w00t! Another knitting project is finally complete. This time it’s a long, warm scarf in Paton’s Inca (colourway 7005 lavender/grey) for Jen, to match the recently-finished Jen’s Open Star Stitch Beanie. Like the beanie, this was a great way to use up leftover wool.

However, rather than just a normal rib scarf, I wanted to experiment with texture a little – and wondered whether Paton’s Inca would take well to openwork. I’m a beginner with knitted lace, but open star stitch is not too hard to do.

Really, the only hurdle I found was getting an appropriate gauge for open star stitch – this knits to a tighter gauge that stocking stitch or garter stitch, so I had to go up to 8.0mm needles from the regular 7.00mm ones that normally yield correct gauge for Inca.

The pattern is dead simple – open star stitch – and is worked over four rows:

Using 8.00mm and Patons Inca (7 x 50g balls required for scarf, 1 x 50g ball required for optional fringe), cast on a multiple of 3 stitches. For the garment shown, 42 stitches were used.

R1: K4, cast off second stitch that was knitted by slipping it over R needle. K3, *cast off the first of the three, yfwd*. Repeat from * to * until one stitch remains, K1.

R2: purl

R3: K2, yfwd, *K3, cast off the first of the three, yfwd*. Repeat from * to * until two stitches remain, K2.

R4: purl

Repeat until scarf reaches desired length, cast off on either R2 or R4 in purl, sew in ends.

Add a fringe if desired by looping 2-3 strands of inca through one of the eyelets made by open star stitch and tying into a knot.