I was wearing the broadbean scarf again yesterday and it still gets commented on a lot. Mostly it's knitters who spot it, ask me if I made it and then ask me how to do it.
It's preposterously easy, and since lots of people have asked, here are some instructions for keen beginners. Experienced knitters will know what to do.
The things you'll need to know how to do are cast on, knit, and cast off. That is all. If you don't know how to do any of these things, I suggest you start with Google.
Oh, you'll also need a pair of knitting needles and a ball of wool. I used a ball of DK wool (*ahem* not literally wool - it was acrylic) that was 100g and 290m long, and 4mm needles. DK is a way of describing how thick the yarn is - fatter than 4-ply but thinner than Aran weight, which is a bit thinner than Chunky. You can use whatever you like, but use the needle size suggested on the label, and remember that a chunkier yarn won't go as far so your scarf will be shorter.
If you're googling cast on methods, look for a method called 'knitting on'.
OK, so here's more or less what I did.
Row 1. Cast on about 25 stitches. This will be the length of your broadbean.
Row 2. Knit.
Row 3. Knit.
Row 4. Knit.
Row 5. Knit.
Row 6. Knit.
Row 7. Knit.
Row 8. Cast off 20 stitches, leaving 5 on the needle. This is the end of your first broadbean.
Row 9. Cast on 20 stitches until you have 25 stitches on the needle, including the 5 you didn't cast off. This is the beginning of your second broadbean.
Repeat rows 2 - 9 until you run out of wool.
Final row. Cast off all stitches. Leave a 5 or 6 inch tail of yarn at the end.
Finishing: Use a darning needle to weave the beginning and end of the yarn into the scarf. This means basically sew it in and out along the knitting so you can't see it.
Now to really make this scarf your own, you can change the stitch count and row count to make something completely different. If you start with 25 stitches and cast off 5, and then cast on 5, you'll make something that's got more of a wavy edge than beans. If you double the number of knit rows between cast ons and cast offs, you'll get something that probably looks a bit more like a row of flags. Maybe.
If you try it, let me know - I'd love to see what this same basic instruction would look like with different yarns and different numbers of stitches and rows!
Posts
