Plum Pudding Scarf

 

Some knitters are intimidated by lace weight yarn.  I know I was for a very long time. That changed a few years ago when I was recovering from a double SCAD event in 2018. I found that knitting with worsted weight, bulky and super bulky yarns was very tiring. It didn’t take long before fingering and lace weight yarns became my preference. It was eye opening. Yes, it takes a little practice to adjust your tension, but the results are so very worth it!

You create garments that are lightweight and feel luxurious.  The generous yardages in lace and fingering yarns means you can splurge for a single skein and still get a lovely garment. Shawls, cowls, fingerless mittens, scarves - there is so much you can make with a 100 gram skein.

In an era of capsule wardrobes and a growing focus on slow fashion, lighter weight yarns fit in beautifully.  They take up little space in your wardrobe, are hard to grow out of, and hold up beautifully over time.  They can provide punches of color and personality in a color or pattern limited capsule wardrobe.  They also won’t break the bank and still enable you to buy quality materials.

The Plum Pudding Scarf is a one-skein project, using 4 mm needles, and a simple repetitive stitch pattern.  The lace sections alternate with garter stitch to give you a break. Gauge is not critical as this is a scarf. Focus on making your tension consistent to get the best results.  The bias construction only requires regular increases and decreases at the beginning and end of each right-side row and results in a dramatic look for little effort.  You can customize your scarf length to suit you and how you wish to wear it. My scarf ended up being about 5.5 inches wide and 74 inches long from point to point.

The lace sections are achieved by staggering rows of bamboo stitch. Bamboo stitch is a simple two row pattern featuring (yo, k2, psso) on the right side, followed by a plain purl row on the wrong side. By staggering each pair of rows, you get a lacey effect that is beautiful yet simple to make. Because of the bias increases and decreases, your right side rows of (yo, k2, psso) will be automatically staggered, creating the lacey effect.

Materials: One skein of a drapey lace weight yarn. The Plum Pudding Scarf uses less than a single skein of Noro Kirameki yarn.  This is a rayon, nylon, wool, cashmere blend so if you wish to substitute another lace weight yarn, choose one with rayon, silk or other drapey fibre.

Tools:  4 mm circular needle or straight needle.  Choose a needle/pair of needles with sharper points to make stitch manipulation easier.  If you are new to using this weight of yarn, I recommend wooden needles to make it harder to accidentally slide stitches off the needle. (Ask me how I know!)

Pattern

The scarf pattern combines bias increases and decreases, and alternating bands of broken bamboo and garter stitch. Gauge is not critical as this is a scarf. Be careful not to knit tightly otherwise you will have issues moving your yarn overs over other stitches. Consistent tension is key.

Cast on 55 stitches.  Complete 4 rows garter stitch. This will serve as the bottom edge of your scarf.

Next row: k2, pm, kfb, ( yo, k2, psso), repeat to last 4 stitches,  k2tog, pm, k2.

Next row: k2, sm, purl to last marker, sm, k2.

Broken Bamboo Band

Next row: k2, sm, kfb, ( yo, k2, psso), repeat to last 4 stitches,  k2tog, sm, k2.

Next row: k2, sm, purl to last marker, sm, k2.

Repeat the last two rows twice more. (6 rows of pattern in total.)

Garter stitch band

Next row: k2, sm, kfb knit to the last 4 sts, k2tog, sm, k2.

Next row: k2, sm, knit to next marker, sm, k2.

Repeat the last two rows once more.(6 rows of garter stocking.)

Continue alternating Pattern and Garter Stitch Bands until work reaches your desired length, ending with a pattern band.  

Then knit 4 rows of garter stitch (without increases and decreases), and cast off loosely.

Wash and block to open up the stitch pattern.

If you enjoy this pattern, please consider buying me a coffee! Feel free to share this patten.  You are free to make scarves for sale using this pattern provided they are not mass produced and you give credit to me as the designer.

Abbreviations

k - knit

p - purl

pm - place marker

sm - slip marker

Kfb - knit into the front and back of the same stitch

k2tog- knit two stitches together

yo - yarn over

psso - pass the stitch you made with the yarn over over the 2 stitches you just knitted