INTRODUCTION

Midwestern Sky

by Choboosh Vee Knits

I grew up surrounded by mountains that shaped the horizon. Briefly, I lived places where buildings framed what little of the sky you could see. Then I moved to the flatlands of the Midwest of the US, where the absence of relief was disorienting until I learned to pay attention to the skyscape, not the landscape. From shapeshifting and dramatic to completely smooth and devoid of clouds, the vast dome of the sky on a bike ride through the cornfields feels like a a hug from space.

This scarf is an homage to the sky, on those days when it's filled with traveling fluffy soft cumulus clouds exuding lightness and tranquility. The texture of Madelinetosh's Tosh Silk Cloud, in the color Sky Wash, was just perfect for making clouds. But many other silk mohair yarns and colorways would work, mimicking anything from gray nimbostratus, to red, orange, yellow, or pink clouds during the golden hour.

The clouds are knit into a background canvas made from a smooth yarn the color of the sky. Just as the puffy cumulus clouds easily disperse, one side of the scarf is cloud-free. While the actual cloud-free sky is smooth as a mirror, sometimes I imagine what would it be like if it could reflect the earth like water reflects the sky. Then I would see the endless grid of corn and soybean fields. The basketweave pattern is meant to mimic that texture.

Several rows of clouds into the making of the sample, I realized that I may have been subconsciously inspired by Georgia O'Keefe's Above the Clouds series.

model: Choboosh Vee Knits

photos: JH

SIZE

One

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Width: 13 inches/33cm
Length: 63 inches/160cm; length is adjustable

MATERIALS

Yarn
[MC] MADELINETOSH Twist Light [75% Merino, 25% Nylon; 473 yd/433 m per 118g skein]; color: Translation; 2 skeins
[CC] MADELINETOSH Tosh Silk Cloud [60% Mohair, 40% Silk; 328 yd/300 m per 25g skein]; color: Sky Wash; 2 skeins

Yarn Characteristics
Choose a smooth fingering-weight yarn for the MC, and a soft fluffy one for the CC, lace weight if worked double or fingering weight if worked single. You want the two fabrics to be about the same gauge in stockinette stitch, and the fabric created should be drapey. Color-wise, solid, nearly solid, or tonal yarns would work best, though the MC could also be a very slow-changing gradient. The CC should provide contrast in both texture and color.

Recommended needle size
[always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed below - every knitter's gauge is unique]
2 sets of US #6/4mm needles for working flat, or size needed to obtain gauge
one US #8/5mm needle, for working the bind off

Notions
yarn needle

GAUGE

21 sts/36 rows = 4 inches/10 cm in MC and basketweave stitch
20 sts/35 rows = 4 inches/10 cm in MC and stockinette stitch
18 sts/ 40 rows = 4 inches/10 cm over garter stitch with CC held double
20 sts/30 rows = 4 inches/10 cm over stockinette stitch with CC held double

Stockinette stitch gauges are provided for yarn substation purposes only.

Gauge is not important for this project, but working at a different gauge will result in different finished size and different yardage requirements.

PATTERN NOTES

[Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]

Construction method: The Midwestern Sky scarf is worked from the bottom up in the holey basketweave pattern as its MC background, incorporating the CC clouds along the way. A cloud is started after its end row in MC is finished: the cloud's stitches are picked up, the cloud is worked, and on the next row of working the background, the cloud is joined with the scarf.

Techniques:

• Long-tail cast on, knitwise and purlwise.
• Pick up and knit stitches on the surface:
  This is a method for picking up stitches to create an additional layer of fabric. It is worked as follows: insert needle, from top to bottom and back on top again, into the top middle of the indicated stitch, wrap the working yarn as if to knit, pull yarn through.
  Note: if the indicated stitch was a purl stitch, then the top middle of that stitch is its bump; if it was a knit stitch, it is the bump on the WS, which should be caught through the stitch, from the RS.
  
