I really must visit John Lewis more often ...

... because the boring people in my office almost never admire my knitting, and complete strangers in John Lewis's do ... and this is the second time it's happened to me!

As you can see, the Steek Boa is complete (and Holly has already claimed it for herself), so here is a recap of how to do it (with some corrections / improvements to earlier instructions):

Take 1 thick yarn, 1 fuzzy yarn, 1 shiny one, and 1 plain one - I used Adriafil Graphic, 2 strands of mohair (one is KSH, and the other is Adriafil kid mohair), Sirdar Silky Look, and some of the dark pink Phildar yarn that did not go with the other yarns for the Knitscene jacket - all the yarns are various shades of pink. You're aiming for something about the thickness of a pencil, and I think that you will need about 120-130m of each yarn. On 10mm needles, cast on 15 stitches, and work fairly firmly, as you want the stitches at the edges to hold (if possible):

Row 1: Slip 1 K-wise, K5, P1, K1, P1, K6
Row 2: Slip 1 P-wise, P5, K1, P1, K1, P6.

Repeat these 2 rows till you run out of one of the yarns (in my case, it was the Sirdar Silky Look that gave out first, but total length of work still about 60 inches) then cast off the centre 5 stitches. All the other stitches are going to be allowed to unravel back to the start, and unless you've knitted really firmly, the edge stitches of the centre band of ribbing will start to unravel, especially if your daughter starts swinging the scarf about. so, with a large darning needle and some matching yarn backstitch the whole length of the columns of stitches that will become the edge stitches - alternatively use a sewing machine. Now drop all the other stitches, and cut the loops, so you get a very long fringe (about 6 - 7 inches long) up each long side.

Wear it in John Lewis's, and have the afore-mentioned complete stranger admire your handiwork ...! Then start all over again, because other daughter now also wants one (lucky I have a couple of spare balls of Adriafil Graphics in blue isn't it?), and then having done that, splurge your John Lewis vouchers on a tasty mix for similar but more grown-up (ie. tasteful!) version for yourself - that will be 1 ball of Louisa Harding Impressions in the orange-y colourway, one ball of KSH in very dark burgundy, 1 ball of that Rowan Lurex in dark burgundy, 1 ball of Baby Cashmerino in deep coral, and a ball of Louisa Harding Fauve in dark pink ... all in all, a very good time had in my lunch-hour!