Springtime Bandana | Purl Soho

I’ve been making regular visits to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden this March to check on spring’s progress. The month started slowly with the first spindly yellow wisps of witch hazel and gained momentum, finally delivering the bursting buds of the dogwoods. I made this Springtime Bandana to celebrate these early spring efforts. It reflects the very tip of a daffodil bulb pushing up out of the earth and the millions of tiny bright green dots twinkling off of every twig of every tree.

Springtime Bandana | Purl Soho

Alchemy’s Haiku mohair and silk blend is an amazing yarn for capturing nature’s beauty. Its rich hand dyed colors are reflected by the silk and softened by the mohair. To add to the complexity of color, I striped a soothing seagreen with a bright acid green. The result is a like a beautiful watercolor of spring’s essence.  Enjoy! –Whitney

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Whitney Van Nes.

Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, and #PurlSohoSpringtimeBandana. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Materials

Springtime Bandana | Purl Soho

  • 2 skeins of Alchemy’s Haiku, 60% Kid Mohair, 40% Silk. Approximately 650 yards required. These colors, from left to right, are Willow and Sour Grass.
  • US 6 (4 mm), 24-inch circular needles. I really recommend the Skacel Addi Lace needle for this project and all projects that involve fine and/or slippery yarn. Addi’s Lace needles have a sharper point and a slightly stickier shaft than Addi’s standard needles. These needles actually make knitting mohair a pleasant experience!

Gauge

26 stitches = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

Size

21 inches x  21 inches

Note

Each row in this pattern starts with the instructions to either “Turn” or “Slide” the work:

“Turning the work” means to do what you would normally do when knitting rows with a circular needle. That is to say, put the needle in your left hand into your right and the needle in your right hand into your left, and flip the work around so the opposite side is facing you.

“Sliding the work” means to keep the same side of the work facing you, and to push all the stitches to the right end of the circular needle. Without turning the work, start the new row as you normally would.

You will know that you’re doing this right if the yarn you need to complete the next row is magically there waiting for you!

Pattern

With Color A, cast on 135 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.

(I used “Willow” for Color A and “Sour Grass” for Color B.)

Row 1: Turn work. With Color B, *k1, p1, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Row 2: Slide work. With Color A, *k1, p1, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Row 3: Turn. With Color B, *p1, k1, repeat from * to last stitch, p1.

Row 4: Slide. With Color A, *p1, k1, repeat from * to last stitch, p1.

Row 5 and 6: Repeat Rows 1 and 2.

Row 7: Turn. With Color B, [p1, k1] 3 times, p1, knit to last 7 stitches, [p1, k1] 3 times, p1.

Row 8: Slide. With Color A, [p1, k1] 3 times, p1, knit to last 7 stitches, [p1, k1] 3 times, p1.

Row 9: Turn. With Color B, [k1, p1] 3 times, k1, purl to last 7 stitches, [k1, p1] 3 times, k1.

Row 10: Slide. With Color A, [k1, p1] 3 times, k1, purl to last 7 stitches, [k1, p1] 3 times, k1.

Repeat Rows 7-10 until piece measures 20 inches, ending with Row 9.

Repeat Rows 2-4 and then Rows 1-3.

Slide the work and bind off loosely with Color A.

Weave in the ends and voila!