Overview
Don’t Quit is a moderately wide scarf designed to be a confidence-building first knitting project. It will provide lots of practice with the two main stitches (knit and purl), as well as switching between the two. At the same time, it should offer a relaxing, meditative knitting experience and produce a polished, elegant finished garment a new knitter is rightfully proud to wear. It features a reversible fabric with a symmetrical textured plaid and wide flat borders that behave well when worn.

Audience
This pattern is designed for brand-new knitters who want to tackle a first project and are learning to knit and purl. It also makes a fabulous Knetflix & Knit option for more experienced knitters who enjoy a bit of something both interesting and relaxing to knit.

Construction Summary
To create the plaid design, you will alternate between a very simple, plain-knitting section and a section that involves some knitting and some purling. I have provided both written and charted instructions for how to work each of these sections, as well as guidance about how to use both types of instructions. In essence, you will use two very simple texture blocks that work together in a syncopated rhythm to form the holistic design of both horizontally and vertically repeating plaid.

A Note about Printing
If you wish to print this pattern, please note that you can print a full copy of all working instructions by printing only pages 4 and 5. I strive to ensure that my patterns provide plenty of guidance but you probably only need to read through the discussion pieces once or twice. By printing pp. 4-5, you will have the charts and instructions handy whenever and wherever you knit, for easy reference.

Materials

• 660 yds of DK- or worsted-weight yarn -- ideally wool
• 5.0 mm (US 8) needles -- ideally made of bamboo
• 5 or 6 stitch markers
• 1 row counter
• 1 tapestry needle

I strongly recommend choosing a wool yarn and bamboo needles for a first project. Both wool and bamboo offer maximum grip that will help you keep your stitches on your needles as you’re getting the hang of this hobby. Smoother yarns that offer good stitch definition will make it easier to appreciate the plaid design of the scarf, especially on the back side, where it is more subtle. I recommend a solid colour for the same reason: a variegated yarn will compete for attention with the textural pattern.

I knit my scarf with Wooldreamers Dehesa de Barrera DK (100% Spanish Merino Wool) and it is lovely! This is a luxury yarn that I feel privileged to work with, so I highly recommend it if it is accessible to you. However, it is not required: there are lots of suitable yarns available! In the pattern, I provide considerable guidance for choosing your materials, so that you can knit your first project with the most pleasant experience possible.

Gauge
This pattern is written for worsted or DK-weight yarns because this is the yarn weight I typically find easiest to work. You can probably expect a gauge of roughly 5 stitches and 7 rows per inch. I used a DK-weight yarn and, before blocking, my garter-stitch gauge was about 5.5 stitches and 7.5 rows per inch.

On the other hand, it’s a scarf and it doesn’t matter too terribly much. It’ll still fit.