Mistake Rib Scarf - the scarf that was, and then wasn't, and then was again.

Quick project details
Cast on: 19 December
Bind off: 14 January
Yarn: Juniper Moon Farm - Moonshine Trios in the colourway 105 Seashell, worsted weight, 40% alpaca, 40% wool, 20% silk. Used 2.5 skeins (around 500 yards total)
Needles: straight 5.5mm wooden knitting needles
Pattern: Mistake Rib Scarf by Purl Soho

This scarf was intended to be my first finished project of 2026. I was on track to do this, and even cast on in the week before Christmas. I used this scarf as a way to remind myself how to cast-on, bind-off, knit, purl, slip stitches, and generally just get comfortable with the needles in my hand again after not knitting for a long time. This free pattern is incredibly easy to follow and the mistake rib stitches make a texture that is so squishy, bouncy, and luxurious feeling.

I started off by following the pattern guidelines and I cast on 67 stitches. This makes a really wide scarf in the yarn I was using, probably around 15 or 16 inches wide. I love a wide scarf, so I started knitting away happily. The variegated, hand-painted yarn did some interesting things with this number of stitches and the colours started pooling, almost making a diagonal gingham pattern. I worked on this scarf a little bit each day for nearly two weeks, getting more and more comfortable with knitting again, slowly picking up some speed. I worked through the entire 2.5 skeins that I had in my stash and then realized that the scarf wasn't going to be long enough to wrap around my neck and still have long enough tails to drape in the way that I like my scarves to hang.

I set the project aside for a day or two and tried to source more of this yarn online. I thought that another skein, even two if the price wasn't too expensive, would make this scarf absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, it's been discontinued and is extremely difficult to find now. A few people on Ravelry have individual skeins for sale in this colourway, and I found a shop in Germany with some remaining stock, but all of these prices and shipping costs were more than I was willing to spend. Let this be a lesson to you all about stashing yarn away for a few years before using it.

I was disappointed, but also didn't want to let the scarf live indefinitely unfinished in my WIP basket. To ease the pain of frogging the project right away, I cast on my Sophie Scarf and let myself work on that for a few days. But, once I was finished knitting that, I returned and frogged this entire scarf. I expected removing the needles and ripping back stitch by stitch to feel painful, but it honestly didn't. The entire point of this scarf was to practice knitting, so here was an opportunity for twice as much practice. It helps that the yarn is so soft and buttery too; I love the way it feels in my hands while I work with it.

It took me a few tries to cast on again and find a width that I was happy with that also worked well with the colour pooling. I hadn't considered this before, but a few of the widths I tried to knit ended up with the colours looking completely chaotic or muddy, in my opinion. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to maintain the diagonal gingham pattern, but I eventually settled on casting on 39 stitches.

The second time knitting the entire length of yarn went so much more quickly than the first. It took me almost two weeks to slowly knit the scarf the first time, and only about 5 days the second time. I'm not particular about how long I knit each day or anything so this is not a perfect comparison, but I can definitely feel that I'm getting more confident and speedy. I was even able to look up and watch some tv while I knit towards the end of the scarf. Hooray!

However, right at the end, I think that I let my new-found confidence get the better of me. I somehow knit an entire row with the opposite stitch pattern, purling when I should have knit and vice versa. I didn't notice until the very last stitch. As distressing as this was, it did teach me how to undo stitches and work my way backwards until I reach the point where I made the first mistake. I think I held my breathe the entire time I was fixing it. Then, tragedy struck again because I decided to play yarn chicken and try to use every last inch of yarn possible before starting the bind off. I ran out of yarn a little over halfway through binding off. I had to unpick the binding I had done so far and also the row before that so that I could get enough yarn to do a proper, not too tight binding. The second time I had to undo my work to fix the mistake was a lot easier, and it's a skill that feels really good to know (even if it is a little stressful.)

I haven't washed or blocked this scarf yet, but I love it already and will start wearing it right away. I expect that it will grow and stretch a little bit because of the high quantity of alpaca fibre in the yarn. I'll wash it once we get a sunny and warmish day; I have a feeling that this scarf will take forever to dry in our Irish winter weather because of how thick and squishy the finished texture is.