Having had a bit of time on my hands lately, I was looking for a fun and easy project that didn’t require too much concentration. This scarf, constructed almost entirely of garter stitch – was the perfect candidate.

Using one strand each of Habu Stainless Steel and K1 Linen, I cast on roughly 200 stitches, then knit 10 rows. On the next row, I K1M1, essentially doubling the number of stitches on the needle. After another 10 rows, the stitches were again doubled, and so on, until ending up with 800 stitches on needles and roughly 40 rows. After casting off, the edges were finished with double crochet just to even them up again.

The final touch was a lovely pearl brooch – and voila! – a classic ruffle scarf done using garter stitch and increases.

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.