The initial inspiration for the Keel Scarf came from fine woven and printed square silk scarves to be worn as head scarves or knotted around the neck for a touch of elegance.
Many of those scarves feature a few border stripes. On a fresh spring day, walking along the Copenhagen harbour when many boats were still not in the water, we noticed how the horizontal paint lines on all the keels of the boats echoed the stripes on those silk scarves! And that is when we decided to make our own.

Naturally, we chose to knit the scarf in our new einrúm PURE 100% mulberry silk yarn to replicate the shine and drape of a woven silk scarf.
For our 3-colour design, you will need 1 skein each in 3 different colours. At the given gauge and size, a solid colour scarf will use all of 2 skeins/500 metres.

You can easily adjust the size of the scarf by casting on fewer or more sts in multiples of 4, but we found our dimensions to be ideal for a scarf that, without getting too big or heavy, fits snugly around your neck twice tying a small knot, without getting too big or too heavy.

The scarf is worked in the round from the outer edge towards the centre which means no purling.
After casting on stitches for the outer edge using scrap yarn for a provisional cast-on, you continue with the working yarn. First you work a few rows back and forth in double knitting for a narrow tubular edge. After the edge you join for working in the round in stocking stitch.
Working double decreases at each of the four corners at a certain pace, you continue round and round until the last few stitches are pulled together at the centre.

The many stitches at the cast-on may seem daunting at first. However, once you get past the first 7-8 cm/3 in, the pace will pick up dramatically due to the double decreases at each corner, until suddenly you have a finished square!
To create a better overview at the beginning, you may choose to initially distribute the stitches evenly on four long circular needles (all of the same needle size). You can then later reduce to two and then one circular, and subsequently to a short circular or dpn’s (if not working magic loop).

Wishing you fun knitting this fresh piece and joy working with our lovely smooth PURE yarn!