This scarf was created as my handmade swap gift for the October 2015 Geek and Nerd swap with theme: Art and Architecture. My swap buddy was a fan of gothic architecture and appreciates scarves, so I created this scarf for her.

Pattern: I call it Gothic Arches, and I made it up. The edging is taken from the Lily of the Valley scarf in Nancy Bush’s “Knitted Lace of Estonia,” and the arches are adapted from some of the double lily of the valley patterns in the book, but without nupps. The central arches are meant to represent the pointed arches common in Gothic architecture, with the half-arches on each side representing flying buttresses. Flying buttresses and pointed arches were both developed to help distribute the weight of stone buildings down to the group, and allowed for Gothic buildings, most notably the cathedrals, to be taller than earlier buildings. The columns of eyelets are meant to evoke the vertical emphasis in these cathedrals, and the use of the three subsections is also common in many Gothic buildings. I stared at pictures of the facade of Notre Dam a lot when creating this scarf.

Yarn: Cascade heritage sock in pale grey. This yarn is lovely soft and works well for accessories, and the grey reminded me the stone of a Gothic Cathedral.

Execution: The scarf is worked in two pieces. A knitted cast-on with just one strand of yarn on a 4mm tip (I used my HiyaHiya sharps), and then switch to 3.5mm tips for the rest of the knitting. I worked the border and then eleven repeats of the arches/buttresses pattern, because that used up just below half my skein of yarn (I kept a scale handy and weighed frequently). After finishing the last patterned row of the last repeat, I put the half on waste yarn and made the second; the grafting replaced the missing purl-back row of each section. The lace elements don’t exactly line up at the graft, but they are pretty close and I think having the patterning pointing in same direction when the scarf is hanging around a neck is worth it.

Final size after blocking: 10.5x67 inches. It’s a very good size scarf.