  Pick up and knit on the surface through a purl bump
  
  
  Pick up and knit on the surface through a knit stitch
  
  
• Three-needle knit and purl together:
  This is a method for joining two layers of fabric worked separately. Line up the two fabrics, holding the needles with stitches to be joined in the left hand, one in front and one in back.
  • To knit, knit together the first stitches on both left needles. Specifically, insert right needle knitwise through the first stitch on front left needle, then back left needle, wrap yarn and pull through.
  • To purl, purl together the first stitches on both left needles. Specifically, insert right needle purlwise through the first stitch on back left needle, then front left needle, wrap yarn and pull through.
  Three-needle knit together

CHARTS

Holey Basketweave:
Row 1 [RS]: K1, sl1 wyif, k5, k2tog, (p2tog, p4, p2tog, k2tog, k4, k2tog) 5 times, p2tog, p5, k1, sl1 wyif
Rows 2-9: K1, sl1 wyif, (k6, p6) 6 times, k1, sl1 wyif
Row 10 [WS]: K1, sl1 wyif, k6, yo twice, (p6, yo twice, k6, yo twice) 5 times, p6, k1, sl1 wyif
Row 11 [RS]: K1, sl1 wyif, p5, p2tog, (k2tog, k4, k2tog, p2tog, p4, p2tog) 5 times, k2tog, k5, k1, sl1 wyif
Rows 12-19: K1, sl1 wyif, (p6, k6) 6 times, k1, sl1 wyif
Row 20 [WS]: K1, sl1 wyif, p6, yo twice, (k6, yo twice, p6, yo twice) 5 times, k6, k1, sl1 wyif

DIRECTIONS

First Section
With MC, using the long-tail method, CO a total of 76 sts in pattern as follows, CO 2 knitwise (for selvedge), (CO 6 knitwise, CO 6 purlwise) 6 times, CO 2 knitwise (for selvedge).

For the purposes of the pattern stitch, the cast on will be counted as row 1, the RS row.

Row 2 [WS]: Work the Holey Basketweave pattern across, working the 12-stitch repeat 5 times.
Work as set until you have completed two full repeats of the 20 rows (including the cast on as row 1).

Counting up from the cast-on edge, four "blocks" of the basketweave pattern have been worked, and there are 12 blocks across the row. You will begin placing the Clouds at this point.



Each Cloud is two blocks deep, and begins and ends three blocks wide (see image above). The right-hand cloud sits over blocks 3, 4 and 5; the left-hand cloud sits over blocks 8, 9 and 10. When picking up for the Cloud, you will be working into the top of the blocks, two blocks, or 20 rows down from the current row on the needles.

Section 2
Next row, pick up for right-hand cloud [RS]: With second set of needles and CC held double, pick up and knit 18 stitches along the surface of the scarf, across Row 20, two blocks below the current row, working across the third, fourth and fifth blocks.

With CC, work Cloud:
Rows 1-10: K1, kfb, k to end. 1 st increased.
Rows 11-13: Knit. (3 rows.)
Rows 14- 23: K1, k2tog, k to end. 1 st decreased. 18 sts rem.
Cut CC, leaving a 4-6 inch/ 10-15 cm long tail for weaving in.

Next row, join cloud [RS]: With MC, work Row 1 of the Holey Basketweave stitch pattern, while at the same time joining the cloud just finished with the background, using the three-needle knit or purl together method. Note that where there is a decrease in the stitch pattern, you will work 1 st from the Cloud together with 2 sts from the background. After the Cloud is joined, finish the row in pattern as per the chart.

Work 19 more rows of the Holey Basketweave pattern, finishing the next vertical pattern repeat.

Next row, pick up for left-hand cloud [RS]: With second set of needles and CC held double, pick up and knit 18 stitches along the surface of the scarf, across Row 20, two blocks below the current row, working across the eighth, ninths and tenth blocks.
Work Cloud as above.

Next row [RS]: With MC, work row 1 of Holey Basketweave pattern, joining Cloud sts as before.

Work 19 more rows of the Holey Basketweave pattern, finishing the next vertical pattern repeat.

Continuing
Repeat Section 2, 12 more times, for a total of 26 clouds, or until the desired scarf length is achieved.

Using the larger needle in your right hand to work the stitches, BO in pattern.

FINISHING

Weave in tails. To block, soak the scarf in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water gently, for example by rolling the scarf in a dry towel. Lay flat to dry; do not stretch or pin.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Choboosh Vee Knits is a mathematician and a knitter, based in the Midwest. She lives with her husband, her two kids, and their dog, most of whom enjoy wearing her knitted creations.

You can find her on Ravelry.

Pattern & images © 2026 Choboosh Vee Knits