If you have a cable sweater as swoony as this one photographed by Vanessa Jackman, and the perfect pale cocoon coat to go over it, what better to complement it with than the ultimate stockinette scarf? This one is as simple as can be, but striking because of its scale and how nicely it plays with others. It almost looks like it’s made from flat felt instead of yarn, or something, but what you or I would want for our version is some mega yarn, such as Loopy Mango’s Big Loop merino, and a pair of US50 knitting needles. Then all you need to do is figure out your gauge and multiply that by how wide you want your scarf to be — e.g., if you’re at 1.5″ per stitch, 8 stitches would make a 12″ wide scarf. Work in stockinette will you run out of yarn or reach your desired length, whichever comes first!
See Vanessa’s post for another view.
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Street style photo © Vanessa Jackman; used with permission
Love those enormous stitches! I wonder if you could copy that look by cutting a felted sweater or a t-shirt into strips and knitting that up? Hmmm….that just gave me an idea of what to do with the embarrassingly big pile of cashmere sweaters I have from the thrift store…
It’s beautiful yarn, that’s for sure, but I’m not sure there are very many people willing to pay $195.00 for a skein giving 120 yards. I am still a bit shell shock and keep wondering if it must be some kind of mistake!
I thought that too but when you look at the cost per gram you can see how chunky it is. It’s like buying 22 50g skeins in one! Not sure I’d want a scarf weighing over 1kg, I’d get neck ache. But it does look great.
I would love to be finished with a scarf in an hour (which is what I estimate this would be!) but the horror of knitting on 50s with yarn this size is just so inelegant and clumsy that there would be absolutely no pleasure in the making for me.
I hear you on the 50s; whenever I knit with big needles (anything above 20 or so), I feel like Wilma Flinstone knitting with dinosaur bones.
It almost looks like they have ironed it after blocking!! Such a cool looking scarf!
I think the only way to get a wearable scarf (as in, not weighing a ton scarf) would be to use an acrylic blend. Yes, I know, acrylic. But some blends are actually quite nice and enable you to get great texture and lighter yarn. Not to mention easier to wash, because cream yarn + city life = very dirty very quickly.
I actually think the Big Loop on size 50 needles might be slightly overkill — assuming the glasses frames in the photo are about 2 in tall (based on some similar ones I have), I think the gauge of that scarf is only(!) about 1 st/inch. Based on the gauge of Loopy Mango patterns, it seems like the Big Loop knits up on size 50s to more like 0.6–0.75 st/in (each stitch is 1.5–1.75 in wide).
If you were going to use the Loopy Mango Big Loop, it might make sense to buy the kit for the New Yorker scarf ($150, includes needles, makes an 8″ x 72″ scarf) — if you look at the photos for that kit, I can’t imagine wanting anything much wider at such a bulky gauge, even with some stockinette curl.
I *think* you might be able to get a drapey 1 st/inch with Cascade Magnum on size 35s (19mm) or 36s (20mm), which could be an option for a tighter budget (9.5 cents per gram). For people bothered by the stockinette curling-into-a-tube thing, knitting in 1×1 rib looks like stockinette, but lies flat. Other super bulkys that come to mind: Takhi Big Montana, Wool and the Gang Crazy Sexy Wool, Mondial Express (if you’re okay with blends — it’s 50% acrylic), or these lovelies: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LivingDreamsYarn?section_id=15596815
However, what I’m tempted to do is try 9-ply or 12-ply Plötulopi (the unspun Lopi) — gently wound into three or four separate 3-ply balls, then held triple/quad on 19mm or 20mm needles. I got this idea from Védís Jónsdóttir’s Rú capelet, where the bottom third is knit in 9-ply Plötulopi on 12mm needles. Plötulopi comes in 300m “wheels” for about 9 cents per gram, so this is also potentially an economical option, if maybe a bit more adventurous! (And hey, Schoolhouse Press gives a 20% discount on full stacks of 18 wheels of the same color — find a friend or two to join in the adventure??)
Happy New Year, Karen!
One can also use 2-3 skeins of Woolfolk Hygge and US 19 needles which would make a very light scarf, for this is a chainette construction yarn. Which has a slightly felted look without the weight. Luxurious and soft for all the fibers that it’s comprised of, and again warm for the super bulky weight of it. http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/woolfolk-hygge
I actually wonder how the scarf could have such big stitches but looks so flat at the same time?!
http://www.wllwproject.com
Ok this has really gotten me thinking. I’m going to try and create a version with some roving…this is beautiful.
I really must know how they got the flat look. It’s so cool!
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