Summer Medley Scarf!

 Tulip Chart

Bumble-Bee Chart

I had so wanted to have the light summer scarf pattern finished to share before summer's end! I revised my original swatch. I thought that the trellis stitches on the sides were too much. The piece, in general, looked too busy. However, I still wanted to use a variation of the two stitch patterns that I came across in the Second (and Third) Treasury of Knitting Patterns, by Barbara Walker. I really liked the tulip and the bumble bee. Both, in my opinion, captured the idea of spring and summer.

My life, at present, is so hectic and full of interruptions, it's very difficult to find a quiet hour to knit. So, instead of having you all wait to try this scarf until I am able to knit it, I decided I'd post my charts and directions so that, perhaps, if your life is quieter than mine, you'll be able to knit it up before summer ends!

The design calls for fingering-weight yarn (I am using Knit Picks Palette in Bluebell) ... and a size US 7 circular needle with a 24" cord.

The bottom of the scarf will have a nice picot edge, so .... to start, use the knitted cast on to cast on six (6) stitches. Next, bind off  four (4) stitches. You've made your first picot. Continue casting on six stitches and binding off four until you have 48 stitches. (Which means, you will cast on 6 and bind off 4 for a total of 24 times.) If you'd rather not have the picot edge, you can always just cast on 48 stitches and go from there!

Before you begin the charts, seed stitch (beginning with a knit stitch) three rows. To make a little border edge, continue to knit in seed stitch the first and last three stitches of each row. For instance if you are on a knit row (right side), you will k1, p1, k1 on the first three stitches, then p1,  k1, p1 on the last three stitches. You'll begin your purl row (wrong side) with a p1, k1, p1 and end the row with k1, p1, k1. I hope this makes sense! Just follow the charts ... I've put these stitches in them.

After the three seed-stitch rows, begin the bumble-bee chart. Work the chart one time, then stockinette stitch 5 rows, beginning and ending with a purl row.
After the 5 stockinette rows, begin the tulip chart. When finished with all 26 rows of the tulip, stockinette stitch 5 rows (again, beginning and ending with a purl row). Begin the bumble-bee pattern again.

There are two directions to point out: When working the bumble-bee chart, on the purl rows, as you come to the double yarn overs, knit into the first yarn over, then purl into the second. I neglected to make the little dots on the knit stitches on the purl row that will follow the last row on the chart. Please excuse!!

On the tulip chart, there is a double decrease /|\ you will work this by slipping 2 stitches, knitting 1, then passing the two slipped stitches over. You will find this decrease on rows 18 and 26.

Continue knitting for as long as you'd like the scarf! I think it would look marvelous as a very long scarf, working at least 8 repeats of the charts, ending with the bumble-bee design. Again, seed-stitch three rows and then, if you'd like, work a picot bind-off  ... or just a simple bind off. You could add a fringe or tassels, if you'd like. I think that adding different-length strands of yarn with small crocheted or knitted flowers on the ends could be very quirky and cute.

To match the 4-stitch picot cast on, for the picot bind off:  Cable cast on 4 stitches, bind off 8 stitches. Slip the last stitch from the right-hand needle back to the left-hand needle. Repeat until all the stitches have been bound off.

KEY:

Right Side:
blank square: knit
dotted square: purl
o - yarn over
/ - knit two together
\ - slip, slip, knit
 /|\ - slip two stitches, knit one, pass the two slipped stitches over

Wrong Side:
blank square: purl
dotted square: knit