My Shadow Knit Piano Scarf

My Shadow Knit Piano Scarf
I knitted this scarf for my wife. I created the pattern in Microsoft Excel. Shadow or Illusion knitting is a process of knitting or purling stitches of two contrasting colors to create a hidden image. The basics of shadow knitting can be found in the instructable I created here. The basic idea is that each pattern row is four knit rows.

Row # a - Color 1 - Knit across
Row # b - Color 1 - Knit on the white pattern squares, Purl on the dark squares
Row # c - Color 2 - Knit Across
Row # d - Color 2 - Purl on the white pattern squares, Knit on the dark squares

Move to the next row in the pattern and repeat.

I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight yarn. The whole scarf is about 5 feet in length and took me about two weeks of evenings to knit. My wife (a music teacher) looked at it initially and asked, "What is it?" "A piano," I replied. She said what I hoped she'd say... "It doesn't look like a piano to me." So I held it up and said, "That's because you need to look at it from a different perspective." She spent the next five minutes raising and lowering it to see the pattern come in and out of focus.
18 comments
Oct 2, 2011. 10:14 AMstonesh says:
I am new to shadow knitting and am confused to say the least. Is this pattern knit from top to bottom or bottom to top. The way it is numbered on the left would indicate top to bottom. Am I correct on how to read each row. Is it as follows?

1a R to L
1b L to R
1c R to L
1d L to R
Jan 11, 2011. 1:19 PMjahler496 says:
wow, how cool! I have a ton of musically inclined friends who would love that! May I share with them?
Mar 28, 2008. 7:48 PMLaRue6358 says:
It's beautiful! How many skeins of each color did you use?
Jan 19, 2008. 2:09 PMmawwwm says:
Both the scarf and the fact that a male knitted it, are so awesome....great job!
Jan 24, 2008. 12:52 PMmawwwm says:
well i think it's great....my boys are always fascinated and i think the youngest might let me teach him knit or crochet once his sports driven big brother leaves home this summer to go to college...but all of them have been curious with this and sewing and they've all had a chance to sew...as a coffee and tea shop manager i met a few older men who told me they knitted while in the service...i think it's cool....!
Feb 20, 2008. 7:36 PMLego man says:
It is cool I like to knit to calm me down or for fun.
Jan 21, 2008. 12:58 PMraycheshire says:
I love it, simple yet really effective I think. The idea of a piano was really cool! Even better if you could actually play it- maybe you should build up towards it, you know work your way up.
Jan 21, 2008. 7:49 AMZontee at Lion Brand says:
Very cool--shadow scarves are neat!
Jan 15, 2008. 2:23 PMdeadalchemist says:
That's awesome; i love it!!!!
Jan 14, 2008. 8:39 AMnerfer192 says:
pretty cool (although i loath piano) i like how you can only see it at one direction.
Jan 7, 2008. 5:46 PMGorillazMiko says:
One of the coolest scarf ever. That's a great idea. Maybe I'll try this, and use it as a cover for my piano! =)
Jan 6, 2008. 11:40 PMPatrik says:
Very clever! I like it.
Jan 6, 2008. 7:04 PMSunbanks says:
That is the coolest scarf I have ever seen!! You did a great job!

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