Just because the clock says it’s the eleventh hour, doesn’t mean you have to put away the needles! Our Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant is a project that you can truly knit at the very last minute, and because it’s beautiful, you can do so without shame or sheepishness!

Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant | Purl Soho

We shared our original Eleventh Hour Scarf seven years ago (!!), and so from the deep archives comes this update to our classic pattern. This version is a little bit wider and longer and uses Purl Soho’s incredibly soft and lovely Gentle Giant. Normally a jumbo weight, we used two strands for a super jumbo, super last-minute knit.

Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant | Purl Soho

Gentle Giant’s palette of pretty heather colors is inspired by winter’s landscape: snowy forests, pink morning skies, and slumbering lakes. In any color, this Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant fights the winter blues!

Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!

Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant | Purl Soho

Update: New Colors

December 2017
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Try mixing two different-color strands of Gentle Giant in our new Eleventh Hour Marled Scarf for a mega seed stitch that is wonderfully modern!

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Whitney Van Nes.

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

Materials

Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant | Purl Soho

  • 4 skeins of Purl Soho’s Gentle Giant, 100% merino wool yarn. Each skein of this super bulky yarn is 48 yards/ 125 grams; approximately 192 yards required. We used the colors Wolf Brown, Winter Bark, Heirloom White, White Peppercorn, Calico Pink, Pink Sky, Silver Berry, Purple Lupine, Pigeon Gray, Weathered Blue, Elephant Gray, Poseidon Green, and Graphite Gray. (NOTE: Some colors are no longer available)
  • US 50 (25mm), straight or circular needles

Gauge

Several of us knit up these scarves, and when we brought our finished work together, we were quickly reminded of the nuances of hand knitting. With such thick yarn on such large needles, an individual’s knitting tension gets magnified quite a bit. And when the next needle size down is so much smaller and the next needle size up is so much larger, you get what you get! The samples pictured here show the range of gauge you can expect to achieve when you make your own Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant.

On the left…

  • 3 1/2 stitches = 4 inches in stitch pattern with yarn doubled

On the right…

  • 4 1/2 stitches = 4 inches in stitch pattern with yarn doubled

Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant | Purl Soho

Size

These gauge differences of course affect the finished dimensions. If your gauge is closer to the scarf on the left your finished pieces will measure approximately…

  • 8 inches wide x 82 inches long

If your gauge is closer to the scarf on the right, your finished piece will measure approximately…

  • 6 inches wide x 78 inches long

Note

The yarn is doubled throughout this pattern.

Pattern

With two strands of yarn, cast on 7 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.

Row 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Repeat Row 1 for every row.

Bind off loosely in pattern.

Weave in the ends. We found it neater and easier to weave each strand in separately, rather than keeping the ends doubled.

Eleventh Hour Scarf in Gentle Giant | Purl Soho

LEARN ABOUT GENTLE GIANT + ALL OUR BEAUTIFUL YARNS

You can’t get more gentle or more giant than Gentle Giant! A single ply of 100% merino wool, Gentle Giant has a loose and lofty spin that puts the fiber’s softness up front and also keeps this jumbo-weight yarn from weighing you down. You knit Gentle Giant up on mega US 17 or 19 (12-15 mm) knitting needles, making it a very smart choice for last-minute gifts that don’t sacrifice a lick of beauty!

More Free Knitting Patterns

More Jumbo-Weight Yarns

More Yarns With Similar Fibers

Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!