Gotham: Slip Stitch Scarf - Hand Knit - Noro Ito - Wool and Alpaca - Black, Red, Turquoise, 2024 Orange and Purple

Noro yarn is one of my favorites. It's from Japan, and the colors are always striking. But finding the right pattern for it is a challenge. After months of looking, I couldn't find one, so I made this one up myself. It's a checkerboard scarf, knit on the diagonal, using a technique called slip stitch. It creates horizontal and vertical stripes, so my first prototype just alternated between sections of raised black bars, and then raised Noro bars. The over all effect reminded me of skyscrapers at night, with millions of windows lit up in different colors. And the scarf knit up even better than I imagined. The bold black stripes keep the colors crisp and clear, and all those bright Noro colors shine through, and mean that it will go with just about anything.

This particular Noro, called Ito, is 100% wool, and even though it's a little bigger than most other Noro yarns, it's woolen spun, so it's thick, but very light weight. It traps lots of air inside it's loosely spun structure, which is how scarves work to keep you warm. The black yarn is a blend of alpaca, wool, and acrylic is soft and lightweight, and the texture is almost like a waffle weave. So not only is it beautiful to look at, but it will keep you warm without weighing you down, and it's incredibly soft. 2024