wiseNeedle - Pattern - Kombu Scarf

Kombu Scarf - a knitting pattern PRINT


Working Notes Materials Gauge Special Instructions Pattern Finishing

Notes

This pattern is a present for everyone else who has spent way too much time knitting up beautiful but boring-to-make garter stitch scarves on oversize needles. I did a flock of these and was looking to work up something more interesting as an antidote. The Kombu Scarf was my result.

I had a skein of Schaefer Yarn's Little Lola on hand. The hand-dyed color made me think of a particular National Geographic photo from a recent feature - an underwater view of a sunlit kelp forest, off Monterey, California. That image of swaying, dappled greens and browns inspired this scarf and its name. (Kombu is the Japanese word for kelp, I thought it sounded more graceful than the English).

Little Lola is a 100% Merino wool, marked as knitting up at 5 stitches per inch, although I like it better as a DK at 5.5 stitches = 1 inch. This merino yarn is soft and easy to wear next to the skin. It's a hand-dyed yarn. No two skeins even of the same color number are going to be exactly alike, so even if you happen to find the same color I used, chances are that your scarf will look slightly different. That's the joy of using an artisianal yarn. Every object knit is one-of-a-kind. This particular skein had more colors in it than other skeins of Little Lola I've used on other projects. My brown-green cycle lasted only a couple of stitches for each color before shifting to the next. The colors were particularly well chosen, and shaded into each other beautifully, with no harsh jumps or muddy sections between them. If you don't have any hand-dyed yarn available, this pattern would look quite nice in a solid color DK weight wool or wool blend, preferably a smooth-finish yarn that is soft enough to be comfortable against the skin.

Because the edging of this scarf is knit right along with the work, there is no seaming. Skills needed for this project include knitting two or three stitches together, sssk (a three-stitch version of the standard ssk decrease), doing a yarn over, picking up along an edge, and knitting an edging across a group of live stitches. As such, it covers some of the same skills as more complex lace pieces, and might be a nice intro for someone who is thinking of graduating to lace shawls in the future.

Materials

US #4 (3.5mm) needles or size needed to achieve gauge.
1 skein Schaefer Yarn's Little Lola - 4 ounces/280 yards (113g/256 meters) Each skein of Little Lola is hand dyed in a unique color combo, so there is no color number or name to reference. Mine was predominantly forest and olive green, with brown and camel accents.
Two stitch markers, preferably in contrasting colors
Tapestry needle for weaving in the ends

Special Instructions
These abbreviations and symbols are used in this pattern.
	Right Side	Wrong Side
	K - Knit	Purl
	P - Purl	Knit
	YO - Yarn over (make an eyelet increase by laying the yarn on top of the needle)	Yarn over
	M1 - Knit into the back of the bar between the stitch just knit and the next one to be knit. Note: Any increase that doesn't produce an eyelet may be substituted	--
	K2tog - Knit two stitches together	--
	K3tog - Knit three stitches together	--
	SSSK - Slip one stitch knitwise; slip 1 stitch purlwise; slip another stitch purlwise. Return all three stitches to the other needle, then knit them together. This forms a decrease equivalent to K3tog, but slanted in the other direction.	--

Gauge

Approximately 8 stitches = 1 inch in k1, p1 ribbing

Approximate finished dimensions of the sample scarf are 62 inches long by 5 inches wide (about 157cm x 13cm)

Pattern

Bottom Edge

Cast on four stitches
Row 1: K1, yo, k1, yo, k2 [6 st on needle]
Rows 2 and 4: Knit
Row 3: K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2 [7 st]
Row 5: K3 yo, k2tog, yo, k2 [8 st]
Row 6: Cast off four stitches, knit 3 [4 stitches remain]

Repeat rows 1-6 until you have completed seven dags or points. As you finish the last dag, cast off seven stitches, so that only one remains on the needle.

Scarf Body

Pick up a total of 30 stitches across the top of the strip of edging you just completed, placing markers in this manner: pick up three stitches, place a marker. Pick up 23 stitches, place a marker, pick up 4 stitches. Note the color of the first marker you placed. It will be the first marker you encounter on all front (right side) rows. The other color marker will alert you that you should be doing a back (wrong side) row.

The side edgings will be knit at the same time as the scarf body. They will be offset by one row, so every row will start off with an even-numbered row of the edging pattern (usually all knits), and will end with an odd-numbered row of the edging. The edging pattern repeats independently of the main pattern.

