One Stitch at a Time
Because if I can't find it, I'll make it myself.
It started with a photograph — a Moschino dress cinched with a ruler belt. Intrigued, I found myself chasing that same visual language until I came across a scarf with the same motif — and I was hooked. Having recently moved to a colder country (and never having needed a scarf before), I knew that the only way I’d convince myself to actually wear one was if it matched my very specific aesthetic.
After a string of design disappointments, this was the one idea that felt right. So began my journey — learning to knit from scratch, experimenting with double knitting, decoding yarn weights, and tweaking line thicknesses so the typography would read clearly in wool. If I couldn’t find the scarf I wanted, I was determined to make it myself — one stitch, one pixel, one pattern at a time.
1. Inspiration
A photograph of a scarf shaped like a ruler set this project in motion. The idea of combining tactile coziness with a playful design felt irresistible.
2. Research
I had to understand how yarn behaves, how scale works in textiles, and how detail translates into stitches. I visited a local knitting store and consulted the elderly owners who generously shared advice on techniques like double knitting.
Key research insights:
Double knitting allows for reversible patterns with
clean edges.
Typography in yarn is affected by stitch-to-row ratio.
Thinner yarn offers more detail, but is harder to work with.
3. Iteration
Before diving into the full scarf, I knit a small bookmark version to test my type design and line patterns. It took multiple restarts to get the scale and line spacing right. I even used Excel to build a custom stitch chart because traditional knitting tools felt too vague for the precision I wanted.
Iteration milestones:
Created a test bookmark using double knitting.
Designed type and tick mark placement using Excel.
Restarted the scarf multiple times to refine the proportions.
4. Making
The final piece — still in progress — is knit using soft yet structured yarn. It features tick marks every 7th row and oversized numbers centre aligned to each section. It’s not to scale, but it’s consistent enough to suggest measurement.
Technical highlights:
Yarn: Fingering, Sport weight yarn
Method: double knitting on circular needles
Pattern: Excel grid patterns
Three months in, and I’ve reached the halfway mark. With every row, I knit faster, read patterns better, and feel more confident in this strange but satisfying fusion of craft and design.
I’m in no rush to finish. This is a project that’s meant to grow at its own pace — a reminder that not everything needs a deadline to be meaningful. For now, I’m just enjoying the process, one stitch and one centimeter at a time.
If you're curious or want to try it yourself, here’s a peek into the Google Sheet I used to design the pattern: