Good evening! I am fairly new to knitting (one scarf done, two in the works) and would like to make my father a black and gold scarf to wear to the Wake Forest University games this winter. I have no idea what to do! Ideally I’d like something beginner to easy.
What stitch should I use? One of the scarves I am working on has a small border, where I k3 at the start of each row, so I know how to do that. I know how to knit, purl and also I can do seed st and have made eyelets by doing a yo - not that I want eyelets in my father’s scarf!
I’m not sure what yarn to use. Is wool standard for a scarf? The yarn I have used so far is Lion Homespun - a bulky acrylic, and a worsted acrylic - Red Heart.
Also, what pattern should I use? I was thinking of adapting a Harry Potter scarf pattern I saw to use the colors that I wanted, but I just don’t know if my stockinette looks good enough. I also thought I could make most of the scarf black and then add in 3-5 gold stripes at ea. end.
Any thoughts on what this novice knitter should do?
If you can knit with Homespun, then you’re off to a great start as a knitter! I personally have no problem with it and like it, but a lot of even very experienced knitters find it difficult to work with. Now, as for your scarf: I’m a firm believer in keeping things simple when you’re trying something new, so my advice would be to maybe just to garter stitch (knit every row) and knit in even (every stripe having the same amount of rows and therefore length) or un-even stripes (each stripe a different amount of rows and therefore length), which ever strikes your fancy. Since you know some other stitches, you probably know that if you do straight stockinette stitch the whole time, that the edges will curl, and so you will need to do some garter or ribbing at the ends and edges. As for the yarn, itself. Wool is great for a scarf, but if you find what you like in anything else, that should be fine. Most yarns work very well in scarves because you don’t have to worry about “drape”. In other words, when you make a sweater, if you use something very soft when the pattern called for a stiffer yarn, it won’t hold it’s shape. And conversely, if you use a stiff yarn when it supposed to be soft, the fabric won’t fall correctly. But in a scarf-- you’re wrapping it around your neck and maybe even putting a loose knot in the thing; so who cares! Since this is about the university’s color combination, I think getting the shade of gold right is probably the biggest issue. You are really in very safe territory all around-- your father is going to be so touched that his daughter made this color-appropriate scarf for him, all by herself, that he’ll love it no matter how it comes out:)
[SIZE=3][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Most HP scarves are knit in the round and take a long time to do. Of course you don’t have to make it as long as many of those are.
Do you want it to look like a school scarf? Then the HP is a good choice, but stockinette would be the preference for those types.
Another neat scarf is the Seaman’s Scarf. Here’s one that’s knit lengthwise in garter stitch.
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The lionbrand.com site has tons of freebie patterns…many for scarves (some striped with two colors). Just register and then search for easy/beg scarf patts. Lots of choices…some might even use Homespun.
I made my own pattern for my first scarf, which was a two-color. Its all garter stitsch, and I have a color change every 18 rows. I adapted it from the Harry Potter house scarfs you see in the Chamber of Secrets movie. Its not an extremely wide scarf, a little on the skinny side but it works well. Cast on 30 stitches, then knit every row, changing colors every 18 rows, for around 400 rows total. Bind off, add tassles if desired. I used size US9 needles and some cheap worsted weight acrylic yarn.
I recently made a brown and orange scarf (Cleveland Browns’ colors) for a friend for Christmas. I did a basketweave pattern in stripes. If I can remember what I did. Here’s a picture:
It looks like I cast on 28 and did 7 blocks across and 6 high. So:
Row 1: k4, p4 repeat across, ending with k4
Row 2: p4, k4 repeat across, ending with p4
Repeat these rows once (total of 4 rows)
Row 5: p4, k4 repeat across, ending with p4
Row 6: k4, p4 repeat across, ending with k4
Repeat rows 5-6 once (total of 8 rows)
Repeat Rows 1-8 two more times (total of 6 rows of blocks for 48 rows).
Change yarn to other color and repeat these 48 rows in your 2nd color. Continue this cycle of 48 rows in each color until scarf is the desired length. I think I did 13 stripes, so that it begins and ends with brown. Cast off and weave in the ends.
I am pretty sure I used a worsted weight yarn for this (Lamb’s Pride), though I can’t say for sure. It may have been bulky weight.
You can basically use whatever yarn you want for a scarf. For men’s scarves, I tend to use something that isn’t frilly or fuzzy or anything like that - wool and wool blends work, a nice acryllic works, too.
there is a free pattern for a 2 color scarf
cast on about 300 stitches on a LONG circ
knit 3 or 4 rows of Stockinette in color A
knit 3 or 4 rows of Reverse Stockinette in color B
knit 3 or 4 rows of Stockinette in color A
knit 3 or 4 rows of Reverse Stockinette in color B
until it is as WIDE as you want it to be
it looks like all one color on one side, with a hint or shadow of the other when its streached full
Not my pattern, but I know it was free when I found it
maybe on Knitty
I realize I’m digging up an old thread here, but “cftwo”'s scarf is a perfect example of the kind of color change I am looking for. I don’t see brown on the sides of the orange so I assume you did not carry the yarn up the side. Did you cut and weave in? Tie them together?? I’m a beginner and am lost on color changing because I don’t think carrying up the side will do for my project… Any replies are appreciated!
I think the general rule for this is you can carry the other colour up the side if the stripe of the other colour is 4 rows or less. This way it’s not too noticeable. I believe this scarf had the ends wound in- a pain in the butt, but necessary.
sweetroxychik, I usually use the russian join. Its fairly neat, and I dont have to weave in ends. Theres a video on this site, under advanced techniques, I think.
I’m doing five Green Bay Packer scaves for my neighbor’s family. I’m doing each one differently, but I think the easiest one I did was ten rows in green and four in gold. I did it in a ribbed pattern. K2, P2 each row. You can make it as wide as you want, but I think I did 36 stitches. I used an acrylic yarn. I think it was Red Heart. It turned out really great.