Row	Edging 4 to 8 stitches	Main Pattern - 23 stitches	Edging 4 to 8 stitches
Set-up	K4	P23	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 1	K6	K1, p1, sssk, p1, (k1,p1)6x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)2x	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 2	K6	(P1, k1) to second marker	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 3	K7	K1, p1, sssk, p1, (k1, p1)5x yo, p1, yo (p1,k1)3x	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 4	K7	(P1, k1) to second marker	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 5	Cast off 4, k3	K1, p1, sssk, p1, (k1, p1)4x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)4x	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 6	Cast off 4, k3	(P1, k1) to second marker	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 7	K6	K1, p1, sssk, p1, (k1, p1)3x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)5x	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 8	K6	(P1, k1) to second marker	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 9	K7	K1, p1, sssk, p1, (k1, p1)2x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)6x	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 10	K7	(P1, k1) to second marker	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 11	Cast off 4, k 3	K1, p1, sssk, p1, k1, p1, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)7x	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 12	Cast off 4, k3	(P1, k1) to second marker	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 13	K6	K1, p1, sssk, p1, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)8x,	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 14	K6	(P1, k1) to second marker	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 15	K7	K1, p1, sssk, (p1, k1)9x NOTE: There are only 21 stitches between markers on this row	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 16	K7	(P1, k1) to second marker NOTE: There are only 21 stitches between markers on this row	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 17	Cast off 4, k 3	K1, p1, m1, p1, yo, (p1, k1)9x	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 18	Cast off 4, k3	(P1, k1) to second marker	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 19	K6	(K1, p1)2x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)6x, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 20	K6	(P1, k1) to second marker	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 21	K7	(K1, p1)3x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)5x, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 22	K7	(P1, k1) to second marker	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 23	Cast off 4, k 3	(K1, p1)4x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)4x, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 24	Cast off 4, k3	(P1, k1) to second marker	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 25	K6	(K1, p1)5x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)3x, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 26	K6	(P1, k1) to second marker	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 27	K7	(K1, p1)6x, yo, p1, yo, (p1, k1)2x, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 28	K7	(P1, k1) to second marker	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 29	Cast off 4, k 3	(K1, p1)7x, yo, p1, yo, p1, k1, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 30	Cast off 4, k3	(P1, k1) to second marker)	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 31	K6	(K1, p1)8x, yo, p1, yo, p1, k3tog, p1, k1	K1, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 32	K6	(P1, k1) to second marker)	K2, yo, k2tog, k2
	Continue edging pattern as established	Repeat rows 1-32	Continue edging pattern as established

Continue working the scarf until you have completed 9 and a half repeats - stopping after Row 15. At that point you should have also just finished the first of the two cast off rows on the edging. At the completion of this row, seen from the front and counting across, you should have four stitches, a marker, 21 stitches, a marker, and 8 stitches.

Top Edge and Finishing

Cast off four stitches as usual for to end off the last side-edge dag and set yourself up to knit the edging onto the top of the scarf. On your needle you will now have four stitches, a marker, the 21 center motif stitches, a marker, and four stitches. Turn. Cast on three stitches. Turn. You will be starting the edging on the first four stitches on your needle. The remainder of live stitches across the top of the scarf will sit dormant (sleeping), waiting to be knit together with the stitches from the edging. In effect, you will be knitting the edging on to the live stitches across the top of the scarf, finishing off the work and eliminating the need to cast off along the entire top of the piece.

Row 1: K3, k3tog, turn and head back in the other direction (that k3tog contains one edging stitch, plus two sleeping stitches from the scarf top).
Row 2: Slip the first stitch as if to purl, yo, k1, yo, K2
Row 3: K5; k2tog (that's one edging stitch, plus one sleeper). Turn.
Row 4: Slip the first stitch as if to purl; k1, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 5: K6, k2tog (that's one edging stitch, plus one sleeper). Turn.
Row 6: Slip the first stitch as if to purl, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
Row 7: Cast off 4 stitches. K2, k3tog (that's one edging stitch, plus two sleepers). Turn

Repeat rows 2 through 7 until you have completed 7 dags or points, working the last row like this:

Final row: Cast off 6 stitches. K3tog. Pass the previous stitch over the final stitch so that only one stitch remains on the needle. Pull the yarn through this final stitch, cut it and darn in all ends.

Chart in PDF form:

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