The Prismatic Scarf
This PDF is the clean version-I've taken out almost all the pictures so you can print this pattern easily for use. Please visit the original pattern page at http://featherandfan.wordpress.com/free-patterns/the-prismatic-scarf/ if you want to see the “uncut version” with pictures showing the various design features of this scarf. This scarf uses an unvented stitch pattern based on Barbara Walker's Woven Diagonal Herringbone stitch pattern from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I wanted to find a scarf pattern other than the ubiquitous My SoCalled Scarf or Clapotis that would show off a variegated yarn nicely. Nothing wrong with MSCS (wel, it's not really reversible, and I've heard from some people that it curls) or the Clap (well, since it's knit on the bias, it's hard to estimate exactly how muchyarn you need to finish and knit until you run out ofyarn; also, it's not warm unless you make it big enough to counteract the open dropped stitches). Anyway, I just wanted something different!
When I was back at home for Thanksgiving 2007, my mom bought me two skeins of absolutely gorgeous Manos Silk Blend in Wildflowers. Once I started to swatch with it I realized that it was hard to find a pattern that would showcase the colors in the yarn -there were so many different colors, the stitch patterns I was trying out kept getting lost, and the yarn just ended up looking like clown barf. (Albeit very expensive clown barf from a clown with a belly full of Necco wafers.) At first, I thought the half-linen stitch would be nice, but after knitting up an entire skein of the yarn in this stitch, I realized that it just curled too much. It looked deceptively flat at first, but the more I knit, the more it curled. So that was out. I made another scarf's worth of swatches with different stitch patterns. Even my old standby, feather and fan, looked like crap. I had been admiring Knitting Kninja's Dapper Herringbone Scarf pattern using the Woven Diagonal Herringbone stitch-so very dapper!-so I swatched with that, and liked it a lot. Slipping stitches is a good way to deal with variegated yarns because of the way it lengthens color runs and breaks up the sea of blips of color. I made a couple of little adjustments to suit my taste, though: I wanted a stitch pattern that would lie perfectly flat-the slipped stitches do restrain curling, but after my experience with the half linen stitch mega-swatch, I was feeling very leery of mostly-stockinette patterns and wanted a balanced knit/purl pattern; I wanted a stitch pattern that would still look reversible in a busy yarn like the Manos-while Kristen's version looks perfect in her simple, single color, the reverse side of mine ended up just looking like reverse stockinette stitch, as the diagonal pattern of elongated slipped stitches was lost in the color-barf; · I wanted a very clean selvage. Mine was looking kind of wonky. So I added purl stitches to go behind the slipped stitches, balancing the mostly stockinette fabric, and creating a slipped diagonal rib on the wrong side; and I added a very satisfying and clean knitted-in i-cord selvage. I'm calling the result the Prismatic Scarf, for the way it refracts the random mixture of hues into strong, slanting rays of color. Yarn used: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend ( $30\%$ silk, $70\%$ merino wool; 50 grams; 150 yards) in 3113 Wildflowers, two skeins Needle size: US size $8/5.0\;\mathrm{mm}$ Finished dimensions: $5^{\prime\prime}\,\mathrm{X}\,65^{\prime\prime}$ before blocking, $5^{\prime\prime}\,\mathrm{X}\,68^{\prime\prime}$ after blocking
Pattern:
CO 30 stitches. K3, knit 24 stitches from the Woven Diagonal Herringbone Rib chart, sl3 pwise Wyif. Knitting the first 3 stitches and slipping the last 3 stitches with yarn in front on every row will create the i-cord selvage. Repeat until scarf is the length you would like, and bind off.
Woven Diagonal Herringbone Rib Repeat of 6 stitches and 12 rows
Key: p : knit on WS, purl on RS : knit on RS, purl on WS S : slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front Start reading chart from lower left-hand corner (row 1, WS) Written instructions: Row 1 (WS): p3, k3 Row 2 (RS): sl3 pwise wyif, k3 Row 3: p2, k3, p1 Row 4: k1, sl3, k2 Row 5: p1, k3, p2 Row 6: k2, sl3, k1 Row 7: k3, p3 Row 8: k3, sl3 Row 9: k2, p3, k1 Row 10: sl1, k3, sl2 Row 11: k1, p3, k2 Row 12: sl2, k3, sl1 (In other words, on every right side row, slip the purl stitches and knit the knit stitches; on every wrong side row, shift the rib pattern from the previous row one stitch over to the right.)
