Railyard Scarf - a pattern for sale

PLEASE NOTE: this pattern is now free :^)  There is a link at the bottom of this post to download it.

And now, back to the scarf.  (honestly, every time I see this picture I want to pet the screen.)

I made a matching set of these, which you may recognize from my references to the SuperSecret ScarfyThings aka the projects I did not quite finish in time for Christmas this year.

Here is what happened.  The small friend for whom I made the Milkshake Scarf a mere two years ago appears to have outgrown it already, and asked for another using This Yarn, in Blue ('This Yarn' being a ball of Supreme Possum Merino, but more on that in a moment.)  I couldn't not do it, of course, but I was faced with a problem.  Several problems in fact.

1. How many more scarves am I going to be making for Small Friend if he keeps on growing?  Clearly I need to make something longer... long enough that it will do him for a while, and then work for a girl.  Because of course you can't just waste a special knit like that while it waits to get passed down.

2. What stitch is going to be interesting to knit, but sufficiently manly for Small Friend to wear, and mindless enough to cart around everywhere because it will take me a year to do something that long?

(I never get tired of how it bunches together into warm little folds under a collar.)

(actually it only took about a month. it's pretty portable and I was out a lot at the time.)

3. And it has to stand out over all the halo from the Possum.

4. And be reversible.  (not that I ask for much.)

 

Having solved those problems, I was met with another - Small Friend's older brother, previously uninterested in scarves or anything else handknit, suddenly wanted one of these but undyed.  Might his sudden enthusiasm have had something to do with the whole 'looks like train tracks' thing?  Because both of those boys love trains even more than I do.

Incidentally, all these photographs are of the Child size/S scarf; I've included yardage and instructions for a Youth/M (I'm not taking any chances with Small Friend) and an Adult/L.  But Pete was surprised to find that the S was not ridiculously short under his coat or too narrow around his neck, so you can probably improvise a bit with yardage if you need to.

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A Word About Possum

The idea of wearing fur is (understatement alert) offputting for me personally, but possum fur has its own story, the conclusion of which is: buying products with possum fur in them helps New Zealand's environment recover from the massive damage caused by the overpopulation of this non-native species.  You can read all about it at the sidebar here.

A Word About Yarn Substitution

You can make this scarf with any fingering weight yarn, not just possum ones.  Especially any fingering with a fiber-related halo.

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Railyard Scarf

A pattern in fingering-weight yarn for the train lover in your life.

Difficulty Level:
Easy - if you know how to yo and K2tog, you're good to go.

Materials:

Supreme Possum Merino (50% merino wool, 40% possum fur, 10% silk, 229 yds/50g; www.merinopossum.co.nz; you're looking for the 4-ply weight), 2 (2, 3) skeins [Allow 350 yds/76g (458 yds/100g, 560 yds/121g) for sizes S (M, L).]
4.0mm/US 6 lace tip needles, or size to get gauge
darning needle

Gauge:

22 sts/30 rows = 4” in stocking stitch

Sizing:

Instructions are given for sizes Small, Medium, and Large, to fit a child (around 4.5' tall), youth, or adult.  

Width: 7.5 (7.5, 9)” 

Length: 45 (56, 60)”

Click here to download Railyard Scarf