Knit Stitch - Fish Scale Stitch or Scallop Stitch or Mermaid Scale Stitch or Dragon Scale Stitch - Infinity Scarf

 

I bought this infinity scarf at a thrift shop.  It had a tear that I wanted to repair.  To do so, I needed to figure out the stitch used.  The gradation in fish scale sizes is easily scaled up or down by using a multiple of the repeats.  The scales in the original scarf are on a repeat of 16 sts, 8 sts, and 4 sts.  I figured out the pattern for an 8-stitch repeat.

The scarf was knitted in the round, sideways. Doubled over, it is 23” long by 7.5”. It is a continuous loop, infinity scarf.  Approximate gauge: for seed stitch was 24 sts=4” 4 rows=1/2”. I undid the bind-off and pulled out the one row of stitches (to use the yarn for repair) I used a size 4 needle to re-knit and bind off. I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.

M1 (Make one): lift the yarn between two stitches and put it on the left needle, with the needle front to back.

This is knit in the round.

Precede the scales by a row of Knit stitches.

Place marker marking the beginning of the row.

Multiple of 8 sts for medium scales.

R1: (M1, K6, K2tog)*

R2: (K1, M1, K5, K2tog)*

R3: (K2, M1, K4, K2tog)*

R4: (K3, M1, K3, K2tog)*

R5: (K4, M1, K2, K2tog)*

R6: (K5, M1, K1, K2tog)*

R7: (K6, M1, K2tog)*… move the marker one stitch to the right. 

R8: K

(After completing Row 7, moving the marker shifts the start of the row one stitch to the right so the column of stitches representing the k2tog becomes part of the curve to the left of the the second half of the fish scale.)

Repeat the rows, R1-R8.

To scale the pattern up, choose a multiple of 16 stitches and follow the same row pattern, except R1 starts with K14 in the middle.  

To scale down the pattern, choose a multiple of 4 stitches and follow the same row pattern, except R1 has K2 in the middle of the row.

To move from one scale size to the next, divide the repeat in half and start the next lower pattern repeat.  Make sure you move the row marker to the right of the column of K2tog stitches so the curves line up. On the scarf that I bought, the knitter did not do this, but it's hard to notice unless your brain searches for the pattern as mine does.