Rainbow Road Scarf
A design by Ellie Rice
Scarf pictures knit in handspun rainbow yarn (in varying thickness, averaging out at about sock yarn weight) and Knit Picks Stroll Tonal sock yarn in Thunderhead, and a few yards of Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn in charcoal donated from the stash of a kind friend who understands why tears are totally justified when you run out of yarn 5 rows from the end of a project. This scarf design came about because my sister-in-law had spun some gorgeous rainbow yarn, and given it to me because she knows that I'm the best person to appreciate rainbows. The yarn has very long colour changes, along the entire skein. If I'd knit a scarf side-to-side, that would have been lost when you were wearing it, because only a couple of colours would show at a time. The other issue I had was that the yarn thickness had inconsistencies, in some places it was as fine as cobweb, in others it was super chunky. I didn't want the integrity of the yarn to be compromised just because it needed a little help keeping itself together. So I came up with this design, which showcases this gorgeous yarn, and also gives it structurally important hands to hold.
Materials: Yarn (woah, erm, bit of guidance? Fine... this was knit in sock-weight, which works well, I used one skein of rainbow yarn with long colour changes, probably 2-3 times as much yarn in a neutral colour to carry it). Circular needles of a size appropriate for the yarn you've chosen, for my sock yarn I used 3.5mm needles with a cable of about 48 inches, but I could have used a shorter cable, bunched up the scarf, and not spread it out to admire it so often. 6 stitch markers to help you count. Not really important, unless you're REALLY fussy about how long and wide your scarf will be. If so, use this as an opportunity to learn that some things are beyond your control.
Gauge:
This yarn is handspun, tough to find similar gradients online, but there are several on Etsy at the moment. Glossary: K- Knit YO - Yarn Over YOx2 - Yarn over times two, basically just do a yarn over, then keep on going, wrapping the needle one more time, so you have two wraps where you'd usually have one for a regular Yo.
Techniques: YOx2: Pretty straightforward video of the technique here https: / /www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcKpETz-9s just don't get carried away and knit the scarf from the video, it's clearly inferior to the one I'm telling You to knit instead. Dimensions: I ended up with a scarf which is 14 inches by 6 ft 6. You might not: maybe you're a rebel, maybe your yarn is different, maybe I'm just not very good at giving accurate instructions. Show Me the RainbowS: 1. Co 340 stitches in your neutral yarn, I strongly suggest putting in markers every 50 stitches to help you keep track and check that you haven't added or lost too many stitches as you're going along. To be perfecty honest, I spent a long time working out how long this totally random skein was likely to be, trying to cast on the right number so I'd get one colour per row. Didn't happen. So I cast on the highest number I can count to and it worked out pretty well. I actually cast on 339 stitches, but it became 340 at some point (and despite correcting it, and checking as I went, it kept going back to 340, so I decided it was happier there), and you're just going to have to make peace with that I'm afraid.
2. Depending on how you cast on (I like long tail cast on, because it makes me feel like some sort of yarn wizard archer), knit 3 or 4 rows, so you have 3 purl ridges on each side of your scarf. Cut your yarn, leaving a 2-3 inch tail, do not weave in the tail, it will be important later... 3. Switch to your super awesome vibrant yarn (leaving a 2-3 inch tail, see above...): K4, (YO, Kl, YOx2, Kl, YOx2, Kl， YO, K5) repeat to end, I'm not good with repeat math, but I usually ended up with 4 or 5 knit stitches at the end. Cut yarn, same deal with the tail.. . 4. Knit 3 rows in your neutral supportive yarn, do the tail thing, noweaving. 5． Switch to the vibrant yarn again, tail stuff, K2, YOx2, Kl， YO, (K5, YO, Kl, YOx2, Kl, YOx2, Kl, YO） repeat to end, same deal as step 3, I usually ended up on YOx2, K2, but you may have something else, just go with it. Tail thing.
l6. Repeat step 4. 7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you're happy with the width of your scarf, or have gone through all the colour changes in your super fun yarn. End on step 5 or 3, your vibrant yarn. 8. Knit 5 rows with your support yarn so you have 3 purl ridges on one side, two on the other, then bind off. 9. Go along the two ends of the scarf, knotting together the tails of the support yarn and the vibrant yarn, you'll find that they are in pairs already to start you off. I know it feels wrong to put knots in your knitting, but it's okay, I promise! Feel free to do something fancy, like add beads or sequins, or completely embarrass me by weaving in the ends and making proper tassels.
10. Block fairly aggressively, making sure you measure your pinned width as you go to keep it even. The more you're able to stretch it widthways, the more your scrummy yarn is showcased.
