Designed by Carol Wyche as a teaching tool.
Suggested Yarn: Fine yarn such as mohair, either brushed or boucle.
Amount needed for sample: approximately 250 yards.
Finished size of your scarf depends on your actual gauge and the yardage
actually used. If you really care how wide it is, you have to do a swatch and
adjust the number of repeats or the number of edge stitches to your actual
gauge. See below: Using the pattern with any yarn.
Materials needed: Straight or circular needles of a size to make an open
soft fabric at your gauge. Ring markers in different colors. Yarn needle.
Pattern Stitch: The traditional name of this pattern is Razor shell. This
version of Razor shell requires a multiple of 6 stitches plus 1 plus however
many edge stitches you want. The sample scarf was knit on 5 repeats of the
pattern, and has 31 stitches for pattern, plus 3 edge stitches on each side, so
is knit on 37 stitches.
Here is the pattern stitch by itself:
Row 1, Knit
Row 2, K1, *yo, K1, sl1-k2tog-psso, k1, yo, k1. Repeat from *
Scarf pattern:
Example: Cast on 37 stitches, work in garter stitch for 4 to 6 rows (your
choice), then begin pattern stitch, keeping 3 stitches at beginning and end of
row in garter stitch. Set markers between the 3 stitch edge and the rest of the
pattern. I use a green marker at the beginning and a red marker at the end of
the row, to make it easier to know if I'm on a pattern row (green to red)
or a plain row (red to green). Work in pattern stitch until you have nearly
finished the yarn. I generally stop the pattern on a scarf when I have 20 to 25
yards of yarn remaining. Be generous with your estimates of how much you need to
finish it because you can always use left overs for fringe and it's better
than having to (gently) rip back and start your garter edge sooner. Now knit
your garter edge and bind off as loosely as you cast on.
Using the pattern with any yarn. Gauge is the main issue. Start with a
gauge swatch to see if it makes a nice soft fabric for around the neck. If the
yarn is too harsh, use it for a hat. If it's not harsh but too stiff, use a
bigger needle. If it's too loose and flabby feeling, use a smaller needle. When
you like the look and feel of the swatch use that for your actual gauge. Now you
can calculate exactly how wide your scarf will be and adjust the number of
repeats if you want. The repeat is a multiple of 6 +1. So you will need 19
stitches for 3 repeats, 25 stitches for 4, 31 stitches for 5 repeats, and so on,
plus the number of edge stitches you want. An odd number of repeats usually
looks better than an even number, but if the even number is the right size, use
it. Generally somewhere between 30 and 45 stitches is a good wide scarf,
somewhere between 15 and 25 is a good narrow scarf.This particular pattern is
non-curling, so you don't really have to have edge stitches, but the scarf will
look better and wear better with at least 2 edge stitches per side, so go ahead
and add a few. It will also look better and wear better with a few ridges of
garter stitch at beginning and end. Two ridges is pretty much the minimum, in my
experience. More than 6 ridges looks pretty clumsy. So pick a number in there
somewhere. Remember as you come towards the end that you need to make as many
rows of garter at the end as there were at the beginning and don't let yourself
run out of yarn. (If you do run out of yarn, un-knit, stitch by stitch to where
you need to start the ending garter band. Slow as it is, it's a lot easier than
trying to get a lacy pattern back on the needles after you've ripped.)
Variations:
If you purl the return rows, the pattern is clearer, but the scarf won't look
the same on both sides.
If you use a shaded or multicolored yarn there will
be zig zag stripes in your scarf. If you alternate colors for 8 to 10 rows each,
you will get single color zig zag stripes.
This pattern could be used to
use up odd lots of yarn, provided they all work to the same gauge and look good
together. Have fun with this pattern and try different things:
For example, You could sew a string of beads at each end, or make a fringe and
put the beads on the fringe. (You could actually string the beads on the yarn
and knit them into the piece too, but I don't want to explain how to do that
right now.)
| copyright cjwyche, 2000-2006 These patterns and documents are essentially learning tools and I favor free access to knowledge on the internet, I have placed them on this web page under Copyleft|GNU Free Documentation License (version 1.2 or any later version). This means you have permission to freely download, ocpy and use content from this web site under the same License. Any creative changes you make to this source material cannot be copyrighted, but must also be freely distributed under the License. |
Modified: 2006-01-28
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