Everybody should have a fling at least once in their lives. No big commitment, no strings—just a short encounter that’s fun and leaves you with happy memories.*
Fling is a striped boa that is simple to make and easy to wear. It’s an excellent in-between project, or an easy challenge for beginning knitters. Unlike traditional scarf construction (worked from the bottom to the top), this project is worked from one side to the other. The subtle bias pattern results in elegantly pointed ends.
Flings often happen between two people who wouldn’t normally end up together. Think about that when you’re choosing colors for this project. Here are some color schemes that might get you going: olive + magenta; tangerine + ruby; chocolate brown + candy pink or chartreuse + black.
The version shown here is made with lace-weight silk/mohair, but the basic pattern could easily be adapted for other yarn weights and fibres.
* Note: romantic flings are not recommended for people already in committed relationships. Knitted Flings, however, can be started and finished while you have other, more committed project on other needles.
** Warning: exercise caution while wearing Fling around paper shredders, blenders, sewing machines, scooters, motorcycles, printing presses, chain saws or airplane propellers.
One size. Finished measurements: approximately 82 inches/ 208 cm long x 2.5 inches / 6.5 cm wide
Materials:
- Rowan Kidsilk Haze 70% Mohair / 30% silk, 210m / 25 g ball.
- Shown in MC Villain, CC Mist. *less than a quarter of a ball of each colour is needed.
- The longest 5mm / US8 circular needle you have (at least 24 inches so you have room for all those stitches)
- tapestry needle
Gauge:
16 st / 36 rows = 4 inches/10cm in garter stitch after steam blocking. However, gauge is not really that important for this project.
Pattern Notes:
Cable cast-on: for instructions, see this helpful article in Knitty. Don’t let the cable cast-on put you off; it’s not that daunting if you remember that you only have to knit 21 more rows to finish (also, you really need to do it to give the boa a bit of stability and balance the bound-off edge).
Changing colours: No cutting! When it is time to change yarn colours, just drop the yarn you are working with and pick up the other colour. Always pick up the other colour from underneath the yarn you just dropped. In this way you will carry the yarns up the side of your work and won’t have any extra tails to weave in at the end (which is a good thing, because this piece is pretty airy and any extra weaving will be pretty obvious).
Instructions:
Using MC and the cable cast-on method, CO somewhere between 275 and 325 stitches (the more stitches you CO, the longer your Fling will be). The version shown uses 325 stitches.
Row 1 (WS): knit all stitches
Row 2 (RS): Using CC, K1, K2Tog, K to last stitch, M1, K
Row 3: K all stitches
Row 4: Using MC, K1, K2Tog, K to last stitch, M1, K
Row 5: K all stitches
Repeat rows 2 to 5 four more times (you should have 11 stripes). BO loosely using MC.
Weave in ends.
Steam block.
Now fling it on, and you’re done!
