A fun, colourful knit for lovers of stationery and art supplies or for people who appreciate a good rainbow gradient in their knits! This scarf is knitted back and forth using straightforward knit and purl stitches with intarsia technique colour changes.

This is more of a ‘recipe’ for a scarf than an exact pattern written line by line, as the chart provided allows you to change the lengths of each pencil and colour order as you go along. I have varied the lengths of each pencil by a small number of stitches to mirror my own artists materials (photo below left), but an adventurous or experienced chart reader can make each pencil shorter or longer by starting each pencil a few stitches further towards the left or the right of the chart.

This scarf uses two sets of 8 x 10g mini skeins, ‘Peacock’ and ‘Firebird’ for the colours of the pencils, plus one 100g skein of light brown speckled ‘Cappuccino’ colourway and one 100g skein of dark grey semi-solid ‘Anthracite’ colourway, all of which are hand dyed by Folkestone Harbour Yarn on our 75% Merino/25% Nylon sock yarn base.

I have included details of yarn alternatives, as this could be an ideal stash buster knit for someone with small quantities of sock yarns left over from other projects. Page 7 has a chart for you to colour in your own version if you like.

The knitted scarf is backed by wool blend fabric which is hand sewn on to the front after washing and blocking. This is to add weight and warmth to the otherwise quite thin scarf, and also to hide the ends of the multiple intarsia colour changes. I purchased mine from Empress Mills but most fabric shops will have something similar.

Size: after blocking. Length 169cm, width 30cm.

Skill level:
Easy/Some Experience. Although the stitches used are basic knit and purl, the chart reading, counting stitches and intarsia colour changing technique may be challenging for an absolute beginner.

Tools Needed:

• 3mm knitting needles, 40cm length (or circular cable needles if preferred).
• Large wool needle for weaving in ends.
• Scissors or snips.
• movable stitch markers.
• a ruler, magnetic board or your chosen method for keeping track of which row you are knitting.

For the backing (optional but recommended):

• ½ metre wool blend fabric in colour of your choice (I chose a black fabric with white polka dots so that it stayed neutral against the colourful knitted front).
• Matching sewing thread. - Dressmaking pins.
• Sewing needle.
• Sewing machine (optional).

Yarns Needed:

• 1 x Folkestone Harbour Yarn ‘Peacock’ mini skein set (purple, blue, green, yellow). 8 x 10g/42.5m 75% merino/25% nylon sock weight mini skeins.
• 1 x Folkestone Harbour Yarn ‘Firebird’ mini skein set (yellow, orange, red, pink, purple). 8 x 10g/42.5m 75% merino/25% nylon sock weight mini skeins.
• 1 x Folkestone Harbour Yarn ‘Cappuccino’ 100g/425m light brown speckled 75% merino/25% nylon sock weight.
• 1 x Folkestone Harbour Yarn ‘Anthracite’ dark grey semi-solid 100g/425m 75% merino/25% nylon sock weight.

Yarn Alternatives:
For the coloured pencils: 6-7g approx of 16 different rainbow colours of 4ply/sock weight yarn.
For the wood of the pencils around 35g of light brown 4ply/sock weight yarn.
For the background 45g approx of a dark grey (or colour of your choice) 4ply/sock weight yarn.
All yarns with a length to weight ratio of around 425m per 100g.