Side-By-Side Scarf
Our Side-By-Side Scarf is the kind of project that grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. You will be riveted by knitting something so totally beautiful! The source of inspiration here is our self-striping Novella.
Specially dyed in a repeating series of colors that unspool in fascinating ways, smoky mauve blends into tangerine into bright morning blue. It’s a joy to knit with a yarn so rich in variation! Add to that two different colorways working side-by-side in two directions, and swoon! Our Side-By-Side Scarf Bundles give you three beautiful color palettes to choose from.
What may look complex is really all the work of Novella‘s long lengths of color. The knitting is actually super simple. You begin by casting on the long way and then work in garter stitch for a couple of inches. Because the knitting is so wide at this point, Novella’s repeats of specially dyed color spread out into delicate, thin stripes.
Next, you work a section of stripes perpendicular to the first stripes. For this section, you cast on 16 additional stitches, and working just those stitches, you attach one side to the top edge of the first section… All as you knit and without a lick of sewing. Very cool and also very easy!
And when you work over so few stitches, you’ll see that Novella‘s stripes are deeper, piling up like layers of a sunset and just as captivating! Plus, it all feels absolutely wonderful in Novella’s extraordinarily soft and supple mix of extra fine merino and mulberry silk.
Get absorbed into knitting your own gorgeous Side-By-Side Scarf by picking up a Side-By-Side Scarf Bundle, available in three pretty palettes!
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!
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, #PurlSohoSideBySideScarf, and #PurlSohoNovella. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
Our Side-By-Side Scarf Bundle comes with all the Novella you’ll need to knit your own scarf. It comes in three palettes and includes…
- 8 balls of Purl Soho’s Novella, 92% extra fine merino and 8% mulberry silk. Each ball of this sportweight yarn is approximately 142 yards/ 50 grams.
- Main Color (MC): 4 skeins; approximately 565 total yards required. We used Delphinium Blue.
- Contrast Color (CC): 4 skeins; approximately 480 total yards required. We used Sea Urchin.
You will also need…
- US 5 (3.75 mm), 60-inch circular needles
- A stitch marker
Or make your own bundle! Just pick up 4 balls of 2 colors. You can’t go wrong!
GAUGE
21 stitches and 42 rows (21 ridges) = 4 inches in garter stitch
SIZE
Finished Dimensions: 12 inches wide x 72 inches long
NOTES
CONSTRUCTION
You will cast on the length of the scarf and work a couple of inches in garter stitch (Horizontal Stripe 1). You will then work Vertical Stripe 1, attaching it to Horizontal Stripe 1 as you go. You’ll repeat this process, and finish with a final Horizontal Stripe!
STRIPE REPEATS
Because your balls of yarn may start and end at different points in the stripe repeat, every Side-By-Side Scarf will be unique. Embrace what happens!
SLIP STITCHES
Slip all slipped stitches purlwise.
PATTERN
With Main Color (MC), cast on 378 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
TIP: When you’re casting on so many stitches, it really helps to place a marker or piece of scrap yarn every 50 stitches. That way, when you lose count (which you will!), you won’t have to recount all the stitches. Just remember to remove these markers when you work the first row.
HORIZONTAL STRIPE 1
With MC, knit every row until piece measures 2 inches from cast-on edge, ending with a wrong-side row. Cut yarn.
VERTICAL STRIPE 1
At the beginning of next row, with right side facing you and Contrast Color (CC), insert needle between the first 2 stitches and use a cable cast on to loosely cast on 1 stitch, place marker (pm), loosely cast on 15 stitches. [394 total stitches]
Row 1 (right side): Knit to marker, slip marker, slip last stitch of Vertical Stripe, knit next stitch of Horizontal Stripe, pass slipped stitch over to join Vertical Stripe to Horizontal Stripe, turn work.
Row 2 (wrong side): Move working yarn between needles to back of work, knit to end of row, slipping marker when you come to it.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until all stitches from previous Horizontal Stripe have been worked, removing marker on last row and ending with a right-side row.
Next Row (wrong side): Bind off knitwise and cut yarn.
