One of the best styles for learning how to knit is a scarf pattern.  Why?  Because it's simple.  You don't have to worry about creating shape or how it will fit, it's just a big beautiful rectangular piece of fabric designed to cocoon you in soft-as-a-kitten warmth.  

Beginning with a simple project allows you to get into a rhythm so that your brain and your hands learn to work together with the needles and yarn.  At the heart of it, repetition helps build confidence. Our Gateway Scarf is knit using the basic knit stitch making it a quick and easy project to master.  

The Gateway Scarf pattern is just the right width and length to wrap beautifully around your body to keep the winter chill out.  We love throwing it on with our biggest coziest sweater to curl up on the front porch and read our favorite book. 

Our LOLL yarn features a special blend of Merino Wool and Baby Alpaca fibers creating soft-as-a-kitten warmth and squishiness. Sustainably sourced and 100% naturally soft (not chemically softened), LOLL is grown in the beautiful highlands of Argentina and spun in a Fair Trade Certified facility in Peru.

With cashmere-like softness, LOLL is not too chunky or hot, making it a perfect choice for all of your upcoming projects (hats, scarves, sweaters, blankets, cowls, interiors accessories). And because it's naturally anti-itch, it's perfect for all those baby gifts you want to make or for anyone who is sensitive to the itch of natural wool.

PROJECT SKILL LEVEL : LEARN TO KNIT

This pattern is designed for anyone who is picking up knitting needles for the very first time. We will guide you step-by-step on how to get yarn onto your needles, teach you the foundational knit stitch and then how to finish your work in a way that looks ultra professional.

TECHNIQUES YOU WILL LEARN

• How To Hold Your Needles & Yarn
• Making a Gauge Swatch
• The Slip-Knot
• Casting-On Stitches (using the Longtail Cast-On Method)
• The Knit Stitch
• Joining Yarn Ends
• Binding Off 
• Weaving In Loose Ends
• Blocking Your Work

TIME TO MAKE 

7-10 Hours

PATTERN SIZE

One Size

PROJECT MEASUREMENTS

Finished Length: 60"
Finished Width : 7"

GAUGE

8mm Needles
13 stitches in knit stitch x 22 rows = 4" x 4" square

GATEWAY SCARF KIT

KIT CONTENTS

• 2 balls of Project Weekend's LOLL, 
• 1 pair of 8mm / US 11 Straight or Circular Knitting Needles   (optional with kit purchase)
• 1 Knitters' Sewing Needle 
  
• 1 "PROJECT WEEKEND X Me." Woven Label
• 1 Organic Cotton Project Bag

TECHNIQUE TUTORIAL VIDEOS & ILLUSTRATIONS

Not sure how to knit a specific technique? No worries, we've got your back! We've created videos and step-by-step illustrations for you to reference, so your project won't miss a beat. They are conveniently located throughout and at the end of the pattern for you to click and learn from.
Happy Knitting! 

LET'S BEGIN

Before we start getting into it, let's familiarize ourselves with how we hold our needles and yarn. 

GAUGE SWATCH
WHAT IS IT & WHY MAKE ONE

A gauge swatch is a little test square of fabric that you knit before each project using the exact stitches in your pattern. Once complete, it will tell you if your knitting is too tight or too loose for the pattern that you are creating.  This is a great tool because it helps you make sure that your knitting will measure out perfectly to the pattern and ultimately fit just right.

Gauge swatches only take a half hour or so to make... many times less.  Yet, a lot of people either rush through this process or skip it all together because they're so excited to get knitting their project. 

Please learn from our experience.....there is nothing more frustrating than knitting someone a sweater only to realize at the end (and after many invested  hours of knitting) that if only we had made a gauge swatch, our beautiful sweater wouldn't have ended up fitting two sizes too small. 

If you are new to knitting, think of the gauge swatch as a great opportunity to learn how to create your stitches before you start your main project.  

GETTING GAUGE

Every knit project will have gauge swatch instructions. The pattern details and materials list will indicate what size needle you need for each project and it will call out how many stitches per row by how many rows you need to knit to create your swatch to achieve the correct gauge.

The Gateway Scarf requires an 8mm sized knitting needle and you will need to cast-on 13 knit stitches and knit 22 rows to achieve gauge. Once you complete this, your finished swatch should measure 4” x 4” (10cm x 10cm).

STEP-BY-STEP : MAKING A GAUGE SWATCH 

1. With a yarn tail approximately 20” long, create a SLIP-KNOT and place it onto one of your knitting needles. This slip-knot is considered your first stitch.   

HOW TO MAKE A SLIP-KNOT

2. Holding that needle in your right hand, CAST-ON another 12 more stitches using the LONG-TAIL CAST-ON METHOD. You should now have 13 stitches on your needle.

HOW TO CAST-ON USING THE LONGTAIL CAST-ON METHOD

3. Hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand. KNIT into each of the loops across the 13 stitches. This is row 1.   

HOW TO KNIT THE KNIT STITCH

4. Switching needles again, hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand. This is called turning your work and you will do this each time you knit to the end of each row.

