Swiss Check Scarf

Swiss Check Scarf

If I had one inspiration for this scarf, it was the planned color pooling pictures that keep popping up in my Facebook feed (dude, I follow a lot of knitters). If I had two inspirations for this scarf, it was PCP (such a bad acronym!) and laziness; the idea of fiddling with a yarn and a design until I had nailed a certain color pattern seemed about as appealing to me as taking all three of my children to the dentist by myself for concurrent appointments. So I went with a more relaxed take on the same theme; namely, a slip stitch color pattern worked with two skeins of the same variegated yarn that still creates a fancy pattern but requires much less precision! :)

Yarn: Lang Yarns Viva (100% Merino Wool; 120 yards [110 meters]/50 grams); #0020 - four skeins

A closer look at the Swiss Check.
So Swiss, no?

Needles: One pair of straight needles in size US 8

Notions: Tapestry needle

Gauge: 19 stitches = 4 inches in stockinette

And now that we've gotten the basics down, let's make a scarf! And let's begin by talking some shop: specifically, addressing the fact that this scarf is worked with two skeins of your variegated yarn at once, and that even though they're the SAME DARN COLOR (or combination of colors I suppose), I will be calling one skein A and one skein B. Of course, that's because they need to be worked alternately in order to produce the slip stitch color pattern (and for that reason I also recommend that you make sure to begin the slip stitch pattern with a portion of your skein B ball that does not match your skein A ball at whichever point in the dye you're in after the edging rows). So let's proceed as follows:

Using your skein A yarn (aka any whichever one of your skeins you pick up first), cast on 39 stitches loosely and work the edging rows as follows:

Edging Row 1 (right side): purl

Edging Row 2: knit

Edging Row 3: purl

Edging Row 4: knit

Edging Row 5: purl

Work these 5 rows, and then we'll begin our main pattern, which is Swiss Check from page 90 of Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and goes as follows. But before you begin, take note: the main color pattern is a slip stitch pattern, so you need to leave your yarn behind the slipped stitches quite loose. HOWEVER, the three edge stitches make a faux i-cord, so when you're directed to slip the first three and last three stitches of the row you can cinch 'em as tight as you like (without, of course, accidentally cinching together the rest of the stitches in the row!). And with that, we'll proceed like so:

Row 1 (wrong side): using skein A, purl

Row 2: using skein B, slip 3 stitches purlwise with yarn in back (sl3 wyib), k1, sl1 wyib, * k1, sl3 wyib; rep from * until you have 6 stitches left in your row; then, k1, sl1 wyib, k1, sl3 wyib

Row 3: using skein B, p4, * p3, slip 1 stitch purlwise with yarn in front (sl1 wyif) * until you have 7 stitches left in row; then, p7

Row 4: using skein A, sl3 wyib, k2, * sl1 wyib, k3 * until you have 6 stitches left in row; then sl1 wyib, k2, sl3 wyib

Row 5: using skein A, purl

Row 6: using skein B, * sl3 wyib, k1 * until you have 3 stitches left in row; then sl3 wyib

Row 7: using skein B, p5, * sl1 wyif, p3 * until you have 6 stitches left in row; then sl1 wyif, p5

Row 8: using skein A, sl3 wyib, k4, * sl1, k3, * until you have 4 stitches left in row; then, k1, sl3 wyib

Knit rows 1 - 8 until scarf measures roughly 56" and you've just finished row 1 or row 5 of the pattern. Clip your skein B yarn, and we'll work another edging in skein A as follows:

Edging Row 1 (right side): purl

Edging Row 2: knit

Edging Row 3: purl

Edging Row 4: knit

Edging Row 5: purl

Complete edging rows 1 - 5 and bind off loosely. Block scarf, and finish with 4 roughly 7" tassels, one affixed at each end of the edging! :)

And a wrong side pic, for good measure!