“I’ve not yet found a pattern which includes a split stitch; this is the only real mistake I know.“ - Elizabeth Zimmerman

Advanced-beginner to early-intermediate pattern - requires knit, purl, slipping of stitches, and three-needle bind-off (okay, there isn’t actually a three-needle bind-off in here, but knowing how to do it will help with the construction). The bits where you have to switch needle sizes are fiddly more than anything else.

This is a keyhole scarf that starts out with two colors held together. Except they don’t stay held together, because I wanted to know what would happen if, instead of making a slit halfway across, I could split the colors the other way. It is inspired by Elizabeth Zimmerman’s remark about mistakes in knitting (above) – I also used Mistake Rib because it was fitting, for this pattern, and works up very squishy and pleasant.

Vaguely like the construction of Anthro-Inspired Scarflet, except I didn’t know that existed when I started. Also I don’t think it splits hairs (ha ha) like mine does. Also mine only has ends to weave in at the beginning and end of the scarf, rather than in the middle like that one does. Also I definitely didn’t get my inspiration from Anthropologie. So there.

You will need:

170-200 yards yarn, worsted or aran weight, for each color - I used Caron Simply Soft, Soft Blue and White colors, but there was not quite enough for two scarves in there. You could, maybe, manage a one-skein scarf in Simply Soft using the inside and the outside ends of one skein held together instead, if you made the scarf shorter or skinnier. (The Mistake Rib requires a 4n+3 number of stitches. Any whole number for n will work. Yes, whole numbers include zero. No, a three-stitch-wide scarf is not worth the trouble.)
1 set US10.5 needles
3 (three) US6 needles (not three sets - three individual needles). Ideally, all three of them should be identical and wood, but you can use two wooden needles and one metal needle, like I did. (If you only have two needles in US6, you might be able to get away with using one needle in an adjacent size (like US7) or a very long stitch holder/cable needle. I have not provided instructions for using a cable needle or stitch holder, though.)

Gauge is not crucial enough to this project to be worth noting. Just don’t knit too tightly (you’ll have to transition from stitches around a size 6 needle to the next row in size 10.5, keep that in mind near the end) and be consistent and you should be fine. If you’re still worried, knit the first few inches and then squish it together ribbing-wise - the scarf (measured over 31 stitches) measured about 4.5” across when compressed widthwise as far as it would go and then released, and 7” across when stretched widthwise as far as it would go and then released.

All the length measurements are given in inches, so stitch length is really not important. (…okay, fine. I got four stitches to the inch, lengthwise. All the stitches are kind of tilted-looking, though, so that doesn’t seem like a very reliable number.)