Whit's Knits: Checkerboard Lace Scarf
I love this pattern because it's made up of just basic yarn overs, knit two togethers and slip slip knits. Never will you have to purl three together through the back loop or slip one, knit two together, pass the slipped stitch over. The simple geometry of the pattern also makes it really easy to catch mistakes.
Made out of The Fibre Company's Canopy, a fingering weight yarn that is 50% baby alpaca, 30% merino and 20% bamboo, it makes a perfect spring scarf. The alpaca contributes a soft drape, while the merino adds bounce and life. The bamboo gives a subtle luster to the whole thing.
The Materials
- 3 skeins of The Fibre Company's Canopy Fingering/Sport, 50% baby alpaca, 30% merino and 20% bamboo. This color is Sasparilla. (I used two and a half skeins. If you want to cast on 10 fewer stitches or make your scarf 12 inches shorter than this one, 2 skeins would be enough.)
- US #7 needles, straight or circular. I used a 24 inch Skacel Addi Lace needle and highly recommend it. The sharp point of Addi's lace needles makes lace knitting a whole lot easier!
The Pattern
Gauge
5 1/4 stitches = 1 inch in the checkerboard lace pattern, unblocked
Finished Size
10 inches wide x 70 inches long, after blocking
Note
This pattern can be worked over any number of stitches that is a multiple of 10 plus 8, ie 18, 28, 38, etc.
Begin
Cast on 58 stitches.
Knit 4 rows.
Row 1 and every odd numbered row: K2, purl to last 2 stitches, k2.
Row 2: K6, *yo, ssk, k1, (k2tog, yo) 2 times, k3, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, k2.
Row 4: K2, *k3, (yo, ssk) 2 times, k1, k2tog, yo, repeat from * to last 6 stitches, k6.
Row 6: K4, *(yo, ssk) 3 times, k4, repeat from * to last 4 stitches, yo, ssk, k2.
Row 8: K3, *(yo, ssk) 4 times, k2, repeat from * to last 5 stitches, yo, ssk, k3.
Row 10: Repeat Row 6.
Row 12: Repeat Row 4.
Row 14: Repeat Row 2.
Row 16: K2, k2tog, yo, *k4, (k2tog, yo) 3 times, repeat from * to last 4 stitches, k4.
Row 18: K3, k2tog, yo, *k2, (k2tog, yo) 4 times, repeat from * to last 3 stitches, k3.
Row 20: Repeat Row 16.
Repeat Rows 1-20 until piece measures 60 inches from the cast on edge (it will become 70 inches when you block it), ending with Row 5.
Knit 4 rows.
Bind off loosely.
Gently block your scarf and you're done!
April 2, 2009
Reader Comments (77)
Here is our tutorial on blocking knitting, its something you definitely want to do with lace knitting to even out your stitches:
http://purlbee.squarespace.com/blocking-tutorial/
I went to queue it on Ravelry, and had a bit of a hard time of it. is it possible to name your blog entries so that they can more easily queue-able on Ravelry? If not, it's no big deal, I'll still find them, just thought it might be helpful...
Thanks so much for your comment. We would love to hear more about what you mean. If you could maybe give an example or two of what would make a pattern name more queue-able vs. what we've been doing we are all ears!
Thanks again! --Joelle
Thanks!
We have this list of terms:
http://www.purlbee.com/knitting-terms-/
Also, for a really complete list, check here with the Craft Yarn Council for their list of standard abbreviations:
http://www.yarnstandards.com/knit.html
Hope this helps!
We are happy to help out, but we'll need a little more info. Can you tell us what row you're losing the stitches on? Is it the same row every time? Were the 5 inches you did looking right? Any other info you can provide? If we can figure out where you're having the problem we should be able to help you solve it!
Thanks for the pattern though, it seems very clear and easy to follow.
Am I doing the repeated lace pattern incorrectly? Or is there an error in the pattern or cast-on number?
Thank you. I love the picture of this scarf and can't wait to finish my own copy.
