free knitting pattern :: tide pool scarf

This is my own pattern for a really soft, textural, circular scarf... I hope you like it!

The yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in Sea, Fog, and Fennel. You will need just one 50g skein of each color. Use a pair of US 8/5 mm straight knitting needles. You will also need a large needle or a crochet hook for finishing the scarf. Let's begin!

Cast on 40 stitches. We will be working a mock cable pattern of 10 stitches, so the pattern will repeat 4 times across each row.

Row 1: p4, k1, p1, k4 (repeat this sequence until the end of the row).

Row 2: p3, k2, p2, k3 (repeat).

Row 3: p2, k2, p1, k1, p2, k2 (repeat).

Row 4: p1, k2, p2, k2, p2, k1 (repeat).

Row 5: k2, p3, k3, p2 (repeat).

Row 6: k1, p4, k4, p1 (repeat).

These six rows are the pattern for the body of the scarf. To get nice, wide stripes I changed colors after knitting 12 rows. You can make your stripes as wide, or as narrow, as you like.

Keep knitting until your scarf is about 27 inches long, then bind off and cut your yarn. The dimensions of my scarf were 8 inches x 27 inches. Yours could be a little longer or shorter if you like, just make sure to finish you last stripe so it's the same width as the others!

There's just one more step...

We're going to sew or crochet the two short ends of our scarf together to make a circular scarf, but before you do you have to give it a single twist!

In other words, lay the scarf flat and bring the short ends together. Instead of matching up the corners normally, give the end a twist so that the opposite corners are together. It makes a twist in the scarf that you can see in the first photo. Like a moebius shape. Does that make sense? Good.

Now you can choose to whipstitch or single crochet the short ends together to make your mobius-like loop. When you where your scarf, put the twist in front!