TIP: A trick to keeping your swatch edges looking nice and even, snug up your yarn a bit at the beginning of each new row to make sure the edge stitches are the same tension as the rest of your knitting. When you're turning your work, the tension on these first stitches can get a bit loose, so remember to keep them snug!

5. Repeat Knitting each row until you have completed a total 22 rows  

6. BIND-OFF your stitches (Do not cut yarn after binding off, you'll be using this yarn for your main project.)

HOW TO BIND-OFF (CAST-OFF)

7. Lay your swatch flat and measure the length and the width. If your swatch comes out smaller than 4”x4”, it means you are knitting too tightly, so unravel your swatch and start again, this time loosen up your stitch tension a bit.

If your swatch comes out larger than 4”x 4”, you are knitting too loosely, so tighten up your stitch a little bit when knitting.

Once you create a swatch that measures 4”x4”, Congratulations! You have found your gauge tension so go ahead, unravel that swatch (you're going to need that yarn for your scarf!)  and begin your knit project. 

MEASUREMENTS OFF BY A TINY BIT?

No stress! When you’re working on beginner projects like this, it’s ok to be a bit off on measurements. Once you've completed knitting your scarf, we will show you how to block it. Blocking your work is a way of "setting" your knitting to hit the exact measurements you need and is the way to take your knitting from looking home made to super professional.

So, if you’re just a bit off on measurement.... go ahead, start knitting that scarf!

GATEWAY SCARF PATTERN

LE'TS GET TO IT!

1. With a yarn tail approximately 20” long, create a SLIP-KNOT and place it onto one of your knitting needles. This slip-knot is considered your first stitch.

2. Holding that needle in your right hand, CAST-ON  another 21 more stitches using the LONG-TAIL CAST-ON METHOD. You will now have 22 stitches on your needle.

3. Hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand. KNIT across the 22 stitches.

4. Switching needles again, hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand. This is called turning your work and you will do this each time you knit to the end of each row.  

5. KNIT across the 22 stitches and turn your work.

Reminder: Keep the tension on the first stitch of each row nice and snug so that the edges of your scarf stay neat and straight.

6. Repeat this process of knitting across the row and turning your work until you reach the last 10” of yarn of your first ball.   

TIP: When you Knit each row over and over,  you are creating a stitch pattern commonly referred to as GARTER STITCH. 

7. Join your new ball of yarn using the Magic Knot Method and continue knitting each row until your work measures 60” (or continue on and finish up the entire 2nd ball!)

8. BIND-OFF your stitches and leave a yarn tail approximately 8"-10" long

TIP: When binding off, keep the tension on the looser side than tight. If the tension along this edge is too tight, it will gather the end of your scarf and it won’t lay flat.

9. Weave in loose ends & proudly sew on your Project Weekend x Me. woven label..

BLOCKING YOUR PROJECT

Congratulations! You have completed your scarf!

How does it look? Does it lay perfectly flat? Is it consistently the right width all the way through?

Or does it have a little wave to the edges and some areas are more narrow than others? Chances are, that's the case. Rest assured, no knit piece looks perfect right off the needles.

That's why we block it into place and fix all of our tension and wonky stitch issues, immediately transforming our project from looking home made to ultra professional.

It's like magic!

There are a couple different ways to block your knit projects, we will spray/steam block our piece as that is the best way to block Project Weekends' LOLL yarn. 

BLOCKING MATERIALS

• Large flat soft surface (ironing board, yoga mat or carpet)
• Clean Towel
• Spray Bottle (with mist setting) or you can use an Iron (with steam function)
• Measuring Tape
• Pins (optional)  

1. Place a towel over the ironing board, yoga mat or carpet. Next, lay your project out flat on top of the towel. You will be using water and/or hot steam for this process, so be sure to avoid or protect any surfaces that can be damaged by heat and water.

2. Fill your spray bottle with water or if using an iron fill the steam reservoir with water and plug it in.

3. Being careful, gently tug and pull your scarf into the measurements you need it to be. The finished measurements of the Gateway Scarf are 7” x 60”. You can use straight pins to pin your piece into place, but not necessary.

NOTE: For the next steps, if you are using an iron, keep your fingers out of the way of the steam as you could easily burn them, so be CAREFUL!

4. If using a:

SPRAY BOTTLE: starting at one end and working your way to the other, mist water through the entire piece, the goal is to make the scarf wet all the way through.

IRON: Hover the iron about an inch over top of the scarf and continuously pump the steam button. driving that steam through the piece without ever touching the iron to the yarn. The goal is to make the scarf completely wet, but you do not want to scorch, burn, or flatten the texture of your scarf. Keep the iron moving along the length and width of the scarf and drive that steam into the entire piece.

5. As the yarn gets wet, you will see the stitches begin to soften, loosen, open up and relax.

6. Continue to shift, tug and pull gently here and there to loosen up the stitches so that the scarf lays comfortably flat and hits its final measurements.

7. Let your scarf rest in place until it's completely dry. This can take a couple hours. This drying process is what sets the stitches into their new home (thus fixing any tension errors, tightening up any random loose stitches and sets the finished width of your scarf to be beautifully consistent).

8. Once your scarf is 100% dry, throw it on and go show it off!  

Excited to learn more knitting techniques?  
Check out our full library of videos.

KNITTING TUTORIALS