Like a good friend, our Sleeve Scarf in our enchanting new Speckled Hen wraps its arms around you in a big cozy hug. New yarn is always exciting, but it takes a very special yarn to be surprising, too… And Speckled Hen is, indeed, very special!

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

Speckled Hen starts with a super soft and fluffy baby alpaca roving, which then gets wrapped with an undyed fine merino strand. This construction is called “ingabbiato,” which means “caged” in Italian (the yarn is made in Peru, but the mill uses Italian machines to make it), and the term graphically describes how the alpaca roving is encased inside a delicate web of merino. This technique creates a wonderful opportunity for you to play with color in some exciting new ways! Each Speckled Hen color comes in two versions, both with the same alpaca core but one wrapped in natural white merino and the other in dark brown. Eighteen colors and nine pairs, it’s a story of light and dark, and the beautiful colors that connect the two!

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

When you knit with Speckled Hen, the fabric you create has a lovely marled look, which means that the colors of the alpaca roving and the merino strand mix together in an all-over stippled pattern… kind of like a speckled hen! From a distance the colors blend a bit, but up close, you can see each one popping in and out of play. You’ll be compelled to keep knitting because each stitch is a curiosity, contributing its own little personality to the overall pattern. 

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

Another reason Speckled Hen‘s structure is so enticing is that you get some of the features of a single-ply yarn alongside the benefits of a plied yarn. The less twist a yarn has, the softer it feels, which is why a strand of roving with no twist at all feels amazing on your skin. But it could use a little help in the durability department, so, wrap that roving with a strand of wool that has plenty of twist, and huzzah! A creative way to get both strength and softness. 

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

And when you hand wash your finished fabric, the alpaca fills out even more, increasing in softness and developing a glowing layer of fiber that seems to float above the surface of the fabric, what we call a “halo”… Beautiful!

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

Our playful, free Sleeve Scarf pattern is the perfect way to tell Speckled Hen’s story. It’s a very simple, very easy pattern, that takes a page from sweater knitting: You start with a 2×2 ribbed cuff, then knit a stockinette stitch tube in the round and finish with a second cuff like the first… Effectively a double-ended sleeve stretched into a scarf! 

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

The kicker is that we dove into our pairs of Speckled Hen and made the cuff in the colors wrapped in brown and the “sleeve” in the colors wrapped in white. So, each scarf changes from dark to light to dark again, with the same color running through to tie it all together. In the end, your scarf will be amazing, charming in its design and execution!

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

Each 50-gram ball of Speckled Hen comes ready to cast-on. You can knit the larger size of the Sleeve Scarf with two balls of the cuff color and eight of your “sleeve” color, or for the smaller size, you’ll need just one and five. So pick the color story that captivates your imagination, and cast on for this big, cozy hug of a scarf!

If you love the yarn used in this project, you’ll love all of our other yarn, too! Explore our 35+ lovingly created yarn collections, in nearly every natural fiber and spectacular color you can imagine… Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn shop!

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Hiromi Glover. Click here to see even more of Hiromi’s work!

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

Materials

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho
  • 6 (10) balls of Purl Soho’s Speckled Hen, 80% baby alpaca and 20% fine merino wool. Each ball is approximately 120 yards/ 50 grams.
    • Main Color (MC): 5 (8) balls; approximately 585 (960) yards required
    • Contrast Color (CC): 1 (2) ball(s); approximately 120 (190) yards required
  • US 5 (3.75 mm), 12- or 16-inch circular needles, depending on size you are making (or long circulars for Magic Loop)
  • A stitch marker or scrap yarn

We knit our samples in the following sizes and colors…

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Small: MC Heirloom White + CC Quail Feather

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Small: MC Daffodil Yellow + CC Fisherman Yellow

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Large: MC Lilac Daybreak + CC Wisteria Vine

NOTE: Each Speckled Hen color has a partner. The duo have the same color roving at their core, but one is wrapped in ecru threads and the other is wrapped in very dark brown threads. If, like us, you want to make your Sleeve Scarf with two colors that share the same core color, here are the remainder of the pairings: Laurel Blossom + Pink Bluff, Cameo Pink + Rose Peat, Farmhouse Red + Red Raisin, Fennel Green + Field Mint, Dew Blue + Rainstorm Blue, and Whitecaps Blue + Estuary Blue.

GAUGE

24 stitches and 32 rounds = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

36 stitches and 32 rounds = 4 inches in 2 x 2 rib, unstretched

NOTE:  We used almost the entirety of the Contrast Color for our Small scarves. To avoid running short, double check your gauge, swatch with the Main Color, and be conservative with tails!

SIZES

Small (Large)

Finished Dimensions: Approximately 12 (16) inches circumference x 60 (76) inches long

NOTES

STITCH MULTIPLE

This pattern is worked over a multiple of 4 stitches.

PATTERN

With Contrast Color (CC), cast on 72 (96) stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.

Place a stitch marker and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

FIRST CUFF

Round 1: *K2, p2, repeat from * to end of round.

Repeat Round 1 until piece measures 5¼ (7) inches from cast-on edge.

Cut CC.

BODY

Join Main Color (MC).

Work in stockinette stitch, knitting every row, until piece measures 49½ (62) inches from the end of First Cuff or, if using Speckled Hen, until you have used all the MC.

Cut MC.

SECOND CUFF

Join CC.

Work as for First Cuff, making sure to leave enough yarn to bind off.

Bind off in 2×2 rib pattern.

Weave in all ends and gently wet block.

Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho
Sleeve Scarf | Purl Soho

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!