Celebrate your love for all things geeky with this knit scarf that features Mario and his princess on opposite ends. They may not be able to see each other yet, but the love is there in the form of hearts that trail up the scarf between them.

What you need

I used bits of my stash for the colorwork portions of this project, so your colors may vary slightly depending on what’s available, but it’s all medium/worsted weight yarn. I ended up using two different shades of blue, one for the sky and one for the main body of the scarf. One skein of around 315 yards would cover all of it (I used 81 yards of sky blue and 234 yards of the darker blue).

In addition I used about 33 yards of brick red for the bottom edges, 20 yards of red and less that 10 yards each of white, natural, brown and light and dark green. Use whatever you have in your stash that would work for these colors!

You’ll also need a set of size 7 US (4.5 mm) knitting needles, a tape measure, scissors, a yarn needle and a fair bit of patience for weaving in ends.

Gauge on a non-colorwork section is 17 stitches and 22 rows per 4 inches/10 cm, or 4.25 stitches and 5.5 rows per inch.

The finished scarf is 9 inches wide and 64 inches long.

Instructions

This scarf may look a little intimidating because of all the colorwork, but those little sections go pretty fast, so don’t be scared. Know, too, that you can do parts of it in duplicate stitch instead of trying to control all those colors at once, if you’d rather. Just follow the charts in the same way.

Notes: the charts (which are image files linked where you need them) shows the colors more or less true to the colors I used. The background (clear) stitches should be worked in blue. On the princess chart I made her dress lilac to distinguish it from the white background but I actually knit it in white. Make it whatever color you want. This chart is also shown upside down because that’s how you knit it if you start with the Mario side as I did.

The heart chart is only shown right side up but it is also knit upside down for half the scarf because you want the hearts to all be facing the same way when the scarf is worn.

The first and last 4 stitches of each row are worked in garter stitch and are not included in the charts.

Using the brick color, cast on 38 stitches. Work in garter stitch for 2 inches.

Change to blue for the backgound and stockinette stitch (keeping first and last 4 stitches in garter) and work the Mario chart.

To make the optional transition between two background colors as shown, work with the first color as long as you like (I did 8 inches from the beginning of that section). Using the first color on the edge stitches, work in the second color then the first, alternating every 2 stitches, for 2 rows. Switch to working the edge stitches in the second color and knit 2 in the first, 2 in the second repeating across for 2 rows. Continue to work with the second color.

Either way, one you’re about 6 inches from the top of the tube you worked on the Mario chart, it’s time for your first heart (here’s the chart). I worked the hearts every 6 inches and moved them across the scarf as I worked, first on the right edge, then the center, then the left edge, then repeated upside down on the other side, but you can put them wherever you like and go on as long as you want.

If you did the color change on the background, remember to do it again in the opposite way about 10 inches from desired length (or an equal length as the other side). I started the Princess chart 3.5 inches after my color change.

Work the Princess chart (as shown, upside down).

Change to brick color and work in garter stitch 2 inches. Bind off.

Weave in ends. This project is pretty messy, so you may want to sew some fabric to the back to cover up all the strands if they bother you.