The second pattern I designed for my recent mYak retreat to the Langhe region of Italy is the Barbera Scarf, and since it needed to tie into my workshops, it’s designed to be modified easily for size.

I think of accessories not only as the perfect gift, but as a chance to have a little fun with pattern or texture. They also serve as a great excuse to try a gorgeous, luxurious fiber like Baby Yak Medium.

With a scarf, there’s no shaping, less concern about fit, and a simple, flat canvas in front of me, so I decided to use an eye-catching pattern here, for a really stunning gift knit.

Barbera is deeply cabled for maximum effect and features a bold central motif that’s geometric enough to show up when wrapped. Within the cable motif is a fun little technique that “wraps” a few of the cables, just to keep the knitting fun (and don’t worry - it’s easy to master). Ouside the cable panel are simple twists and texture for contrast.

I designed Barbera with my husband in mind, so the size I created is somewhat narrow at 9”/22.75cm wide, and the length is intended to reach his waist or throw over a shoulder, as shown. He’s not a fan of layers around his neck or under his jacket, but as you can see on Andrea here - this size works perfectly as the kind of warm layer he likes, and it even fits comfortably in his jacket once zipped!

As noted above, you have options to create other sizes as well. Because I wanted to tie this into my class, and because I have a plan to make a Barbera for myself someday, I made sure that creating a bigger, squishier version would be easy!

Included in the pattern are simple instructions for making a 12”/30.5cm or 15”/38cm wide scarf, and there are detailed notes with measurements on how to adjust length in a couple of different ways.

All cable instructions are both charted and written out.

Sample knit in the color Petrol.
As shown, just under 500yds/457m of worsted weight yarn was needed.