"Sophie" Lace Scarf

This scarf is named for HMS Sophie, the first vessel under the command of newly-fledged Captain Jack Aubrey in Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander, the first in a series of novels set in the early 19th-century Royal Navy. The Sophie was a fourteen-gun brig-rigged sloop who "spread her wings a little more like an unhurried dove than an eager hawk…. [Jack’s] chief impression was of old-fashionedness: the Sophie had something archaic about her, as though she would rather have her bottom hobnailed than coppered, and would rather pay her sides than paint them…. He loved her dearly -- had loved her from the moment his eye first swept along her sweetly curving deck."

 The lace patterns are adapted from the Ladies’ Home Journal Edging #2 and the Insertion to Match Knitted Lace #2 in Nancie Wiseman’s Lace From the Attic (Interweave Press, 1998).  They are simple but effective laces, and the slightly heavier-weight wool than usually used for lace gives them a sturdiness that in no way detracts from their beauty. 

Materials

150g (525 m) DK weight wool, working up to approximately 22 sts per 10 cm in st st on 4mm needles. Model shown in Filatura di Crosa Soft Wool (75% extrafine merino, 25% angora) in color 516.

Size 4.5 mm (US7) needles, or size needed to obtain gauge.

2 st markers.

Finished size: approx. 25 x 200 cm.

Note: The slipped st selvedge creates a tidy “chain” along all sides of the scarf, as well as a convenient edge for attaching the main section of lace to the border. Picking up both sts of this chain for the main lace patt will leave the chain showing at the back of the work, whereas picking up only one st will disguise the picked-up line, leaving the scarf almost completely reversible.

Border

Cast on 20 sts using crochet cast-on.

K 6 rows.

Row 1: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K2, yo, P2tog, K1, yo, K2tog, K2, yo, K2tog, K3, yo, P2tog, K1, [yo] 3 times, K2. (23 sts)

Row 2: K3, P1, K2, yo, P2tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K3.

Row 3: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K2, yo, P2tog, [K2, yo, K2tog] twice, K2, yo, P2tog, K6.

Row 4: K6, yo, P2tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K3.

Row 5: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K2, yo, P2tog, K3, yo, K2tog, K2, yo, K2tog, K1, yo, P2tog, K6.

Row 6: K6, yo, P2tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K3.

Row 7: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K2, yo, P2tog, K4, yo, K2tog, K2 yo, K2tog, yo, P2tog, K6.

Row 8: [K2tog, sl st back onto left-hand needle] twice, K2tog, K2, yo, P2 tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K3. (20 sts)

Rep these 8 rows 8 times more.

K 5 rows.

BO 19 sts in K1, P1 rib, working first 2 sts as K2tog. 1 st rem on needle.

Main lace section

Pick up 44 sts evenly along straight edge of border, 1 st into 1 loop of “chain” at slipped edge.

Set-up row: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K to end.

Note: Place a st marker after the first and second reps of the lace patt, if desired.

Row 1: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K2, *K1, yo, K2tog, K1, K2tog, yo twice, K2tog, K2, yo, K2tog, K1, rep from * to last 2 sts, K2.

Row 2: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K1, *K2, yo, K2tog, K3, P1, K3, yo, K2tog, rep from * to last 3 sts, K3.

Row 3: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K2, *K1, yo, K2tog, K7, yo, K2 tog, K1, rep from * to last 2 sts, K2.

Row 4: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K1, *K2, yo, K2tog, K7, yo, K2tog, rep from * to last 3 sts, K3.

Rep these 4 rows until work measures approx. 170 cm or desired length from beg of main section.

Next row: Sl 1 p-wise wyif, K to end, removing st markers.

Place these 44 sts on a stitch holder or dpn, if desired.

Border

Cast on 19 sts using crochet cast-on.

Set up lace border as follows:

First row: K to last st, K this st tog with next st from holder.

Second row: K to last st, M1, K1.

Third row: K to last st, K this st tog with next st from holder.

Fourth row: K.

Rep 3rd and 4th rows once more, then 3rd row once more.

Begin lace border patt:

Row 1: K3, yo, P2tog, K1, yo, K2tog, K2, yo, K2tog, K3, yo, P2tog, K1, [yo] 3 times, K2. (23 sts)

Row 2: K3, P1, K2, yo, P2tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K2, K last st tog with next st from holder.

Row 3: K3, yo, P2tog, [K2, yo, K2tog] twice, K2, yo, P2tog, K6.

Row 4: K6, yo, P2tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K2, K last st tog with next st from holder.

Row 5: K3, yo, P2tog, K3, yo, K2tog, K2, yo, K2tog, K1, yo, P2tog, K6.

Row 6: K6, yo, P2tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K2, K last st tog with next st from holder.

Row 7: K3, yo, P2tog, K4, yo, K2tog, K2, yo, K2tog, yo, P2tog, K6.

Row 8: [K2tog, sl st back onto left-hand needle] twice, K2tog, K2, yo, P2 tog, K10, yo, P2tog, K2, K last st tog with next st from holder. (20 sts)

Rep these 8 rows 8 times more.

Next row (WS): K.

Next row (RS): K to last st, K this st tog with next st from holder.

Rep these 2 rows twice more. K 1 row.

(RS) BO 19 sts in K1, P1 rib, working first 2 sts as K2tog. Work last st tog with rem st from holder, and BO this last st. Weave in ends, and block lightly.

This pattern copyright 2009 by A Bluestocking Knits.

Revised 16 May 2012, and 8 April 2014.

Comments

[Jeanne]

PS, note that the lace will allow the scarf to stretch considerably with wearing, so do feel free to work it a little shorter than you might, to accommodate this.

[Jeanne]

Elizabeth wrote, "I am somewhat stymied by the last two lines of the directions. BO 19 sts in K1, P1 rib, working first 2 sts as K2tog. Work last st tog with rem st from holder, and BO. Weave in ends, and block lightly. I'm understanding it to mean Bind off 19 sts in K1 P1 rib... and then at the end it says ...Bind off. Weave in ends and block lightly. Bind off twice? I'm so confused. Can you help?"

The last part of the instructions are a little different from usual because of the sideways lace pieces at the ends. The first bind-off ("BO 19") will be along the sideways piece that you are attaching to the main scarf. (Don’t forget that the first 2 sts on the border should be worked as K2tog or you will have 20 sts. I find that this first K2tog makes the edging lie more smoothly.)

After you work the last st on the border together with the last st on the holder, you will be left with 1 st on the needle, which is the second instruction to bind-off.

Enjoy!