Did that get your attention? Just two days after I was whining about the current lack of thin yarns at Elann they miraculously offer up some Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere (alpaca/wool/cashmere blend) in fingering weight. I bought all of the colors to play with as it was only $2.75 a skein. I ordered enough to make several projects from Folk Knitting in Estonia including Merike's gloves and Kristi's mittens. Geane has inspired me by working on Kalev's mittens from the same book. My sincere apologies to those of you on a yarn diet - I feel like I'm waving a hot steaming piece of pizza dripping with cheese in front of someone virtuously eating a celery stick.
This close-up of the brown Spontaneous Scarf shows the woven look. The Spontaneous Scarf pattern is from a recent issue of Spin-Off magazine. Essentially you just cast on as many stitches as you can on about a size 6-8 long circular needle. (However many stitches you cast on determines how long the scarf will be.) Then you do seed stitch with a different yarn each row. Leave long yarn tails (after knitting these are knotted together and become the fringe) on each row. Knit until scarf is the width you like. I like to use the same yarn to bind off as I used to cast on - it gives it a neater more finished look. You can vary yarn thicknesses, fibers, colors, etc. Here's the red/blue Spontaneous Scarf which I made narrower than usual.
These are mindless and quick gifts that can be made from your stash. You can also make a stole by making the scarf much wider. Try making scarves in variations on one color or in complementary colors or all jewel tones or naturals, etc.