I think Feldmark is the most fun you can with one ball of self self-striping yarn.
And if that yarn is Lang Infinity, you get an unpredictable and entertaining stripe pattern in a super soft luxurious merino.
Designed by Martina Behm (the pattern is available to buy on Ravelry or as a digital pattern in the Pittenweem shop) it's one of those patterns that can use any yarn thickness, just change your needle size to get a nice drapey fabric.
The pattern is written using 3 balls of Schoppel Wolle Edition 3. It would be amazing in this yarn, but it's our new Lang Infinity that I want to show off.
Lang Infinity is a self striping yarn that does not repeat itself. Each ball will have the same colours but they show up in different quantities and combos - so you don't know how they'll come together. Because of this the yarn works well in larger projects. And as a light yarn you get a lots of meters on a 100g ball - 260m!
Feldmark is the perfect pattern for a one ball Infinity project.
For Feldmark you start at one end of the scarf with a few stitches and with increases and decreases you create a long triangle. You then change direction and effectively work short rows along your stitches, taking one extra stitch every alternate row to make another triangle. The pattern explains this very clearly and it's very straightforward to do. You are not picking up stitches.
For the third and final part you change direction, and again take one extra stitch every alternate row to make a longer triangle.
Because you are changing direction for each part your stripes will be in different directions, and by using a self striping yarn with a varying stripe sequence you get an ever changing and unpredictable colour pattern.
And the long scarf shape is easy to wear - wrap and tie, wrap or loop
Here's a few things to consider when making you're own Feldmark.
You can use any self striping yarn but ones with a long colour sequence will have a bigger impact- like Edition 3 and Crazy Zauberball and of course Lang Infinity.
The pattern is written in 'parts'.
Part 1, the first triangle, determines the size of the overall scarf as you're knitting back and forth along one side of this triangle to create the second triangle which then determines the size of the third triangle. The pattern specifies using 25% of your yarn to knit this first triangle. HOWEVER, when double checking the numbers I saw that the designer actually wants you to knit until 78% of your yarn remains. If you only have a finite quantity of yarn (like me, with one ball of Infinity) I would advise having 80% of your yarn leftover after part 1. You don't want to run out whilst finishing the third triangle (trust me!). As an extra precaution weigh your yarn (minus ball bands) before you start, in case you ball weights more or less than stated.
I used a 3.75mm needle as recommended in the pattern and it worked well with the Infinity. I did not swatch. Infinity is classed as a worsted weight yarn (between DK and Aran) but as a single ply it's very flexible needle wise - it doesn't have a lot of body. So despite only having 260m of yarn (v's the 450m specified in the pattern) my Feldmark came out a comparable size, 162cm (64") long and 25cm (10") deep. A larger needle would have made it looser and bigger.
Superwash merino can grow when wet. To finish my Feldmark I washed it in Eucalan (let it soak, drain water then squish out excess water in a towel). It was very long and unwieldy. I laid it out on my blocking mats and then used my hands to smoosh it back into shape and straighten the edges. I didn't pin it out. I could have left it stretched out for a larger scarf but it would have been very floppy and I would lose the squishiness of the garter stitch. It's important to leave it to dry completely.
Feldmark makes a striking and very wearable scarf. It's also really is good fun to knit and despite looking complicated it's actually very straightforward to make. The self striping yarn and clever construction do all the work for you. I highly recommend it, even for beginner or nervous knitters.
To recap
You can buy a copy of Feldmark on Ravelry or as a digital pattern in the Pittenweem shop.
You can buy Lang Infinity here. I used 1 skein of Shade 01. If you'd rather use Edition 3 you can find that here, You'll need 3 balls or you've chosen colour.
I used a 3.75mm needle. You can use a circular or straight needle.
You'll need 1 stitch marker too.
