. Thank you very much for sharing your scarf pattern and the inspiration for the pattern. Every time I make this scarf I’ll think of you and your wonderful uncle.

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  16. Pingback: Fibonacci Scarf | Wynn of All Trades

  18. Julie DaMario

    Hi Krista!

    I love the Fibonacci Scarf – it’s adorable! I am the editor of AllFreeKnitting.com and would love to feature your tutorial on my site with full credit to you. I’ve noticed you have some other great projects, and I would love to link to all of your other free knitting patterns as well. I know my readers would just love them and in return would generate some nice traffic to your site. If you agree and would like us to feature your project and/or other free projects, our readers will simply click the link to your blog to get your full tutorial. It’s really that simple. Your project will look similar to this project already on my site:

    http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Cowls/Frozen-Lake-Cowl

    My site is part of Prime Publishing and we publish 19 cooking and crafting web sites. We have over 3.5 million active e-mail subscribers and about 10 million page views per week. You can learn more about us at http://www.primecp.com.

    Please let me know if you would like to get started.

    Thanks, and look forward to hearing from you!

    Julie DaMario

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