All our stripes infinity scarf: The Blog

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I love fall. It's a beautiful time of crisp warm colors, layers, and reflection.

Whenever the sunny season turns I always find myself looking back on what happened those summer months. And the shit-show that was 2020 was no exception. When I was asked to knit a scarf with these rich fall colors, I wanted to design something to represent how I felt coming into the fall season this time around.

The past few years have brought to light so many of the deep-rooted problems we have as a people, especially on the issues of race and how marginalized people are devalued. As I stared at the 2 colors, and pattern designs danced in my head, I reflected on an interesting question: What are stripes? 

So I turned to our good sis, Google. Here’s what she came back with…

  1. Long strips of juxtaposing colors

  2. Representations of values on a flag

  3. The afflictions and sufferings of a person/people

I realized that as citizens of this country, we live with the binding, yet hypocritical fact that stripes are all the above. In the simplest sense of the 1st definition, stripes add contrast and character to every multi-colored article of clothing I’ve ever worn and/or made. A piece can be so much richer just by adding a little strip of color. 

For number 2, on our American flag, the red and white stripes are supposed to represent our original 13 colonies and the colors are symbolic: red for hardiness and valor and white for purity and innocence. (I open-mouth cackled at that white part.) 

Which brings us to number 3. The Bible talks at length about the stripes of Jesus. But even skipping ahead a few years, I think about the backs of the African slaves this country was built on, and the thousands of American Natives this land was maliciously and violently stolen from. And when you consider that, it’s hard to really take any of that symbolism from number 2 seriously. Not to mention that for so many marginalized people, particularly in recent times, the flag has been weaponized as a means to force us to get down or lay down. What about all these stripes?

 
“The charge is on all of us to do our part to right these wrongs that black people and other marginalized folks did not ask for, nor deserve.”
 

The contrast between the white experience and the black experience in this country is as stark as the contrast between the 2 colors in this scarf. There’s no valor or innocence in anything about the atrocities happening in the streets of black and brown neighborhoods. Or to children and families in need at the border. Or in the back-room close-door meetings where racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic legislation is passed to perpetuate the “othering” nature. 

How do you reconcile any of these things? I say that the only way to make any real change is for all of us to act. Listen. Speak. Advocate. VOTE. 

The issues we have are not someone else’s to fix. Racism and oppression have buckled all of us at the knees and stunted all of our growth. The charge is on all of us to do our part to right these wrongs that black people and other marginalized folks did not ask for, nor deserve. These are ALL of our stripes. 

So that’s how we got here. Thinking about stripes. I know blog posts are supposed to be light and happy, but I also know I have to be myself. My craftivism is my art is my expression is me. I wrote this pattern in 3 simple sections—easy mind-wandering sections at the start and finish, with a bit of 2-color helix knitting to get ya going in the middle. But hey, don’t let me dictate your happiness! Add 3 or 4 colors in, if you’d like! I hope you love this pattern and if you choose to knit it, I hope you reflect on how beautiful your colors look together and remember that the strength of contrast lies is the harmony it creates. Test our your color theory skills and tag me on social using the hashtag #AllOurStripes. Happy knitting! And please, VOTE!

Materials and Pattern Information

MATERIALS

  • Needles

    • US 10.5 (6.5 mm) (or size needed to get gauge) 16” circulars or double pointed needles or 32-40” circulars for magic loop

    • 2nd set of US 10.5 (or size needed to get gauge) needles

  • Featured yarn:

    • Lion Brand Color Made Easy bulky yarn (247 yrds, 200 g) (and alternatives)

      • 2 colorways, 1 skein each

        • Kombucha (color A) & Kingfisher (color B)

    • Alternative yarn

      • 2 colors of bulky weight yarn, ~215 yrds of each color

  • Stitch markers

  • Scrap yarn

  • Crochet hook

  • Tape measure

  • Tapestry needle

  • Scissors

MEASUREMENTS

  • Gauge is 13 st and 18 rounds in 4”

  • Finished scarf measures 60” in length and 6” in width

TECHNIQUES TO KNOW (Advanced Beginner)

  • Knitting in the round

  • Crochet or other provisional cast on

  • Correcting the color jog in stripes

  • Helix knitting (2 or more colors of 1-row stripes)

  • Knit 1 below

  • Kitchener stitch

  • Duplicate stitch

ABBREVIATIONS

  • ch – chain/chains

  • CO – cast on

  • dpn – double pointed needle

  • K – knit

  • K1b – knit 1 below

  • st – stitch/stitches

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