Another Ribbed Keyhole Scarf?

Does anyone really need instructions for this?  I was teaching a beginning knitting class for men at the Stockinette Knitting Cafe in Jersey City, and decided I needed to “feel their pain” and revert back to smaller needles and a more detailed pattern (not that ribbing is detailed, but you know) in order to have an example for everyone in the second week of the class as to what knitting and purling can do for you.  So here you have it, a keyhole scarf to teach casting on, casting off, knitting, purling, joining yarn, splitting a project into two, and understanding the curling effect of different stitch combinations.

US 8 needles

Worsted yarn

CO 26 stitches

All rows: k4 p3 k3 p3 k3 p3 k3 p3 k1

(or for the impatient reader, k1 *k3 p3* (repeat 4 times) k1)

Knit for 12 inches, then add a second strand of the same yarn.  Knit for two rows (using the two strands of yarn as one) and then split off the two balls of yarn on the third row after the 13th stitch (after the second set of purls), continuing on with only one strand of yarn.  On the next row back, again drop the yarn you’re working with and pick up the other ball alone for the final 13 stitches of the row.  Keep up this management of the separate balls of yarn knitting side by side up the needles for a total of 5 more inches of length.  Then, on the next row instead of switching yarns on the 13th stitch of the row, just pick up the second ball of yarn again and knit both strands as one for the rest of the row.  Do two more rows with the yarns as one, and then cut off one of the ball of yarn (it’s woven in strongly enough not to worry about a tail, but you can always cut a tail and weave it in).

Continue knitting with a single strand of yarn until the finished scarf is 56″ total, and bind off.  So easy, it shouldn’t count as a pattern, but it is a good learning excerise since it has a garter row at the start and end, teaches counting, and the stockinette ribbing curls nicely so that the scarf looks identical on both sides.