Zigzaggery Scarf uses a variation of Elsebeth Lavold’s continuous cable method to create a reversible cabled scarf. All that cabling with extra decorative increases and decreases makes a cushy, cosy, thick fabric, and there are pretty i-cords at the selvages too.

I used navigation aids to know where I was in this project, because the scarf is reversible so the right side and wrong side are not readily apparent. My first landmark was a safety pin in the front of the fabric. The i-cord edges also helped, since their purled side is visible on wrong side rows. Since both sides are visible, a Russian join works well for adding in new skeins, super-wash yarn doesn’t
spit splice well.

I noticed that I could mark the chart in a nonconventional way: half a repeat over on the wrong side rows is the same as the charting could be if it were charted showing the right side. Finally, something
useful in the symmetry besides beauty. If reading the wrong side of a chart is not confusing for you (or if you stick to written instructions) then just ignore the red boxes on the chart. After these accommodations, I didn’t get lost anymore. Which is nice, because getting lost in your own pattern is embarrassing.

Rows 4 and 5 depart from Elsebeth Lavold’s technique. I needed to put the increases in the same rows as the decreases because they are visible from both sides of the fabric. This means that the lifted
increases on row 5 are made into lower stitches that already have lifted increases made into them. This double increasing is what draws in the fabric so tightly, requiring larger needles, but that’s also
what gives the fabric it’s cushy loft.

I broke the symmetry of increase direction in Row 5, because it is really hard to increase into a stitch that has just been cabled, or decreased away. It doesn’t change the appearance of the fabric much. When I blocked the scarf, it grew lengthwise, and wearing made it grow even more because of the weight of the scarf. It might behave differently on a yarn that has not been treated for super-wash; but if you are short on yarn, a short scarf might not be a
problem.