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Moss stitch may be one of my favorite simple knitting stitches, and this two-color moss stitch scarf will get you thinking about moss stitch in a whole new way.
What is Moss Stitch?
Moss stitch is one of the most basic knit-purl repeat knitting patterns out there, but it often confuses knitters, even those with a lot of knitting experience. That’s because what we in the United States call moss stitch is called seed stitch in the UK and elsewhere, and we have a different stitch that we call seed stitch.
What we call seed stitch is often called Irish moss stitch or sometimes British moss stitch in other parts of the world.
And then there’s the matter of double seed stitch, which would more accurately be called double moss stitch, as Barbara G. Walker points out in A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It’s a four-row repeat, just like American moss stitch, as we’ll see.
How to Knit Moss Stitch, Seed Stitch and Double Seed Stitch
All of these patterns are similar and can be considered a kind of broken ribbing, because the stitches don’t line up from row to row like ribbing does, but the rows are worked like ribbing.
Let’s take a look at each one. As the swatch gets bigger in the photos, the new stitch pattern is at the top closest to the needle.
Seed Stitch
Seed stitch is the most basic of these stitch patterns, and it works on an even number of stitches.
Row 1: *Knit 1, purl 1. Repeat from * across.
Row 2: *Purl 1, knit 1. Repeat from * across.
An easy way to remember what you’re doing is when you end a row, the next row starts with the same kind of stitch that you just worked.
Check out my deep dive into seed stitch knitting for more.
Moss Stitch
Moss stitch is basically the same as seed stitch, but you work each row twice. This makes it look like you have two rows of ribbing broken up every two rows. It works on an even number of stitches as follows:
Row 1 and 2: *Knit 1, purl 1. Repeat from * across.
Row 3 and 4: *Purl 1, knit 1. Repeat from * across.
Double Seed/Moss Stitch
While we’re talking about the differences among these stitch patterns anyway, let’s take a quick look at double seed, Irish moss, double moss or whatever you want to call it. This one is worked on multiples of four stitches, and you’ll quickly see why it’s called double.
Row 1 and 2: *Knit 2, purl 2. Repeat from * across.
Row 3 and 4: *Purl 2, knit 2. Repeat from * across.
Two-Color Moss Stitch
Now that we’ve got all that worked out, how do you knit two color moss stitch? Well that’s pretty easy, too!
Rows 1 and 2: *Knit 1, purl 1 in color A. Repeat from * across.
Rows 3 and 4: *Purl 1, knit 1 in color B. Repeat from * across.
Repeat these four rows, changing colors every other row, for pattern. This is a great opportunity to practice carrying yarn up the side of your project.
Two-Color Moss Stitch Scarf
The original two-color moss stitch scarf was published years ago on About and isn’t available there any more. This one was made with super bulky yarn (about 80 yards each of two colors of Lion Brand Hometown) and used size 13 US/9 mm knitting needles.
The gauge is 8 stitches and 12 rows per 4 inches/10 cm in two color moss stitch, and the finished size was about 5.5 inches/14 cm wide and 72 inches/183 cm long.
You can make your scarf with any yarn and make it as wide or as narrow as you like. Just cast on an even number of stitches.
Decide which color is color A and cast on 14 stitches.
Rows 1 and 2: *Knit 1, purl 1 in color A. Repeat from * across.
Rows 3 and 4: *Purl 1, knit 1 in color B. Repeat from * across.
Repeat these four rows to desired length. I like to end with a color A section so the bind off is the same color as the cast on.
Bind off, cut yarn and weave in ends.
