craftgrrl | I need scarf help (knitting/crochet) and I'm bored at work.

I am a horrible knitter.

I know what I'm doing and all that - what makes me horrible is that if I see a mistake, I don't fix it unless it is a dropped stitch. I am so bad I will leave a whole row of mistakes in place (like when I am one off of my *kkpp pattern).

The scarf I started knitting for my boyfriend looks like utter crap. It's a Fisherman's Rib with a garter stitch border. If I hadn't messed up so much it would be absolutely gorgeous. But I can't give it to him when it looks like moths have been feasting off it for weeks and weeks.

Anyway, I am determined to give him a scarf for, well, Christmas is too near, so how about a New Year's present?

Here's where you come in. Besides garter-only, stockinette-only, or moss-only, Is there a fool-proof manly scarf pattern that is easy as hell to knit? And could you also recommend a manly kind of yarn to go with it?

I don't like the way plain ol' garter-stitch looks for a scarf, stockinette stitch curls too much for a scarf, and I can't do moss stitch to save my life. I have looked through books and websites and thought this fisherman's rib was THE ONE, but I am too wishy-washy for it.

I think I am a better crocheter, not because I don't make mistakes in crochet, but because the mistakes just don't show up as blatantly in a crocheted item. If you also know a great manly scarf pattern for crochet, I would love to check it out.

Thank you!

P.S. Fisherman's Rib Scarf with Garter stitch border:

Cast on 30 with an Aran weight yarn (I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran) on size 8 needles.
Do eight rows of garter stitch.
Row 9 (WS): k4,p2,k2,p2,k2,p2,k2,p2,k2,p2,k2,p2,k4
Row 10 (RS): k30
Alternate row 9 and 10 until scarf is as long as you like.
Finish with eight rows of garter stitch.

The cool thing about this rib is that it doesn't contract as much as normal ribbing. What it looks like is the RS of the scarf looks ribbed like normal. The back side looks like the back, all garter-stitchy.
4 balls of this yarn will make a scarf that goes from kneetop to kneetop on a 5' 4" person.