Messy Scarf

You might not be able to tell over the internet, but I'm a bit of a slob.

If there were a scale of slovenliness from 1 to 10, I'm about a 6. (I mean, there are some serious, serious slobs out there...I'm not so bad that I would end up on the evening "news" or anything).

Anyway, that's just who I am. I will always be the girl with dirty glasses, sweaters covered in dog hair, random bits of food stuck in her hair, and smudges all over her face. More often than not if some one is staring at me it's because they are about to say "Ummmm, I think you have a little something...."

At some point in my life my messy status went from being a fact to a point of pride. I just learned to love it as part of myself and incorporate it into my "style." I feel a little weird saying that because I don't always think of myself as stylish, but if were possible for messy to make you look more chic, this scarf manages to pull it off.

The original orange version of this scarf has seen a LOT of love over the years, and I've made more from requests from friends. It has a weird way of perking up an outfit - it's beautifully messy and fun, and it's a breeze to knit up.

This pattern is great for stash-busting or showing off random bits of pretty yarn. And I love that I get to knit stripes without having to tie in the ends.

With the kerchief cowl, the fringe cowl and now this, I might be a little triangle crazy. I promise this is my third and final pattern for a triangle shaped neckwarmer....but just between you and my messy self, I've saved the best for last :)

NOTES:

This pattern is really just a general guide to knitting this scarf. It is super flexible. Each one I've made has been a little different, depending on the yarn, but the pattern is always forgiving. It's good for beginners because if you make a mistake it's really hard to notice on the finished product.

You can use any kind of yarn you want for this project, but I recommend using a combo that goes like this:

Yarn A: something interesting with either good texture or lots of colors, something that pops
Yarn B: a solid colored yarn that coordinates with A
Yarn C: a mohair or something hazy for the lace

In the following picture, if we pretend the blue isn't there, than the sea green would be the A, the yellow-green is the B, and the grey is the C.
Pretending aside, I threw the blue in on a whim cause I liked it, so really, people, you should be using whatever yarn you darn well please.



To get a good drape, you'll want to use larger needles than you would normally use for your yarn. For instance, with worsted weight yarn, you'd want a size 10 needle or so. If your yarn is a range of different weights don't worry about it, just base your needle size off of a weight somewhere in the middle.

This scarf is knit flat on straight needles, but I'd recommend knitting on circular needles if you have them to accommodate all the stitches you cast on at the beginning.

The scarf is knit from the widest part of the triangle down.
The top of your triangle should be around 36 inches, though feel free to go bigger or smaller.

Figure out how many stitches per inch you get knitting in garter with Yarn A.
Mulitply that by 36 and then round to the nearest ODD number. Cast on that many stitches.

PATTERN:

Garter Section:

With Yarn A:
Knit 2 rows
Switch to Yarn B.
Knit 1 Decrease row as follows : SSK, knit to end, K2tog
Knit 1 row.
Knit 1 Decrease row.
Knit 1 row.

Lace Section:
Switch to Yarn C.
Row 1: P1, K1, *yo, K2tog* repeat until last stitch, P1
Row 2: P2tog, purl to last 2 stitches, P2tog
Repeat these two rows 4 more times, or until the lace section is a big as you want it be.

Then knit another Garter Section.

Keep alternating the Garter Section and the Lace Section till you have about 3 stitches left,
then K3tog and pull the yarn through the last stitch.

Attach fringe to the start of each section on both sides. You'll want to use a mix of all the yarns in the scarf for the fringe, just mix them all together until it looks like a good balance to you. I like to make my fringe really long, and then cut it at the end until the length looks right.

Wear your messiness with pride!