Simple Stockinette Scarf
Sometimes beauty arises from complexity and sometimes from simplicity… And best of all is when the two are in perfect harmony! Our free Simple Stockinette Scarf pattern couldn’t be easier to knit, with all the complexity coming from our artful new Estuary yarn, held double to allow the shifting hand-dyed colors to ebb and flow like the tide.
Knitting a swath of smooth stockinette stitch leaves your mind free to enjoy the shimmering yarn on your needles, and a no-fuss slipped-stitch selvage creates a clean edge without disrupting your dreamy drift.
Such an elemental design is simply a showcase for a truly exquisite yarn… A luminous single ply of fine merino wool, mulberry silk, and linen, Estuary knits up into a soft, fluid fabric flowing with movement and life. An eye-catching silken luster is balanced by a touch of wildness from the linen sprouting from the yarn, all anchored by merino’s gentle resilience.
Estuary’s hand-dyed hues swirl across a warm white yarn shaded by the natural flaxen colors of the silk and linen fibers. Holding two strands of this fingering-weight yarn together as you knit breaks up the largest lagoons of color, creating mesmerizing currents and eddies where light and dark meet.
Pick up three skeins of this inspiring yarn to knit a Simple Stockinette Scarf or six for a generous wrap like this one. The hardest part will be choosing your favorite of Estuary’s fascinating hand-dyed colors… From rich Maple Leaf to softest Lilac Petal, each one ripples with its own beauty!
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!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Gianna Mueller. See even more of Gianna’s work on her Instagram!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Want to print this pattern? On desktop, find the “print” icon in the right margin, and on mobile, scroll to the end of the pattern for it. Use the on-screen instructions to remove anything you don’t want to print!
Materials
- 3 (6) skeins of Purl Soho’s Estuary, 65% fine merino wool, 20% mulberry silk, and 15% linen. Each skein of this fingering-weight yarn is 384 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 1,150 (1,920) total yards required. We used the color Maple Leaf.
- US 7 (4.5 mm) straight or 24-inch circular knitting needles
NOTE: We used every last yard for our wrap! To avoid running short, be sure to check your gauge, reuse your swatch yarn, and keep tails short.
GAUGE
20 stitches and 27 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch, holding yarn double
SIZE
Scarf (Wrap)
Finished Dimensions: 10 inches wide x 72 inches long (18 inches wide x 72 inches long)
Sample: We knit the Wrap size.
NOTES
YARN DOUBLED
You will double the yarn throughout this pattern, pulling two strands together. To do this, you can pull one strand from the inside of a center-pull ball and one strand from the outside, or wind two balls and pull one strand from each.
SLIP STITCHES
Slip all slipped stitches purlwise with yarn in front.
PATTERN
Cast on 51 (91) stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
Set-Up Row (wrong side): Slip 1 (see Notes), purl to last stitch, slip 1.
Row 1 (right side): Knit to end of row.
Row 2: Slip 1, purl to last stitch, slip 1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until piece measures 72 inches from cast-on edge, ending with Row 2.
With right side facing you, bind off knitwise.
FINISHING
Weave in ends and gently wet block.
Learn About Estuary + All Our Beautiful Yarns
This project beautifully showcases Estuary, our artful and exquisite hand-dyed yarn, in all its untamed beauty. A luminous single ply of fine merino wool, mulberry silk, and linen, this fingering-weight yarn is soft and lustrous, with just a little bit of wildness. Pick from a palette of earthy variegated colors, each one made by hand-dyeing 2 or 3 colors onto a warm white base… Knit swirling eddies of dark and light that catch the eye like light on water!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our free Estuary knitting patterns and cast on!
More Fingering-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of fingering-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
- Shop linen yarn
- Shop hand-dyed 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!
Wonderful! Before seeing this I wondered if I could knit an Elementary Wrap with this yarn.
This pattern is basically it, correct?
Hi Natalie,
Yes, this pattern is very similar to the Elementary Wrap! The main difference though is that this scarf is specifically designed to be knit with the yarn held double since that adds depth to the stitches and also avoids pooling from the irregular nature of hand dyed yarns like Estuary.
All the best,
Lili
Oh that makes sense!
This yarn reminds me of Purl Soho’s Flax Down- can’t wait to try it!
Thanks,
Natalie
Hello, I’m confused about the pattern saying 3 (6) skeins of yarn. When would you use 3? Thank you. Gail
Hi Gail,
That is a great question! This pattern is offered in two different sizes so depending on which size you’d like to make, the yardage will vary. For the smaller size(10 inches wide x 72 inches long) you will need 3 skeins and for the larger (18 inches wide x 72 inches long) you will need 6!
I hope this helps and happy making!
All the best,
Gavriella
What keeps the ends from curling in stockinette stitch?
Hi Connie,
Thanks for reaching out! Because this project is knit in stockinette stitch, there will always be a bit of a natural curl to the fabric. Once you block your project after finishing it, that should minimize the rolling significantly, but there will likely still be some due to the nature of the stitch pattern. One thing you could do is add a border in ribbing or garter stitch and this will help prevent the edges from curling at all. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Gavriella
Wish I could afford this yarn on my retirement income. It looks wonderful.
Hi Bonnie,
Thank you for reaching out! I’m happy to share that you can sign up for our newsletter where we share many of our sales and promotions! You can do so by inputting your email into the top left corner of our home page but Estuary is also currently on sale for 25% off!
Please let us know if you have any questions along the way!
All the best,
Gavriella
How much more yarn will I need for a wider wrap: 24” wide?
Hi Natalie,
Thanks for asking! I’d recommend an additional 3 skeins!
Happy making!
Gavriella
How would I put a border around a stockinette stitch scarf?
Hi Suzanne,
There are many options for a border! One simple way to do it is knit in the border stitch pattern (we recommend something like garter stitch or ribbing that won’t curl) for an inch or two at the beginning, then for a few stitches on each edge of the scarf as you knit the rest, and finally an inch or two before binding off.
All the best,
Lili
Would it work to combine two different colors of Estuary (Maple Leaf and Prairie Turnip) or will that get too muddled?
Hi J,
I think using two colors of Estuary would be beautiful! Please let us know if you end up trying this–we’d love to see a photo of the results!
All the best,
Lili