Pearls Kerchief

A kerchief is one of those pieces that gives you options: you can wear it as a headscarf for a splash of color, or you can wear it around your neck like a bandanna or a small shawl. Either way, it’s a lightweight, multi-season accessory that can keep your hair loosely held back in a rustic kind of way, or it can add a bit of warmth to your favorite jacket. The Pearls Kerchief combines 1/1 cable crosses with columns of twisted stitches for an easily elegant, textured motif that would complement any style. It’s the kind of piece that will be equally at home whether you are gardening, hiking, camping, attending a music festival, or out to lunch with friends. The size can be modified, too, by adding (and/or adjusting) the garter stitch ties that are created in final steps.

This pattern is for Pearl. She is a woman who, if you met her at any point in the last 45 years, you might not have guessed had a distinct bohemian style in her youth. Paisley prints, floppy hats, oversized sunglasses, denim overalls or bellbottoms, and yes, kerchiefs tied around the head. She would trade it all for elegant cashmere sweaters one day, but this piece captures a little bit of both of her worlds.

MATERIALS
Yarn Wool & Palette Fingering (100% Merino/Rambouillet wool; 450 yd [412 m]/3½ oz [100 g]; fingering weight), Rose Quartz, 1 skein.

Needles Size 2 (2.75 mm): 40" circular (cir). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge. Note that the cord length is not crucial and can be shorter if you can fit up to 33" of stitches on the needles comfortably.

Notions Cable needle (cn); tapestry needle; removable stitch markers (m) (optional).

Gauge 33 sts and 48 rows = 4" (10 cm) in patt, blocked. 26½ sts and 47 rows = 4" (10 cm) in St st, blocked.

Finished Size 33" (83.8 cm) wide at wingspan with ties (21¼" [54 cm] wide without ties) and 10½" (26.7 cm) tall.