it's easy to be odd

Yesterday my MIL got her main Christmas present from us. Yup, coulda been an early V-Day present. {just shush}

She told me that wool (and even wool blends) can be irritating, so we picked out a very soft yarn - Richesse et Soie by Knit One, Crochet Too. I highly recommend this yarn. It is 65% cashmere 35 % silk and each ball is 25 grams - approx 146 yards/132 meters according to the label.

Onward to project details...
The color we picked is 9918 - a light pewter gray called Fog. In typical asterpurl fashion, I bought a bit more than needed. Okay, so I bought 4 and ended up needing only a bit over 2.5 balls. It goes a long way, yes sirree, especially as it gets all drapey after (steam) blocking.
The stitch pattern is double seed stitch on sz 4 needles. I don't recall how many stitches exactly - somewhere in the 40s or 50s, I think. It ended up being a bit over 6 ft. long.

Working on this scarf has led me to reflect on this simple yet dynamic stitch. Seed stitch can be tricky for newish knitters because you have to first be able to read your stitches and then do the opposite of what you would normally do (e.g., I see a knit stitch so I think I need to knit. No, wait, I'm doing seed stitch. I need to purl instead. ) The remembering doesn't always happen. {Trust me, I know!}

My mom recently started a seed stitch project and through chatting with her about it I've noticed that some online help guides and free patterns instruct knitters to do seed stitch by casting on an even number of stitches. In this way, row 1 is *k1, p1* and row 2 is *p1, k1*. Why why why complicate it this way? It is so much easier to cast on an odd number (or multiple of your repeat + 1/2 repeat - for example - double seed stitch - multiple of 4 +2) and then every row is *k1, p1* k1 (or *k2, p2* k2, etc.). Every row is the same.

Every row.

(caveat - The main and perhaps only justification I can imagine for using an even stitch count would be in a garment. How about you?)

Be odd. It's easier that way.