HORIZONTAL STRIPE 2
NOTE: For help with picking up stitches, please visit our tutorial and scroll down the page to the Along A Vertical Edge: Garter Stitch, Between Ridges video.
Orient scarf with cast-on edge at the bottom and Vertical Stripe across the top. With right side facing you and with MC, pick up and knit one stitch between each garter ridge along top edge, starting at upper right corner of scarf. Be sure to start picking up between cable-cast-on row of Vertical Stripe and first garter ridge, and finish picking up between last garter ridge and bind-off row from the Vertical Stripe. [378 total stitches on the needle]
With MC, knit every row until piece measures 2 inches from pick-up edge, ending with a wrong-side row. Cut yarn.
VERTICAL STRIPE 2
Work as for Vertical Stripe 1.
HORIZONTAL STRIPE 3
Work as for Horizontal Stripe 2, but do not cut yarn.
With right side facing you, bind off knitwise loosely.
FINISHING
Weave in the ends and gently wet block.
Learn About Novella + All Our Beautiful Yarns
The beauty of Novella is in its creative possibilities! A specially dyed self-striping yarn, Novella is always surprising to knit, with stripe following colorful stripe. And more… Its plies are two subtly different colors, adding depth and fascination to every stitch. Made in Italy, Novella is a sport-weight yarn, made with 92% extra fine merino wool, the softest merino there is, plus 8% mulberry silk. The merino lends body and bounce to the yarn (and fun to your knitting experience!), while the silk adds luster to its surface and also beauty to its drape. Combine more than one color, stripe it with a solid color, change directions… Novella is asking to play!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our growing collection of free Novella knitting patterns and cast on!
More Sport-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of sport-weight yarns
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fiber
- Shop merino wool yarn
- Shop silk yarn
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!
I love this scarf but cannot wear wool. Could this be made with another product?
Hi Paulette,
Thanks so much for your question! We’re so happy to hear that you’re a fan of this pattern! Season Alpaca or Cotton Pure would be excellent non-wool options for this scarf. With any yarn substitutions, we also highly recommend doing a gauge swatch to make sure your gauge is consistent with the pattern. You might find that you need to adjust your needle size! Here’s our guide on swatching if you’d like more information: All About Gauge!
I hope this helps!
All the best,
Cat
Hi,is the wool your knitting this scarf in available in Australia if so where can I buy it,if not how can I order it,thank you,Chris Auld
Hi Chris,
Thank you for your comment! I’m afraid at this time we don’t have any stockists in Australia, so our Novella yarn is only available on our website. If you’d like additional information on our shipping options, please feel free to check out our Shipping page! Please let us know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Cat
If I want to make with first vertical stripe, 2nd horizontal, 3rd vertical stripe and eliminate 4th horizontal and 5th vertical how much yarn would I need? Don’t want to make it as wide.
Hi Leti,
You could definitely make this scarf less wide, and to do so, you’ll need 3 balls of Novella for the Main Color (the horizontal stripes) and 2 balls of Novella for the Contrast Color (the vertical stripe). I hope this helps!
All the best,
Cat
DOD YOU HAVE A TUTORIAL SHOWING HOW TO JOIN THE VERTICAL STITCHES TO THE HORIZONTAL ?
Hi Betsy,
Thank you for writing in! That is a great question! You can find out more about this technique in our Picking Up Stitches tutorial. Be sure to scroll down to the header that says, “ALONG A VERTICAL EDGE: GARTER STITCH, BETWEEN RIDGES” to find the specific section you need for this pattern.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out and we would be happy to look into them.
Happy Making,
Gavriella
Question: In the instructions for Horizontal Stripe 1, you say to end with a wrong side row. Which side is the wrong side in this case? At the beginning of your instructions, you don’t mention whether the starting row is the right side or the second row is the right side. Thanks!
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for your question! Since the stripes are knit on both sides of the center panel, the most important thing it to make sure they are even. In this case, you can refer to row 1 and all odd numbered rows as your right side rows and the even rows can be referred to as your wrong side rows.
