’In later days he dearly loved the Children of Eru, and took pity on their sorrows. Those who hearkened to him arose from despair; and in their hearts the desire to heal and to renew awoke, and thoughts of fair things that had not yet been but might yet be made for the enrichment of Arda. Nothing he made himself and nothing he possessed, but kindled the hearts of others, and in their delight he was glad.’ {from Morgoth’s Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien}

He inspired my heart with thoughts of fair things; and I conceived of a pattern inspired by the initial description of this beloved character: ‘…an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard hung down below his waist, and immense black boots.’ {from The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien}

I have taken this simple description of a silver scarf and crafted from it an ode to Gandalf: plain garter stitch for the unassumedness of his appearance, embellished with his identifying mark, the ‘G’ rune, not for the name that he was called by for thousands of years in the light and bliss of Valinor, but for the moniker given to him by these people that he loved and whom he had come to toil and suffer alongside of.

I have used a simple worsted weight acrylic yarn (about 400 yards) because it’s what I had in my stash, knit in a standard 4 stitches per inch gauge on no.8 needles, but of course being just a long rectangle this is not critical. I’m sure there are many more beautiful yarns out there better suited for the wizard in your life.

Written especially for all you knitters who love Professor Tolkien and his treasured books (The Lord of the Rings is deeply imbedded in my heart), and gratitude to anyone who has taken the time to make one of my patterns or even just to look at my creations. Thank you all you Ravelers who kindly (and unkindly) point out mistakes (please continue to do so!); I owe so much of my knitting experience to you. Thanks to God, our Eru, the source of all fair thoughts; hearken to Him and lose despair.

This pattern is for personal use only.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

NOTE: Since the cabling in this design is asymmetric, I have written the pattern out twice: once for right-handers, and once for left-handers, since anything written right-handed and knitted left-handed will come out as a mirror image (normally not a problem).