Knitted Scarf - Part 1

Just starting on a knitted 1860s Victorian scarf pattern kindly translated for free by Ragged Soldier Sutlery. Here is the original illustration and instructions from Peterson's Magazine January 1860.

I have only recently started knitting again after a gap of 15 years, and even then I wasn't very good and I'm not completely certain I ever finished anything. Having re taught myself thanks to some great instructions via wiki I have completed a cowl/snood for my little girl and am anxious to try something else. This little scarf looks to be a nice easy pattern and something a bit different to the normal bland scarfs aimed at beginner knitters. A handy hint I picked up off the sewing academy is to knit all three colours on the same needle so you will have the exact same number of rows for each piece without having to keep count. I'll be knitting mine on size 4mm needles as that's the closest I own to the recommended size. After trying a test piece I've also decided to knit 11 stitches rather than 9 as it has come up under the recommended two inches (I tend to knit at quite a high tension). 

 Test piece with center stich removed to create a ladder pattern

The colours I've picked are inspired by this mid 1860s fuchsia and black dress from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and I thought grey should complement as the third colour. 

For this project I'll be knitting (to steal a phrase recently seen on a forum) with the wool from plastic sheep. With money tight after Christmas and my real lack of skill I couldn't justify spending a lot on it. I've got 100g if each colour so will have to see how much I get through. As is this little project will cost me £5.07 Not bad for a snazzy little accessory :)

Here's the scarf a few rows in...

Ragged Soldier Sutlery's pattern can be found here : http://www.raggedsoldier.com/braidscarf.html