Two blue scarves

I'm knitting two blue scarves. Two deep blue scarves. Two deep blue scarves with deadlines for finishing that are less than two weeks away.

One of the scarves is a gift for a friend who is going to live in London for several years...

and the other is a birthday gift for my son...

How has this happened? Well, part of the explanation is, of course, my love of scarves. I wear them constantly - winter and summer. Too many scarves is never enough. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't want a scarf as a gift (don't disillusion me!)

I'd been wondering what to buy as a farewell gift for my good friend and work colleague of many years who's going off to London. I needed nothing too heavy or cumbersome as she's transferring her whole family, and I wanted something that would remind her how well I think of her. So I'm knitting a simple but elegant lace pattern called Haruha from some hand-dyed Patonyl I received as part of a swap from Sonia. The deep blue / mauve / green colour is perfect for my red-haired friend, and the scarf will be ideal for a London autumn. The scarf's a bit less than half done, and I have to finish it in two weeks time.

The second scarf is a gift for my motor-cycle riding son's birthday. I'd previously purposely decided not to make a scarf as a birthday gift for him because I'd thought that by late August it would be too warm to make it a useful or welcome gift. But it's been so unseasonably cold for Sydney that yesterday I decided that making a birthday scarf was unavoidable. I bought some Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in a deep true navy from Tapestry Craft (after a visit to the dentist, so buying yarn seemed a suitable compensation) and I'm knitting a scarf in broken rib, modeled on the Men's Cashmere Scarf from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The deadline for this scarf is only 10 days away.

One of the good things about scarves is that - within reason- you can finish them whenever you run out of time, and if necessary pretend that what you've done is meant to be a neat 'tuck-in' scarf, rather than one meant for swishing. I'll post the outcomes when I reach them - suspense!