Sunday, February 26, 2012

Cause and Effect - a New Reversible Complimentary Scarf Pattern

I love perusing the pattern and technical help forums over on the main boards on Ravelry.  My favorite posts are the ones that start "can anyone identify this stitch?"  There is usually a photo of some amazing finished object with a great, textured stitch pattern.  And 9 times out of 10, I swear the stitch is some form of brioche stitch.   I think I figured out that this is because most knitting machines do variations of  brioche stitches very easily. 

So this week, I clicked on one of those threads, and low and behold the stitch pattern was a variation on a 6-row cascade stitch - much like the Lake Effect Scarf (see complimentary patterns to the right).  So I pointed the original poster to the pattern and didn't think much about it.  But the posted came back with some questions, pointing out that Lake Effect was garter based and this pattern was stockinette based.  So I took another look, and found out there was a lot more to this little stitch pattern.  I grabbed some needles and after a few rows, I was jumping up and down after the results (both dog and husband no longer react to these outbursts).

Cause and Effect scarf pattern - side 2
Here's a close up of the stitch pattern:

This photo does not do this piece justice.  Here are some of the great features of this pattern:

The pattern is reversible  - why?  because the underlying structure is 3x3 ribbing.

The cascade "medallions" are staggered, which creates a great texture and creates a self made picot-like edges along the sides.

No gauge is required - just work with needles that are at least 2 sizes larger than you would normally use. 

Here I used US size 13 (9.0mm) needles with a bulky/worsted lace yarn (thick and thin) Berroco Memoirs (now discontinued). 

Cause and Effect Scarf pattern - side 1
The pattern for this scarf is called  Cause and Effect, and can be found over on the right side of the blog in the Complimentary patterns section.

I hope you try this -  I'm happy to answer any questions.

Please join the Verdigris Knits group over in Ravelry.  Its a great place for discussion on these patterns, make suggestions, ask questions, find out about future designs and plans, or just chat.  I'm running a March Madness KAL with some great prizes.

Hope to see you there.

UPDATE  - this post has information on a modificaction to this scarf pattern to taper the ends.

2 comments:

  1. Oh I really love the effect and the fact that its reversible is great. As I'm knitting scarves for xmas presents at the moment I think this will go on the list to be knit later in the year. Thanks again for the pointing in the right direction. :)

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  2. Thanks Ruth! It's fun and really quick if you can use large needles.

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