All my life I have loved the word, Dardanelles, which is the name of the waterway that connects the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. I have finally found something that deserves the name: this graceful, lively crescent of knitting that will flow around your neck in any way you wish to arrange it.

The knitting is easy to follow and deeply relaxing, with just enough cabling in the center to keep you mesmerized. Like the currents that rest at slack tide and gradually quicken to rush through the Dardanelles at their peak, the knitting seems to go faster and faster because you work fewer and fewer stitches as you approach the tip. The process is so soothing that I knit three in a row.

The pattern includes a live link to my Youtube tutorial on Jeny Staiman’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off (JSSBO).

Frog Tree Ewetopia is an exceptionally springy and friendly yarn which is kind to all the muscles you use (and overuse) for knitting. This yarn is spun with one ply of superwash Merino and one ply of regular Merino. Superwash absorbs dye more intensely, lending the yarn a charming marled appearance. Once your Dardanelles is done, you can stretch it, let go, and it will bounce back, bursting with energy as if spring-loaded. It reminds me of the Slinky that so mesmerized me as a child.

To substitute another yarn, swatch to be sure that it will produce bouncy, springy ribbing. If the ribbing is not bouncy, try going down in needle size until it is.