Sunday, April 02, 2006

Cheater's lace scarf pattern

Cheater's Lace scarf

Why "cheater's" lace? Because to me, lace is supposed to have a complicated pattern of yarnovers and decreases. There's supposed to be a chart, and it should require immense concentration. This? Not so much. No yarnovers. No chart. The whole time I worked on this, I couldn't help feeling like I was cheating: getting a beautiful lacy effect without having to follow a pattern. You need to be able to remember two things: which side you're working, and the stitch pattern for one stitch.

Karabella Mirage is a relatively forgiving mohair blend, as it tinks pretty easily. I used color 50220 (or 220, depending on where you're looking), but it comes in more, um, subdued colors as well. This particular color made it easy to see which side I was working on, but for less bright shades, you may want to place a marker after the third stitch on the right side.

If you use another yarn, go up a couple of needle sizes from the sizes recommended for your yarn; for example, the Mirage that I used recommends using a size 7 needle, and I used a size 10. Play around and swatch; this is much more about the stitch pattern than anything else.

The stitch pattern is a bit confusing on the page. It should make sense if you have yarn and needles in front of you, but if it's not clicking for you, leave a comment and let me know.
**Added: a photo stitch tutorial is located here.**

For a printer-friendly version, click here.


Cheater's Lace scarf detail

Materials
1 ball Karabella Mirage (72% kid mohair/28% polyamide; 50 g/1.75 oz, 245 yd/225 m)
Size 10 needles (6.0 mm) or size needed to get gauge

Gauge
Approx. 24 sts/14 rows in pattern stitch = 4"
(Gauge is NOT crucial to this pattern)

Finished dimensions
5" wide by 72" long

Cheater's lace stitch (mult. of 3 sts)
P3tog, leaving all 3 sts on left needle. Purl first st on left needle again (still leaving all sts on left needle). P first two sts on left needle together. Slip all 3 sts off left needle.


Pattern Instructions

Cast on 30 sts.

Row 1 and all RS rows: Work cheater's lace stitch across the row.
Row 2 and all WS rows: P all sts.

Work to desired length. BO all sts. Weave in ends and block if necessary.

Cheater's Lace scarf

14 comments:

Knittypants said...

Such pretty scarf. I love the picture of it in the window.

Rain said...

It looks absolutely gorgeous and I love the yarn you used.

Trillian42 said...

Yay! You finished it! It looks awesome!

Did you block it at all? I know it was coming out pretty well, so I wasn't sure if you decided to or not.

sgeddes said...

Beautiful scarf! I might have to give lace a try sometime.

Theresa said...

Lovely! I really like the idea of "cheater's" lace. Maybe headache-free, scream-free or rib-proof lace would also be good descritions!

chacha / Jen said...

Barb, I put up a picture tutorial here. Hope it's helpful!

-Jen

Anonymous said...

I really love the design of this pattern. I am currently knitting it, but have a few of tips for anyone trying it -- especially those, like me, who do not do a lot of knitting.
For the record, I am using a lightweight mohair blend, which does tend to get bind if you are not really careful -- so don't even think about unravelling it to correct a mistake! This is my second attempt. I gave up the first after a few inches, and revised the pattern as below.
First, I use a smaller needle (a 5 mm, #6 Amercian, metal rather than the plastic 6 mm, because metal is easier to winkle under the stitches and doesn't bend).
Second, I increased the stitches to 39 so the scarf is just a bit wider.
Third, knit this as loosely as possible, with virtually no tension, or getting the needle under a stitch on the next row is very difficult.
This pattern cannot be knit quickly and needs concentration all the time. A dropped stitch is almost impossible to repair. Just remember that the all purl row starts with the cast on "tail" on the right. I always do two rows at a time, ending with the purl row so when I pick it up again, I know where I am.
I have not knit in so long that a few rows of this gives me a hand cramp!

Janellen said...

I just want to say THANK YOU for sharing your Cheater's lace scarf pattern. I am relatively new to knitting and wanted to do something "pretty". I'm already of knit 2, purl 2 hahaha. I tried it last night with some cheapy, ugly yarn I had on hand and it even turned out pretty. Your instructions were great and I really feel successful now. Thanks again

Anonymous said...

I was wondering what the difference would be if it was all knit rather then purled? Would it be the same in a backwards type of way?

Gloriamarie Amalfitano said...

I very much like this pattern but when I attempted to go to the printer friendly version of it, Google Docs said "Sorry, you do not have permission to access this document."

Anyway you could email it to me at gloriamarie at gmail dot com?

Thanks

Anonymous said...

GORGEOUS! Thank you so much for sharing and posting the pattern. I've been wondering what to do with some beautiful cornmeal # 6250 yarn that has light green,brownish, chocolate,beige or maybe goldish specks in it. It is pretty and I hope it looks as good as yours.

TEXAS CINDY said...

Oh, I forgot to mention, that I'm using this pattern to make a reclining chair headrest mat. And will knit myself a scarf using some pretty torquoise eyelash that I've had sitting around since last year. Thanks again, TEXAS CINDY (PREVIOUSLY ANONYMOUS)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this pattern and the wonderful pictures to go along with it.
~Andromeda

Anonymous said...

I love this stitch! I wanted a simple lace pattern that didn't require lots of stitch and row counting but was fancier and not as stretchy as the yarnovers I usually use. And I prefer purling to knitting, so it's perfect. Thanks for sharing.