Messed Up Moss: a scarf pattern (republished from February 14, 2009)

This was originally published by me in my Livejournal account on February 14, 2009. Because I plan to delete said account, I need to move it to a new location or let it be lost forever. So.....copied directly from my Livejournal (changes will be in italics afterwards).....

MESSED UP MOSS: February 14, 2009

I've been playing with my knitting again. After I finished a hat (The Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting, page 77: "The Beanie Hat"), I had a bunch of yarn left over from the project. I did it differently than I did the first and second one I did. This means I had a bunch of oatmeal yarn left over...and some green. So, I decided to make a matching scarf. Sort of.

I was looking at a book of mine, Super Stitches Knitting (by Karen Hemingway) and I came across the standard Moss Stitch (K1, P1, etc.). Well, I decided to mess with it a bit, using what I know about how stitches react to each other.

My Messed Up Moss pattern is:

CO 11 stitches

Row 1 & Row 2: Purl every stitch
Row 3/odd rows: K2 P1 K1 P1 K1 P1 K1 P1 K2
Row 4/even rows: P4 K1 P1 K1 P4

At the end, repeat Row 1 and BO last row.

Simple enough, right?


Oh, and not that it matters, but I'm using Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick and #10.5 needles.

This may require more messing about if you're planning to use smaller needles and/or thinner yarn. Or not. Whatever.

So, the pattern itself should look something more like this:

Pattern stitch

Row 1: K2, *P1, K1* (3 times), P1, K2

Row 2: P4, K1, P1, K1, P4

CO 11 stitches (I prefer long-tail but use whatever CO method you like best)

Purl 2 rows at the beginning before starting the pattern stitch.

Repeat pattern stitch rows 1 & 2 to desired length; purl 2 rows at the end and BO. 

I recommend bulky yarn and somewhat larger needle (use whatever needle the yarn calls for). This scarf doesn't tend to curl into itself much so blocking isn't really needed. I also added stripes, obviously. You don't have to do that.