Knitting: Reversible Ribble(c) Scarf

Raye G. Schwartz

This scarf was inspired by a shawl designed by Lily Chin and featured Vogue Knitting, Winter '99. You may copy and use this pattern freely for personal use or charity knitting only, but you may not sell it or knit it, (or an adaptation of it in other yarns) for profit without written permission of the designer and Lily Chin.

Materials:
4 skeins Plymouth Indecita Alpaca, sport
Size 6 (US) needles

Gauge:
6 st/in; 8 rows/in

Finished size before blocking: 14 x 58 (your gauge may yield slightly different measurements) Note: This scarf can be manipulated by aggressive wet blocking to a longer and wider size because of its stretch-iness!

Instructions (some help on knitting):
Cast on 72 stitches and knit 4 rows of garter stitch. On last row place markers after 4 stitches, then every 16 stitches.

Begin pattern as follows:

Row 1 (and all odd rows except for cable rows as below): Sl 1, K3, (k2, p2) to last 4 stitches, k3, sl 1
Row 2 (and all even rows): P1, K3, (k2, p2) to last 4 stitches, k3, p1

Cable row A
Sl 1, K3, *slip 8 stitches to cable needle and hold to front, (k2, p2) 2x, (k2, p2) 2x from cable needle*; repeat * to * once more, k2, p2 next 16 stitches; *slip 8 stitches to cable needle and hold to front, (k2, p2) 2x, (k2, p2) 2x from cable needle*; repeat * to * once more, k2, p2 next 16 stitches; k3, sl 1.

Repeat this row on the following rows: 17, 49, 81, 113, 145, 177, 209, 241, 273, 305, 337, 369, 401, 433, 465, 497, 529, 561, 593, 625, 657, 689, 721, 753, 785, 817, 849.

Cable row B
Sl 1, K3, (k2, p2) next 16 stitches; *slip 8 stitches to cable needle and hold to front, (k2, p2) 2x, (k2, p2) 2x from cable needle*; repeat * to * once more, k2, p2 next 16 stitches; *slip 8 stitches to cable needle and hold to front, (k2, p2) 2x, (k2, p2) 2x from cable needle*; repeat * to * once more, k3, sl 1.

Repeat this row on the following rows: 33, 65, 97, 129, 161, 193, 225, 257, 289, 321, 353, 385, 417, 449, 481, 513, 545, 577, 609, 641, 673, 705, 737, 769, 801, 833, 865.

After last cable row, repeat rows 1 and 2 for another 16 rows, then end 4 rows garter and cast off.

Finishing:
Wash the scarf in hot water and shampoo or mild soap, then block aggressively and leave until thoroughly dry. This last step is essential, especially with alpaca as it has little "memory" and will pull in quite unattractively on the cable rows without first blocking.

Knitting scarf easy