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In this tutorial, weíre going to learn to knit this spiral scarf.
And if youíd like your own copy of the pattern, you can visit the link Iíve given you in
the video description just below the video, that will take you to my website.
This is a traditional scarf shape, and youíll sometimes see it called a ruffle scarf or
a potato chip scarf, because you canít knit just one, I guess is the joke there.
Iíve designed this one specifically to really show off a pretty yarn.
We have really broad spirals and we use garter stitch, which is my new favorite old stitch,
and weíre using short rows, wraps and turns, and picking up wraps to keep the fabric really
smooth.
Now when I say a pretty yarn, Iím using, or when I knit this I used Hazel Knits DK
Lively yarn, and this color is called Vamp, and I love it.
Itís a beautiful yarn. You use one hank of yarn and this is ñ I really encourage you
to use a luxury yarn for this.
Because itís just one hank.
Not only will it make a lovely scarf to give as a Christmas gift or something else, but
youíre going to love the experience of knitting something when itís so pretty the whole time
youíre working on it.
Now this is a pretty simple pattern to memorize.
Weíre going to go through the entire pattern repeat, coming up next, in the next part.
Okay, if you have your free copy of the pattern, and your beautiful yarn, and your size 7 needles,
weíre ready to go.
Letís take a look first at what the shape of the scarf ultimately looks like.
Iím undoing these spirals here to show you.
This being the cast on row.
And we work around like this, with a lot more stitches on the outside of the work than the
inside. Or the left side and the right side, however you want to look at it.
And thatís because weíre doing short rows.
Itís interesting, we were just playing with this, if you unroll the spiral you can end
up with this donut shape [laughs] or you can twist it up into the spiral shape, as I was
wearing it, or you can just wear it as a ruffle scarf like that.
Okay.
Iím going to use big needles and chunky yarn to demonstrate this, as I usually do.
And the pattern tells you to cast on 16 stitches and knit back across those stitches.
And this is where weíre ready to go.
And Iíll tell you, I actually knit this scarf on double pointed needles.
Not because you need the double points, just because I like to use the shortest needles
possible.
And I didnít want a cord flopping around or anything.
Whoops! Iím starting on the wrong end.
There is a danger of double pointed needles! I almost knit with my tail.
Okay.
Row 1 has me knitting across 12 stitches.
Okay.
So you knit across 12 stitches. You have not knit across all 16 stitches.
Weíre going to wrap the 13th stitch.
To do that, Iím going to pull my working yarn forward between the two needles, slip
the stitch from the left needle to the right, pull the yarn back between the two needles,
and slide that stitch back over to the left needle.
Donít worry ñ weíre going to do this plenty more times.
Now I turned my work.
I was like this ñ swap the needles in your hands so that you have four stitches over
here on the right needle.
Pull the yarn back between he two needles to knit.
And what we just did there was a short row wrap and turn.
Okay.
That was Row 1, and Row 2 just had us knitting back across those 12 stitches.
Row 3, weíre going to knit across 10 stitches.
And weíre going to do another wrap and turn.
I need to free up some more yarn.
Another wrap and turn.
Pull the yarn forward between the two needles.
Slip the stitch, as if to purl, always put your needle in as if to purl.
Slip that stitch from the left needle to the right.
Pull the yarn back between the two needles.
Slip that stitch back over to the left needle.
And turn your work.
Okay. And then Iím going to knit back across those
stitches.
Okay.
So we wrapped after 12 stitches, we wrapped after 10 stitches, on this row Iím going
to wrap after 8 stitches.
Pull the yarn forward between the two needles, slip the stitch from the left needle to the
right, pull the yarn back between the two needles, slip that stitch from the right to
the left, and turn your work.
And then knit back across those 8 stitches.
Okay that was 8, now weíre going to knit 6 and wrap and turn.
See all the practice youíre getting with wrapping and turning!
Forward between the two needles, slip that stitch, back between the two needles, slip
it back, turn the work.
Okay, and this is the last short row.
Itís going to be knitting 4.
Okay.
Now weíve wrapped stitch 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.
This row, weíve finished the short rows, you can already see that this is taking shape.
Itís much shorter over here than it is over here.
This row weíre going to pick up the wraps and knit them together with the stitch as
we knit across.
So Iíll knit the first 4, because my first wrap is at stitch 5.
And picking these up makes the work look really neat and tidy.
So itís worth the extra work.
Thereís my stitch.
The wrap is kind of around the neck of the stitch right here.
Itís the horizontal bar, right there.
And if you have nice, sharp needles for this, it does make it easier.
Pick up that wrap, and you put it up on the needle with the stitch.
Donít worry, we have plenty more of these to do so youíll get a good look at it again.
Then Iím going to knit those two together, and that was a successfully picked up wrap!
Okay, that was ñ I knit one more, because the next wrap is here.
Thereís the little horizontal bar, you canít miss it, itís the thing right under the stitch,
running kind of the wrong direction.
Pick that up and put it up on the needle with the stitch, knit those together.
Whoops, Iím splitting the stitch.
This is pretty tight right here with knitting them together, so I just use the tips of the
needles to do it.
And then knit one more to come to the next wrapped stitch.
Pick up that wrap, up on the needle with the stitch, knit them together.
Whoops.
Hold on Iím getting confused.
Two, 4, 5, 7, 9 ñ I do need to knit one stitch. I couldnít see the wrap, because it didnít
have a wrap!
Because itís here.
Knit one stitch, and this will be the last wrap.
Up on the needle.
And you see, when I said the knitting two together is pretty tight, Iím just sticking
with the tips of the needles here because it is kind of hard to shove that through both.
But, it works out fine.
And then to finish the pattern repeat, Iím just going to knit back across, whoops, knit
back across all these stitches.
And you can see, the shape that weíre getting here.
Now the last important thing I need to tell you is, um, the only real mistake that you
can make while youíre knitting this is to forget which way youíre going, and to start
to do the right side work on the wrong side.
I consider this the right side, with the longer edge over here on the right.
And the shorter edge over here on the left.
If you accidentally skip the last row of the pattern repeat, and start working the short
rows from this side, your scarf will end up being perfectly straight and not spiral, because
youíre compensating, kind of putting pie pieces together and compensating for the curve
each time.
So make sure that youíre always starting the short rows from the long side of the work.
If youíre following the pattern and keeping track of your rows, that shouldnít be a problem.
So I hope you find yourself a really pretty yarn to do this with, and you make a lot of
them for Christmas gifts.
Good luck.
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