Lazy Entrelac

Remember, I had a giveaway? Well, there were winners, and two have already received their goodies. Wordnerd scored herself a burgundy scarf in llama-silk yarn, thusly:

It’s in Plymouth Royal Llama yarn, two skeins, in the Opera Scarf pattern. Sometimes the simplest stitch patterns are best for showing off the softness and drape of the yarn… we won’t talk about how many stitch patterns I tried before realizing this.

The boys helped add a little live-action modeling,
showing off their very best debonair faces.

And Tara got a scarf, as well, in a wool-soy blend. I essentially winged it here, but remembered to write out the pattern as I went.. It’s in a stitch “pattern,” for lack of a better term, called entrelac, which looks fabulously complicated and really is quite simple once you get the basic routine down.

Using a yarn with long sections of colors before a change (such as Noro Kureyon or Patons SWS) means it just colors the squares differently all by itself, no need to break yarn and mess with more than one skein. And by knitting it lengthwise, there was a lot more routine and a lot less change than there would have been if I’d knit it end-to-end. Hence, Lazy Entrelac:

Lazy Entrelac
Materials
Patons SWS in “Natural Garden” colorway, 3.1 skeins (just a tiny smidge over 3 skeins; if I’d cast on 10 fewer stitches initially I probably could have gotten away with 3).
Circular knitting needles, US size 10 (6.0mm), the longer the better – I used a 60″ cable
Crochet hook, size J/10 (6.00mm)
Darning needle

Gauge
Seriously, not important. It’s a scarf. I had about 8sts/inch.

Note: I wrote this with two sets of instructions; the short version is for those who do best with a gestalt, bigger-picture sort of pattern, and the long version is for those who prefer a line-by-line sort of experience.

Base triangles (make many)
CO a multiple of 10 stitches. Anything from, say, 120 stitches would make a pleasantly long scarf at this gauge. I cast on 200, and this resulted in a scarf best worn doubled-over with the ends fed through that loop:

The short version:
First row: k2, turn work.
Second row: sl1, p to end.
Third row: k to CO edge plus one more.
Repeat Second and Third Rows until it takes 9 stitches to (p to end).
Next row: k to CO edge plus three more.
The last two stitches you just knit are now the First Row of the next triangle; repeat Second and Third Rows again, etc., to end of work.
You’ll have triangles – however many stitches you cast on divided by ten. At the last triangle, last row, you’ll just k to CO edge plus one and that’ll be all the stitches used.

The long version:
Row 1: k2.
Row 2: sl1, p1.
Row 3: k3.
Row 4: sl1, p2.
Row 5: k4.
Row 6: sl1, p3.
Row 7: k5.
Row 8: sl1, p4.
Row 9: k6.
Row 10: sl1, p5.
Row 11: k7.
Row 12: sl1, p6.
Row 13: k8.
Row 14: sl1, p7.
Row 15: k9.
Row 16: sl1, p8.
Row 17: k12.

Repeat rows 2-17 until all stitches are used, ending with a Row 17: k10 instead of k12.

Edge Triangle (make one)
The short version:
Turn work (WS facing).
First Row: pfb, p2tog.
Second Row: k to end.
Third Row: pfb, p to 1 bef gap formed between newly-created stitches and already-formed triangle (this is less complicated in real life than it is in words… but then, isn’t most of knitting that way?), p2tog.

Repeat Second and Third Rows until there are 10 sts on right needle.

The long version:
Turn work (WS facing).
Row 1: pfb, p2tog.
Row 2: k3.
Row 3: pfb, p1, p2tog.
Row 4: k4.
Row 5: pfb, p2, p2tog.
Row 6: k5.
Row 7: pfb, p3, p2tog.
Row 8: k6.
Row 9: pfb, p4, p2tog.
Row 10: k7.
Row 11: pfb, p5, p2tog.
Row 12: k8.
Row 13: pfb, p6, p2tog.
Row 14: k9.
Row 15: pfb, p7, p2tog. There are 10 sts on right needle.

Squares (make many)
The short and long versions are the same:
Do not turn work.
**First Row: Pick up and purl 10 sts along side of adjacent triangle. Slip last picked-up stitch back to L needle, p2tog.
Second Row: K10.
Third Row: p9, p2tog.
Repeat Second and Third Rows until all sts from adjacent triangle have been used; 20 sts remain on R needle. **
Repeat from ** to ** for all base triangles.

Other Edge Triangle (make one)
The short version:
Do not turn work (WS facing).
First Row: pick up and p 9 sts along edge of adjacent square.
Second Row: k to end.
Third Row: p to 1 before gap, p2tog.
Repeat Second and Third Rows until 1 st remains (p2tog).

The long version:
Right Edge Triangle:
Pick up and p 9 sts along edge of square adjacent to right needle.
Row 1 [RS]: K9.
Row 2 [WS]: P7, p2tog.
Row 3 [RS]: K8.
Row 4 [WS]: P6, p2tog.
Row 5 [RS]: K7.
Row 6 [WS]: P5, p2tog.
Row 7 [RS]: K6.
Row 8 [WS]: P4, p2tog.
Row 9 [RS]: K5.
Row 10 [WS]: P3, p2tog.
Row 11 [RS]: K4.
Row 12 [WS]: P2, p2tog.
Row 13 [RS]: K3.
Row 14 [WS]: P1, p2tog.
Row 15 [RS]: K2.
Row 16 [WS]: P2tog.

Top Triangles (make many)
The short version:
Turn work (RS facing).
**First Row: k1, pick up 9 sts along edge of adjacent square, slip last picked-up stitch back to L needle and k2tog tbl.
Second Row: P to end.
Third Row: k2tog, k to 1 bef gap, ssk.
Repeat Second and Third Rows until 2 sts remain on last WS row, then ssk on last RS row. (1 st remains.)**

Repeat from ** to ** until all stitches used.

The long version:
Turn work (RS facing).
Row 1: k1, pick up 9 sts along edge of adjacent square, slip last picked-up stitch back to L needle and k2tog tbl.
Row 2: p10.
Row 3: k2tog, k7, ssk.
Row 4: p9.
Row 5: k2tog, k6, ssk.
Row 6: P8.
Row 7: k2tog, k5, ssk.
Row 8: p7.
Row 9: k2tog, k4, ssk.
Row 10: p6.
Row 11: k2tog, k3, ssk.
Row 12: p5.
Row 13: k2tog, k2, ssk.
Row 14: p4.
Row 15: k2tog, k1, ssk.
Row 16: p3.
Row 17: k2tog, ssk.
Row 18: P2.
Row 19: Ssk, then pick up 9 stitches along adjacent square, slip last picked-up stitch back to L needle and k2tog tbl.

Repeat Rows 2-19 until all stitches used.

With crochet hook, work one row of single crochet around perimeter of scarf. Weave in ends.

With grateful acknowledgment to Jesse Loesberg’s Danica scarf, which provided an initial inspiration and I went from there…