Yahoo! I've been wanting to do the checkerboard mesh stitch for a while, and since the days are getting colder, it gives me an excellent excuse to stay warm and cozy knitting at home and listening to audiobooks. Life is never boring when you love books and knitting, it seems :D
Still on a nostalgia trip, I listened to the audiobooks for Tamora Pierce's Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like A Man, and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, while knitting this project.
The first three are nice, easy reads for the junior and teen crowd, with an awesome, kick-ass protagonist named Alanna. Alanna carries the books from the mundane to something special. Even though these were written in the 80s, young readers can still find something to admire and aspire to in a strong, female character.
The Amber Spyglass, however, was a little bit of a letdown. Recall in my last post that The Golden Compass is one of my all-time favourite books as a child? Well, this last installment...I don't even have words for it. Just read my not-a-real review if you want the low-down on this book.
Anyway, enough of books and on to this stitch pattern! You can find the original pattern from knittingstitchpatterns, an excellent resource for many more beautiful knitting patterns.
Materials:
-knitting needles, size 6.5 mm or US 10.5
-steel yarn needles, size 7cm (for sewing finished ends together)
-about 3 balls of Red Heart Soft Touch royal blue yarn (266m/ball)
This scarf measured 117 cm long before the two ends were sewn together, and then 56 cm after the two ends were sewn together to become an infinity scarf. It is 34.5 cm wide.
This pattern incorporates a seed stitch border to prevent the possibility of curling. I also made the scarf thicker by casting on stitches and knitting using two yarn balls at the same time.
This pattern is knitted in a multiple of 10 + 4 sts and a 20-row repeat.
For this project:
Cast on 44 stitches.
Then begin pattern below with a 5 stitch seed at the beginning and end of each row.
Row 1 and all wrong side rows: P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, then P until last five stitches, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 2: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K4, * yo, ssk, k1, (k2tog, yo) 2 times, k3; rep from * to last five stitches, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 4: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, * K3, (yo, ssk) 2 times, k1, k2tog, yo; rep from * to last 9 sts, k4, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 6: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K2, * (yo, ssk) 3 times, k4; rep from * to last 7 sts, yo, ssk, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 8: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K1, * (yo, ssk) 4 times, k2; rep from * to last 8 sts, yo, ssk, k1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Rows 10: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K2, * (yo, ssk) 3 times, k4; rep from * to last 7 sts, yo, ssk, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Rows 12: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, * K3, (yo, ssk) 2 times, k1, k2tog, yo; rep from * to last 9 sts, k4, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Rows 14: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K4, * yo, ssk, k1, (k2tog, yo) 2 times, k3; rep from * to last 5 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 16: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K2tog, yo, *k4, (k2tog, yo) 3 times; rep from * to last 7 sts, k2, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 18: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K1, k2tog, yo, * k2, (k2tog, yo) 4 times; rep from * to last 6 sts, k1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Row 20: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1,K2tog, yo, *k4, (k2tog, yo) 3 times; rep from * to last 7 sts, k2, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Repeat the 20 row pattern twice, and then add a 7 row seed stitch break, then continue another 40 rows of the pattern above, and so on until the desired length is reached.
End with 7 rows of seed stitch and bind off, then sew the two ends together to make an infinity scarf.
Here are pictures of the finished project:
Somehow it looked brighter when I changed the angle of the camera lens...
This is the reverse side of the stitch:
And folding it up to be wrapped as a present! Tada!
