Valley Yarns Foreground Scarf Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Foreground Scarf

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Foreground Scarf is a lightweight, textured knitted scarf measuring 60 inches long and 10 inches wide. This beginner-friendly design showcases an elegant lace pattern that combines delicate openwork with structured garter stitch bands, creating a uniquely dimensional fabric suitable for layering or draping.

Knitting Techniques Used

This scarf employs several fundamental knitting techniques that make it accessible to beginners while producing sophisticated results:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The scarf is knit side to side rather than end to end, meaning you cast on 240 stitches and work across the width, building length with each row. This approach allows you to easily adjust the finished length by continuing to work the pattern repeat until your desired dimensions are achieved.
• Seamless, Worked Flat: The entire scarf is created in one continuous piece on flat needles with no seaming required, eliminating the need for finishing seams and ensuring a smooth, polished appearance.
• Lace Knitting: The design features a lace stitch pattern known as the "Background Stitch" from Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns. Unlike traditional lace stitches that rely strictly on paired increases and decreases, this stitch creates openwork through a unique bundling action where yarn overs are dropped in subsequent rows, making it accessible even for relatively inexperienced knitters.

Stitches Used

The Foreground Scarf utilizes a limited stitch vocabulary, making it ideal for knitters building their foundational skills:

• Knit Stitch (k): The primary stitch, used throughout the pattern for both the garter stitch bands and the main lace structure.
• Purl Stitch (p): Used selectively within the lace pattern rows to create textural variation and definition.
• Yarn Over (yo): Creates the openwork characteristic of the lace pattern by increasing stitches, which are subsequently dropped to form the distinctive bundled texture.
• Slip Stitch (sl1): Used as if to purl with yarn in back, this stitch is part of the lace pattern mechanism that produces the unique bundling effect.
• Garter Stitch: Bands of garter stitch (created by knitting every row) frame and separate the lace sections, providing structure and visual interest while preventing the fabric from curling.

Materials

Yarn: The pattern calls for 4 skeins of Valley Yarns Berkshire, a blend of 85% wool and 15% alpaca. Each skein contains 100 grams and yields 141 yards, providing approximately 564 yards of yarn total. The recommended colorway is Hyacinth, though the pattern can be worked in any color of Valley Yarns Berkshire.

Needles: US size 9 (5.50mm) circular needles measuring 40 inches are recommended, or size needed to achieve the correct gauge. Circular needles are used here for their length to accommodate the 240 cast-on stitches, even though the scarf is worked flat rather than in the round.

Gauge: The pattern is worked at a gauge of 4 stitches and 5 rows per 1 inch in the lace stitch pattern. Achieving proper gauge is essential for the scarf to reach its intended finished dimensions of 60 inches by 10 inches.

Pattern Structure

After casting on 240 stitches (an even number), the scarf begins with 3 rows of garter stitch to establish a stable edge. The main pattern then repeats Rows 4 through 11, which combine the lace stitch with garter stitch sections. You continue this 8-row repeat until the scarf reaches your desired width of 10 inches, then bind off all stitches. The pattern concludes with sewing in loose ends and blocking to even out the fabric and enhance the lace definition.