The repeated part actually only takes 10 stitches: 2 for the ssk, 1 for the k1, 4 for the two k2tog's, and 3 for the k3. (2+1+4+3=10) Repeated 5 times, this section equals 50, plus k6 and k2 equals 58.
I'm not sure how you're arriving at 13 stitches for the repeated part, but I hope this lights a bulb!
Thank you for asking and for making the project!
Whitney
Is the (k2tog, yo) (row 2, 16, 18) saying yarn over and knit two together or knit two together and then yarn over? Does that make sense? Knitting two together with a yarn over versus knitting two together , then bringing my yarn over and knitting the next stitch.
Thanks!
It is saying, Knit two together and then yarn over, so knit 2 together, then bring your yarn over.
Hope this helps!
I am doing the following: Knit 6 *(yo) yarn over, ssk (slip stitch knitwise?), K1 (knit one),
then (knit 2 tog, yarn over) 2 times (I assume this means the 2 times refers to the instruction in brackets?, Knit 3 repeat from * to last 2 stitches - I end up with 3 stitches to end! Hellllllp
It sounds like you are not doing the ssk the right way which is a left slanting decrease. To do an ssk you slip 2 stitches knitwise and then knit them together. Here is a link to our tutorial on ssk:
http://www.purlbee.com/decrease-tutorial/
Hope this solves your problem, but if not, please let us know and we'll be happy to help you further!
K6, *yo, ssk, k1, (k2tog, yo) 2 times, k3 repeat from * to last 2 stitches, k2
When I begin to do the repeat from *, I only get halfway through the repeat before I am out of stitches.
Any hints?
There are a couple of things that come to mind that could be causing your shortage of stitches. First, when you do your yarn over, simply wrap the yarn over the needle, a yo does not include any knitting (this is sometimes an issue for new knitters, if this is not your issue, read on). Second, the pattern says (k2tog, yo) 2 times, this means 2 times for only the part in the brackets not from the beginning of the row, or from the star.
If neither of these two solutions fix your problem maybe this will help: If you analyze the pattern you'll see that after the knit 6 and before the knit 2 at the end that the repeat takes 10 stitches, so you should have just the right amount with 28 to do the repeat twice. For instance:
yo (takes 0 stitches), ssk (takes 2 stitches), k1 (1 stitch), k2tog, yo 2 times (4 stitches), k3 (3 stitches) = 10 stitches.
Hope this helps!
Can't wait to have my scarf finished and keeping me warm :)
thank you, so much!
I will say that I ignored your advice about the needles and grabbed a trusty old set of bamboo size 7 straights, and got about 5 rows into the scarf before I understood why you'd recommended sharper needles. *sigh* I will learn to listen to pattern makers one of these days. ;-)
Hannah - use lace blocking wires, and block the scarf on a stable surface (not a beach towel that isn't anchored to anything). Try pinning it to your bed if you have no other place to block it.
Thanks.
It is 10 because you are taking one away in each decrease, but adding one in the yo- so you don't count the second stitch in the decrease.
Hope this helps!
.
When we published this story there was no Canopy Worsted only Canopy Fingering which is why the materials don't mention it (I'll fix that now). It's knit on the loose side for the yarn to emphasize the drape of the fiber. Your best bet would be to use the yarn that Whitney used which you can find at the link below, or something as close to it as you can find.
Hope this helps! --Joelle
http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/item/3951-Fibre-Company-Canopy-FingeringSport
how do you recommend blocking it?
would you use blocking wires?
thanks
I personally never use blocking wires or pins. I'm sure you can talk to lots of other knitters who swear by their methods, but this is how I do it!...
First, I soak the finished piece in warm water with very mild soap (I love Soak because you don't have to rinse it, and it really makes your piece softer! You can find it here: http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/search/?search_keywords=soak ). Then I roll it up in a towel and squeeeeeze. Then I lay it out on a new dry towel and arrange all the edges just how I want them, and it always dries just how I left it!
Thanks for making the scarf - I'm so happy you like it! And thank you for your question!
Whitney