Чари: Chary (CHAR-ih, like the first sound in “it”). Ukrainian. Enchantments, magicks. Spells for love, spells for fortune, spells to change your fate.

All proceeds from this pattern will benefit Ukrainian aid initiatives, forever. Proceeds from 2022 are going to Голоси дітей (Voices of Children), a Ukrainian organization supporting children living with war trauma.

Ukrainians have worn вишиванки (vyshyvanky) more or less forever. These elaborately embroidered shirts and cloths have wordlessly spilled our stories across canvases of clean white linen for millennia. There are a thousand regional variations and specializations, with motifs that encode meaning right into the material. This pattern translates some of these motifs into stranded colourwork, weaving spells of hope and safety both for the wearer and for the land of the ancestors who first picked them out with needle and thread.

This pattern contains instructions for four variations which use the same charts: a tube cowl (in two sizes), a doubled cowl, an infinity scarf, and a tube scarf.

YARN
Any colourwork-appropriate fingering or sport-weight yarn (i.e. nonsuperwash and “grippy”).

The tube cowl sample was knit in Vivchari Ethno-Premia, a sport-weight Ukrainian wool yarn, and Retrosaria Rosa Pomar Mondim.

The doubled cowl sample was knit in Tukuwool fingering and Topsy Farms fingering.

The tube scarf sample was knit in Retrosaria Rosa Pomar Vovó.

METERAGE
Tube cowl: MC 225 (300)m, CC1 30 (45)m, CC2 80 (100)m
Doubled cowl: MC 500m, CC1 70m, CC2 180m
Infinity scarf: MC 720m, CC1 90m, CC2 320m
Tube scarf: MC 1150m, CC1 140m, CC2 360m
Estimates are generous, you may use less yarn.

GAUGE
23 stiches and 25 rows over 4”/10cm, stranded colourwork in the round

NEEDLES
As needed to obtain gauge. (Sample knit with US7)

For doubled cowl, infinity scarf, and tube scarf only: a second set of gauge-size needles and a darning needle (for finishing)

PRINTING THE PATTERN
Pages 1-4 contain information about the pattern, materials, and tools.
Pages 5-6 contain the patterns in a printer-friendly format.
Page 7 contains the colourwork charts.