Thursday, November 18, 2010

Good Fences Scarf - a free pattern

I knit this scarf last summer on driving holidays so as to make use of the Colinette ART yarn I'd bought, mid-swoon, the previous September.

I love handpainted and variegated yarns, but it's hard to find a stitch that works well for them.

Scarves themselves are hard, too - knitting them is generally easy enough, but choosing one? Yikes. There are so many patterns out there you're spoiled for choice.

What I like about this one is that it's
reversible
yardage-stretching, thanks to the lace
not too feminine to work for a man, in spite of the lace
and, most importantly - great for variegated yarn.

Yes. Because the stitch count changes partway through, eating up more yarn for a short time and dealing with any colour pooling that might possibly annoy you - and incidentally letting you stretch the scarf out further than otherwise possible, during blocking.

When summer was over and I began to need something to tuck around my neck, I reached for this scarf first. For both me and the man I tested it on, it's big enough to fold in or tie shut around the collar of a coat, but small enough not to be bulky.

That's with the one skein of yarn as written, though - with two, and twice as many pattern repeats before the end, you could make it long enough to hang dramatically and swing a little as you walk.

In fact the only difficulty with this scarf was naming it, until I saw the repeating pattern of chain link and hedges. Good fences, between the good neighbours of reverse pattern repeats.


Download .pdf of Good Fences Scarf

21 comments:

Unknown said...

Very pretty! This will definitely go on my queue. You are right about handpainted yarns. I've bought plenty of them and then just stared at them, wondering what to make.

Kate/Massachusetts said...

Thank you! It is lovely and will be a great knit for Christmas!

heklica said...

I love the scarf! And I agree with you about variegated yarns. I adore them but when it comes to knitting them, they just lose some of the magic in the process. In this case, though, you've managed to preserve it! :)

NH granny said...

I'd love to do this as a skinny scarf approx 5.5" if possible. Could you let me know the multiple stitch number? Thanks

Mary Keenan said...

It's any multiple of 2, plus 2 more (1 for each side!)

NH granny said...

Thanks! I can't wait to get started as I have some multi colored yarn that wasn't working with other scarf patterns.

Cara Chapel said...

When I try this I keep coming up with 67 sts at the end of row 1. And when I chart it according to your description, it HAS to work out odd because every yo is between 2 k sts. Are you sure the pattern is accurate, or am I reading it wrong? I'd really like to make this....

Mary Keenan said...

Cara, are you putting in a YO before the last knit stitch at the end of the row? That's a mistake I made a ton - you want to end that row with two knit stitches.

Cara Chapel said...

Thanks, Mary! That's exactly what I was doing. I misread it....

Anonymous said...

It's nice to know that I am not the only one that made that mistake. Over and over and over again.

Sunflowers said...

October 23-2012

Good Morning...

Like everyone else, I too love your colourful Fences Scarf.

I thinking out loud here to myself if maybe I could do a Cowl rather than just a regular scarf??

I too love handpainted & other variegated yarns. We can wear our little knitted items with almost any outfit, which works well for me.

Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Enjoy wearing your Scarf.

Toodles .. Sandyb

Mary Keenan said...

Sandy, a cowl would work great! The scarf has built-in buttonholes, or you could just sew the ends together if you wanted.

Anonymous said...

I am making this scarf for my daughter and am wondering if you can tell me if I can make it narrower? Maybe half to 3/4 of the sts? My girls are 11 and 13 so I think a smaller one would be better for them. Thanks a ton. Love this pattern. Super easy to work.
Tracy B.

Mary Keenan said...

Tracy, this stitch is just a multiple of 2 + 2 more sts for the border (the K1 on each side.) So, if you reduced it to 26 sts for example, you'd have 24 for the pattern and 1 at each end for the border - it'd still work great. Experiment and see what width you like best!

Anonymous said...

HI, could you please tell me what is the ply of the wool? Thanks

Mary Keenan said...

Sure thing, Anonymous! It's an Aran weight, 10 ply.

Anonymous said...

I had to google search this yarn to find out what weight it is. Can you please include this next time? Thanks. It is really helpful when substituting.

Anonymous said...

You said 'varying the stitch count between rows 1 and 3 prevents pooling in varigated yarn'. I have NO idea what this means!
Please can you explain this. Thanks

Mary Keenan said...

Oops! Sorry Anon - and it doesn't help that Colinette ART is discontinued now. It's an Aran weight, I'll add that information to the description.

Mary Keenan said...

Anon, variegated yarn has a lot of flecks of different colours but for some reason each one wants to clump together with its fellows in a knitted-up fabric. If you vary the stitch count they get confused and break apart, preventing them from pooling :^) There are other tricks for either stopping or showcasing it - if you Google 'variegated yarn pooling' you will find quite a few!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for pattern. I have some pretty variegated yarn that has been waiting for a pattern!