Quince & Co Scarves, etc 4: Pathway

 

 Photo from Quince & Co.

I have long admired Quince & Co.'s style and aesthetics. Their yarns, patterns and photography have always appealed to me. So I consider it a high honor to have one of my designs included in this year's scarves collection, Scarves, etc 4. This year, the collection has 13 scarves from 13 designers. I can't even imagine how they were able to narrow down 13 designs from hundreds of submissions. The collection is not just rectangular scarves, but also includes cowls and shawls in a variety of shapes with interesting stitch patterns, color work, and construction techniques. Pam Allen did an amazing job of picking the color palette for this collection. As an added bonus, Quince & Co. decided to make this collection into a printed book. You can still get a virtual copy of individual patterns or the collection, but if you love paper and hold-in-your-hand pattern books, you can pre-order Scarves, Etc. 4, The Book.

My scarf design is called Pathway and it is knit with Lark in the color Poppy. Lark is a smooth, round, wool yarn, designed to showcase all manner of stitch patterns. This is not a typical design style for me. I usually love designing with lace patterns and I like symmetrical designs. But this time I decided to challenge myself and break out of my comfort zone. Pathway has a asymmetrical design of cables and classic knit/purl patterns. I am really quite pleased with the results. It's a 10 row repeat that is easy to knit and you can knit it as long or as short as you want.

 When I received the yarn to knit the sample, I further refined and tweaked the stitch patterns. If you look closely, you can see that the swatch is a little different than the final scarf. I tightened up the spaces between the stitch patterns and changed the diagonal section. I think all designers obsess over every little detail and is always trying to make the final design look better.

 
Photo from Quince & Co.

Another thing worthy of mentioning here is how I blocked the scarf. I like blocking with wires because wires make it easy to achieve straight lines. In the pattern, I added a garter stitch in the beginning and at the end of the scarf. The garter stitch will make little bumps that will make it easy for you to see where to put your wires through. I block pretty hard and Lark still held the cable and stitch definition perfectly when I took it off the blocking board. The result is a warm, squishy and cozy scarf with a multi-textured pattern that is a unisex design. You can see it on Ravelry and look at the different colors other knitters have used for the scarf. Be sure to favorite it or add it to your queue.