How to Knit a Circle Scarf

This post has been a long time coming, just over two years to be exact.  It's no secret that my most popular post doesn't include an outfit, day out or wishlist but is a tutorial on how to knit my favourite kind of scarf.  Infinity, circle, snood, whatever you may call it, I love a scarf without an end, that doesn't fly off your neck in high winds and makes you look a little bit like a sculpture.  I was first inspired to knit one back in 2009 after seeing them around the blogosphere and followed up with a shorter cowl a year later to test out a different stitch.  Ever since then I've wondered what to create next and how best to present it, so this time around I decided to take step-by-step photos of the process.  I started off with gusto at the beginning of December, experienced a lull in between and quickly wrapped things up once I saw that snow was on the horizon. 

Choosing Yarns

I'm not a knitwear student any more but from looking at my room you wouldn't know it, there's still knit paraphernalia everywhere!  I decided to put the yarns lying around to good use and create a scarf with a random, multi-yarn effect.  By mixing in a combination of finer yarns with some thicker wool, numerous patterns are created as you knit and if you run out of a certain colour, you can just pop in something similar.  I decided on a comic-book colour palette of reds, blues and neutrals to contrast with the dark grey wool yarn.  If you want to achieve a similar effect I'd use a few extremely fine yarns or even threads along with a thicker yarn that is suitable for whatever needles you're using.  The amount you need depends on how long you'd like your scarf to be, 3-5 balls of 100g wool should be plenty.  Be prepared for your yarns to jiggle around on the floor when you're knitting, avoid tangles by keeping your yarns evenly grouped together and be prepared to wind back any that are loose.

Casting on

Create a slipknot and cast on 28 stitches using size 10mm needles.  I always use the 'knitting on' cast on method as it seems the most secure in my eyes, but choose whichever method you like. 








The Pattern

I liked the moss stitch in my last scarf so much, I decided to do it twice.  Double Moss Stitch is indeed a thing and creates a textured check pattern if done correctly.  Slip the first stitch of each row if you'd like a neater edge, but it's not necessary for an easier life.

Rows 1 and 2 - Knit 2, purl 2, repeat until the end of the row

Rows 3 and 4 - Purl 2, knit 2, repeat until the end of the row

After a while it should hopefully be clear which stitches are which and you can work out what comes next or whether you've made any mistakes.  Due to a few lapses in concentration I'd occasionally look down and realise that I'd messed up, luckily it was nothing a spot of unravelling couldn't fix.







The length your scarf can be is up to you. If you'd prefer a cowl, go for roughly 80cm and if you'd prefer a snood you can wrap around twice, try 160cm. Wrap the scarf around yourself every so often to see what feels comfortable and keep knitting until you can't take the cold any longer!










Casting Off & Finishing

To create a seamless finish it's best to join the ends of the scarf together by casting off.  It's like a typical cast off except you are treating the other end of the scarf the same as the stitches currently on the needle.  Arrange your scarf as if it were joined, bring your empty needle through the first stitch and then through the first hole you can see at the other end of the scarf (hopefully the picture explains this).  Knit this stitch, then the following stitch in the same way and then slip the first stitch over the second one on the right needle.  Knit another stitch, then slip again making sure you never have more than two stitches on your right needle.  Continue until one stitch remains, then cut your yarn, pull through and secure.  Weave in any loose threads with a crochet hook or latch tool then pop your scarf on and go about your business!

It seems that a lot of us are thinking about knitting lately, Cat's posted this handy video tutorial on her blog which should hopefully make things crystal clear.  If you're still stuck, feel free to comment, e-mail me or tweet me and I'll do my best to help out.

Let me know how you get on!  Now all I need is a matching hat...

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