Basic Ribbed Scarf

Good morning all! It's a beautiful day here in SoTex - a little TOO beautiful for winter, but you won't see me complaining!

The other day my brother posted the following on his Facebook page:

"Give me your scarf."

I took that to mean he really wanted a hand-knit scarf from his talented, beautiful big sister. Right? I mean, that's pretty clear to you too, isn't it? That's definitely the subtext, yeah?

Anyway, I told him he'd have a scarf by Thanksgiving and he was all, "Score!" so I set to work.

Now, I love my brother. I think he's just about one of the coolest people I know. But he does not hang onto things very well. I'd wager I've made him about a half dozen hand-knit items in the past, and I would be pretty surprised if he still had any of them. It's cool. I don't get upset.

I just don't go nuts when I make him things. :)

That's why I went super simple with this scarf. He likes simple, I like simple, simple is good, simple is kind. Now for some reason I feel like writing down what I did, but you certainly don't need a pattern for this. It really is very, very basic. But it's warm and cushy and soft, so you know. Mission accomplished.

After the jump, you'll see more pictures and a full pattern.

I used this Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Aran weight. I had bought four skeins of it to make a shirt with, but never made the shirt, so the yarn has been recommissioned for a different purpose: Operation Make My Brother's Neck Warm!

I can't remember the colorway (because I'm terrible at remembering colorways) but this is kind of a nice, neutral, subtle forest green color with a little olive tone in it. I like it a lot, and so does he.

Here's what you'll need to recreate this basic-ass scarf:

1 skein (plus a little extra or a contrasting yarn if you want fringe) of Wool of the Andes aran-weight yarn from Knit Picks

Size 10 needles (I used circs and just worked back and forth on them)

Instructions:

1. Cast on 28 (or any multiple of 4) stitches using your preferred cast-on method (I like the knit-on method myself).
2. Begin working a 2x2 rib (K2, P2 to the end, turn, K2, P2 to the end, turn....ad nauseum)
3. Work the 2x2 rib until you have about 24" of yarn left.
4. Bind off using the following method: K2, then use your left needle to slip the first stitch over the second stitch and off the right needle. P1, then use your left needle to slip the second stitch over the third stitch and off the right needle. P1 again, slip last stitch over, K1, slip last stitch over, K1, slip, etc. Basically you're doing a standard bind-off but you're still working each stitch in the established rib. This will make your bind-off edge nice and stretchy.
5. Now, one skein of Wool of the Andes isn't really going to give you a super-long scarf, so I decided to add some nice long fringe to it.
6. From a second skein, cut 80 pieces of yarn about 12 inches long each.
7. Pull out 5 pieces of yarn, fold them in half in one bundle, and use a crochet hook to pull the center fold under one of your cast-on stitches until you have a little loop. Open the loop up with your fingers and pull the ends through slip-knot style and tighten. Repeat 7 more times on one end of your scarf, then repeat that whole process for the other side. You should have 8 "bundles" of fringe dangling off each end of your scarf.
8. Trim the ends of the fringe so they're roughly the same length. Don't get too obsessive here - you'll drive yourself nuts.

And here you have it! A nice, warm, ribbed scarf that shouldn't take more than a couple of days from start to finish.

I will probably end up making one for myself (even though I already have a zillion and a half scarves).

Quick and easy!

XOXO