Saturday, April 14, 2012

Sock Yarn "Woven" Scarf



 I love knitting socks. I last counted I had about 40 pairs for me alone, and that doesn't count the socks I have made for my husband, my sons, and friends. I like to brag that I haven't purchased a pair of sock for 20 years, but I have spent more on socks than anyone who has.  So I have several small balls of left over sock yarn in a variety of colors. I figured out a way to use up several of these balls and add creativity to my project at the same time.

So dig out through your stash for sock yarn too small to make more than baby socks (which, of course, is also an option), and mix and match colors and variegations to your heart's content.

Materials:
Left overs of sock yarns – varying lengths. I had a couple of remnants of orange and orange variegated yarns
Size 9 (4mm) circular needle at least 36”
Stitch marker
Yarn needle

Gauge: Not important, but about 11 stitches to 2 inches.

Cast on about 360 stitches or any amount depending on how long you want the scarf.  This will be about a 5½ foot scarf.  

Row 1: Knit 5, knit 1 into the back of the stitch, place marker. This will make the fringe. *K1, Sl1 with yarn in front* across the entire row to last six stitches. Place marker. Knit into the back of the stitch, K5.

Row 2: Knit 5, knit 1 into the back of the stitch, place marker. *P1, Sl1 with yarn in back * across the entire row to last six stitches. Place marker. Knit into the back of the stitch, K5. 

When you change colors and yarn, there is no need to tie it off. Just start knitting with the new yarn. All ends will be trimmed with the fringe.

Be sure you are purling the stitch that you slipped in the previous row.  The float of the stitch will always be on one side of the scarf.

Last row: K5. Remove these from your needle and just let them hang. Don’t worry if they unravel. We’re going to unravel them in the next step anyway. Bind off loosely all the stitches to the marker. Fasten off leaving a tail of 10 inches. Do not bind off the last five stitches. You will be binding off the twisted stitch.


Self fringe

Pull out and unravel the five stitches on each end. This is actually kinda of fun. After all these years of trying not to drop stitches and see them run all the way down, now you get to do it on purpose! 

Once I've unravelled all the edges, I lay the scarf on the table and straighten out the fringe as much as possible. Trim them to the same length. This is why you didn't have to worry about tying on the new yarns; they will just be added to the fringe. There is a loop on the end of some of the edges so be sure these are all trimmed.  

The twisted stitch gives you a solid line between the body of the scarf and the fringe.

This fringe is fast and takes no joining of seams, weaving of ends, or measuring and winding.  It is the only time that I put a fringe on a scarf because I just don't like doing it.

 



5 comments:

  1. Cool pattern, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clever. I don't like fringing but this is easy. Thanks.
    I like the scarf and colors. Nice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for sharing--this is a great pattern!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this scarf! I made a similar one using just garter st. and shades of purple and blue. It turned out to be one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete