Faux Fair Isle Knit Scarf in Red Heart Super Saver Fair Isle - LM5791 - Downloadable PDF

Faux Fair Isle Knit Scarf in Red Heart Super Saver Fair Isle – Pattern LM5791

Designed by Sara Kay Hartmann, this Faux Fair Isle Knit Scarf is a free, downloadable PDF knitting pattern published by Red Heart. It produces a long, generously sized scarf measuring 7.25 inches wide by 72 inches long (excluding fringe), finished with a knotted fringe along both short edges for a classic, cozy look. The pattern is rated beginner difficulty, making it an ideal project for newer knitters who want to achieve the appearance of colorwork without the complexity of traditional Fair Isle stranding techniques.

What Is Being Made

This pattern creates a single rectangular scarf with a stockinette stitch center panel flanked by garter stitch borders on all four edges, giving it a neat, flat-lying frame. The finished piece is accented with a full fringe along each short end — nine fringes per edge, each made from five strands of yarn folded and knotted through the fabric. The "Fair Isle" effect in this scarf comes not from traditional two-color stranded knitting but from the self-patterning colorway of the yarn itself, which automatically creates the look of intricate colorwork as you knit.

Techniques Used

• Cast on and bind off – Standard techniques to begin and finish the scarf, worked over 28 stitches.
• Garter stitch borders – Eight rows of all-knit fabric at the cast-on and bind-off edges create tidy horizontal borders, and a four-stitch garter border is maintained on each side throughout the body of the scarf to prevent curling.
• Stockinette stitch body – The central 20 stitches of the scarf are worked in stockinette stitch (knit on right side rows, purl on wrong side rows), which allows the variegated colorway of the yarn to display its patterning most vividly.
• Fringe attachment – A crochet hook is used to attach fringe along both short edges. Yarn is cut into 10-inch lengths, grouped in sets of five strands, folded in half, and looped through the edge of the scarf, with the ends pulled through the loop and tightened to secure.
• Weaving in ends – A yarn needle is used to finish the piece neatly.

Stitches Used

• Knit stitch – The foundational stitch used throughout, forming both the garter borders and the right-side rows of the stockinette panel.
• Purl stitch – Used on wrong-side rows across the central 20 stitches to create the smooth stockinette fabric that showcases the yarn's color pattern.
• Garter stitch – Created by knitting every row; used for the top and bottom borders (8 rows each) and the 4-stitch side borders running the full length of the scarf.
• Stockinette stitch – Created by alternating knit right-side rows with purl wrong-side rows across the center stitches; this is the primary stitch pattern of the scarf body.

Materials Required

• Yarn: RED HEART® Super Saver Fair Isle®, colorway 7247 Calm – 2 skeins required. This is a worsted weight yarn, and its self-striping, multi-color Fair Isle design does the decorative work automatically as you knit, eliminating the need for carrying multiple yarn colors simultaneously.
• Knitting Needles: Susan Bates® knitting needles, 5 mm (US size 8).
• Crochet Hook: Susan Bates® crochet hook, 5.5 mm (US size I-9) – used only for attaching the fringe.
• Yarn Needle: For weaving in ends.

Gauge

The pattern calls for a gauge of 15 stitches and 19 rows to 4 inches in stockinette stitch.