Perplexus: Latin - 1. Entangled, Intricate, confused. 2. Unintelligible, complicated, intricate, inscrutable, ambiguous; dark, obscure.

Perplexus the scarf is all of the above: hidden in the angular, parallel lines is an optical illusion. There are no diagonal lines in the pattern, but your eye can clearly perceive diamond shapes lurking in the background. More, the squares may all look alike to the casual observer, but look again!

I knitted this scarf as my very first double-knit project. I had never attempted the eccentric art of double-knitting before, and within a few rows, I was completely addicted. The scarf is knitted in one piece, but the pattern is made up of seven square panels, each featuring a diamond within a diamond, formed from horizontal and vertical lines.

There are actually two entirely discrete patterns here - note the direction of the lines in the smaller, centre diamonds, and you will see what I mean. In one, the lines go up and down, and in the next, they go left to right.

Perplexus uses three colours of yarn. I bought three 50g skeins of Colours A and B, and two 50g skeins of Colour C.

Other than your 4mm circular needle, the pattern only needs a tapestry needle for grafting the end closed, and weaving in ends.

This pattern includes charted instructions for the two versions of the diamond squares, a basic tutorial about the concept of Double-Knitting, as well as full written tutorials on the cast on, edge technique, and the one-needle Kitchener bind off for making this scarf.

Also links to special video tutorials on the above techniques.

If you think you can’t do double-knitting, this package will prove you wrong!