I hope this helps but if you have any other questions, please feel free to write us at [email protected]
Happy making,
Gavriella
I’m reading the pattern and I’m confused about the vertical stripe. The directions say to do one cable cast on, place a marker and then 15 more stitches cast on. I assume these extend the length of the scarf? I’m having difficulty seeing how this is done when I look at the photos. Does it go back up the horizontal stripe? One of your videos would be really helpful.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for your question! The vertical stripe will be knit perpendicular to the first stripe, so it will be worked along the length of the first stripe. Think of a capital ‘L’ where the little leg at the bottom meets the longer leg of the letter. The pattern switches between both horizontal and vertical stripes to create the width of the Side-By-Side scarf. I hope this helps but please feel free to let us know if you have any more questions.
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
I love this pattern but am confused. I can see how to do the cable cast on and picking up the stitches along the vertical edge but can’t seem to figure out how to put both steps together. Do you have a video on how to start the process adding the vertical row to the horizontal? I think that would help me best to see it.
Thank you so much.
Cori R.
Hi Cori,
Thank you for writing in with your question. We do not currently have a tutorial for this specific pattern but you can check out our Cable Cast On tutorial for a general idea to get started.
Two things to keep in mind that will differ from the video for this project is you will have LIVE stitches on your needle rather than bounded-off stitches. Second, you will be doing this step with your contracting color for your vertical stripe while the live stitches of your horizontal sit on your cable.
I hope this helps but if you would like some photos of this technique please feel free to email us at [email protected]!
All the best,
Gavriella
All the best,
Gavriella
Hi Hi,
Can I just make it with 400 stitches to get it a bit longer?
Thanks!
Hi Jane,
Yes, you can definitely do that! I’d recommend getting a 5th ball of each color though, since making the scarf longer will require more yarn.
All the best,
Lili
I love this pattern and I have purchased the yarn.. I am eager to begin. I am wondering if you slipped the first stitch of each row or just knit every stitch. If you did slip the first stitch did you slip knit wise or purlwise?
Thanks!
Hi Belle,
Thanks for your question! We are so happy to hear you will be making this scarf! We did not work slip stitch edges in the pattern. Please let us know if you have any other questions and we would be happy to help!
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
If I were to make this 24″ x 36″, would I just end the first sections early and add additional vertical/horizontal sections at the bottom (or top, whichever)? Any snags that I might not be thinking of? Should I order extra yarn?
Hi Jane,
Thank you for writing in! You can indeed make this scarf in those dimensions by working in that method as you would ultimately just be redistributing some of the length to the width. Let us know if you need any help along the way!
All the best,
Gavriella
I just finished this scarf and it’s wonderful. My edges didn’t look nearly as neat as yours though, so I picked up (without knitting) one stitch for every other row (on the ridges for the horizontal stripes) and then did a 3 stitch iCord bind off on the first row. It looks very very neat now! Thanks for your wonderful yarns and patterns.
Hi Candace,
Thanks for writing in! That’s a great idea. We are so happy to hear that you added your own spin to your project and that you like it even more now!
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
I am working on the vertical stripe one. When you slip a stitch after the marker, I know it should be purlwise, but should the yarn be in front or in back.
I have worked several inches with it in back, and there is a strange bump that occurs at the joined edge. I tried a few rows with the yarn in front and it seems better, but I am not sure.
It looks so even in your finished scarf.
Can you help me, please.
Hi Joy,
Thank you for writing in! You will want to slip those stitches with the yarn in back so that you are able to knit the next stitch. If you are finding that you like the way it looks with yarn in front then we say go for it! Please let us know if you have any other questions!
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
Thanks.
I’ll try both again and see what I like best.
From the photos, I absolutely love the Delphinium Blue color and am not as drawn to the colors of Sea Urchin. I’m wondering if you think the combo of Delphinium Blue and Flower Patch would work well together. This is when I wish you still had a space in Soho, but that doesn’t seem to slow me down! Your photography and descriptions of yarns are irresistable! Thank you in advance.
Hi Sandy,
Thank you for writing in! Delphinium Blue and Flower Patch would look wonderful together! Please let us know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Gavriella