by [1] Gail

Anyways, I recently knit myself a kickass muffler. I needed a short scarf to sit under my bulky winter coat. I wanted it wide enough to keep my neck warm, but long enough that it’d stay crossed over when closed up in my coat. But, I didn’t want much bulk in the chest area. I mean, I already look like the stay puff man in my coat – no need to make matters even worse. So, I ended each end of the scarf in a point – it makes the scarf longer with less yarn, and reduces bulk.

I decided to name it Shag, because the particular colorway of Malabrigo I used looks exactly like 1970s shag carpet when viewed via my blog.

This is my very first pattern, so everyone should tell me what I did wrong. No, really.

Materials:
1 Skein Malabrigo, 100% Merino Wool. 215 yards per 100 grams skein.
US 9 needles, or whatever you need for gauge.

Gauge: 6 sts per inch in rib pattern, UNSTRETCHED.

Notes: The instructions below say to increase. Increase however you want! I tended to knit into the front and back of knit stitches, and purl into the front and back of purl stitches, depending on where I was in the ribbing pattern. But I highly doubt it actually matters.

Rib Pattern: K2, P2, repeat to end. You could actually use any ribbing you like, though. It’s crazy that way!

Pattern:

Cast On 3 stitches.

Increase Section:

Row 1 (RS): K2, increase one. (Four Stitches on needle)
Row 2: Increase one in the next following two stitches, P2. (Six stitches on needle)
Row 3: K2, P2, K1, increase one. (7 stitches on needle)
Row 4: Increase one in each of the next two stitches, p1, k2, p2 (9 stitches on needle)
Row 5: (k2, P2) twice, increase one (10 stitches on needle)
Row 6: increase one in each of the next two stitches, (k2,p2) twice (12 stitches on needle)

Main Body:

Continue in the same vein, incorporating the rib pattern into the new stitches until you have 40 stitches on the needle. Knit straight for 30 inches, ending with a RS row.

Decrease Section:

Row 1 (WS): Cast off two stiches, knit in rib pattern to the end.
Row 2 (RS): Knit in rib pattern to last two stitches, then decrease one.

Continue the above until you are out of stitches.

That’s pretty much it!