One-skein Crochet Scarf

Pinks Ripple Scarf

Sometimes you don't want to do an entire afghan or blankie when you crochet. It takes forever, you need lots of yarn, you like to actually finish a project in less than 6 months. Whatever the reason, one of the nicest ways to play with crochet is to make a one-skein crochet scarf. I make mine with a skein of sock yarn. I use a larger hook than usual so that the scarf drapes and is not a solid piece of work. You can figure out what size hook to use while you are learning the pattern. Easy peasy, and then you too can get "hooked" on crochet scarves.

This scarf is a basic ripple pattern. I wrote it up on a previous post, but now I've included some pics of the dc2tog stitch. Try it out the next time you have a pretty skein and just want to do something different other than socks.





Here are instructions again for how to do this pattern. Once you get the hang of the dc2tog, it's mindlessly easy and pleasant to do.

I'm using this very basic crochet pattern also in my Linus Blankie project, and that's where I've done my photography.

Here's how you do the standard ripple pattern:

1. Chain a multiple of 12 + 3. If you crochet tightly, go up a hook size for that first row.

2. 1 DC into 4th chain from hook.
*1 DC into next of 3 chains, [DC 2tog] twice, 1 DC into each of next 3 chains, 2 DC into each of next 2 chains* Repeat from *, ending last repeat with 2 DC into last ch. Turn.

3. Ch 3, 1 DC into same st. * 1 DC into each of next 3 DC, [DC 2tog]twice, 1 DC into each of next 3 DC, 2 DC into each of next 2 DC*. Repeat from *, ending last repeat with 2 DC into either the ch 3 loop or into the third ch of that loop. Turn.

That's the entire pattern. I have to admit that I do cheat and do that last 2 DC into the chain 3 loop from the previous row. I can't see that it makes any difference, at least in this pattern.

I used a skein of New Bambi with a size 4 hook, and I got a very drapey fabric. You don't want to construct a wall here; you want the thing to be a bit flow-y, so that it will drape around your neck. 3 or 4 repeats of the pattern will do it for a scarf.

Here's the blankie right after I've increased in the top 2 stitches: you just dc in each stitch twice.



Now here's the decrease:










In words: Begin the basic dc stitch, but don't complete it. You will have 2 sts on the hook. Then do another incomplete dc through the next stitch, you'll have 3 loops on the needle. yo, and pull through those 3 loops. Ta da: One stitch made out of 2 stitches. This is so much easier to do than to write. Play around with it, and you'll get it pretty quickly.

I hope that helps. I'm not a natural crocheter; knitting comes so easily to me, but I have to work hard at crochet. Once I get it, though, it's so pleasant to do. I tend to frog a lot until it comes out right, but then I can happily motor along.

Yarn ideas for this very basic ripple pattern: worsted wt. yarn with a large hook will make a chunky scarf. DK will obviously be less bulky. I love fingering or sock yarn because the scarf can be tied or draped or whatever, and since I'm a small person, I don't look ridiculous in it.

Crochet uses up considerably more yarn than knitting, but you can make a scarf out of 350-400 yards easily. I use a size 4 hook because I want drape. If you find that you have a board rather than a lovely piece of fabric, go up a hook size or 2.

If you use variegated yarn, as I'm very fond of, play around with it. Sometimes it is just too much variation for the pattern, other times it takes on a water color feel to it. And if you don't like it, frog it, and make socks. You really can't go wrong here.

More crochet scarf patterns coming up as I go along. And no, I haven't stopped knitting, just this is brainless work, and you know that I like mindless repetition with a bit of interest. The interest in this scarf is that dc2tog: I just love doing it!

Scrabblequeen - I'm glad you can figure it out. Crochet is always a learning experience for me even though I've been doing it a lot longer than knitting.

I'm hooked!

Not my fault. My sister made me do it.

I was an innocent knitter, happily motoring along on my gazillion projects, and then! my sister started crocheting. Uh oh. Her crochet bug bit me, and now (pun intended) I'm hooked. Resistance is futile; I've been infected. My poor knitting.

Yesterday I was a wee bit under the weather, and had about as much energy as a sloth. So I spent much of the day on my favorite couch surrounded by yarns, crochet books, hooks, and other paraphernalia. It was a sad moment, I tell you. Innocent little knitter me parked on a very comfy couch and in great light and those dratted books, hooks and yarns. What was I to do? My pretty little shawl just sat in her bag, totally ignored, while I hooked by the hour. I hooked and frogged just about the entire day, and the net result is pathetic. 4 bits of projects, one of which is going to bite the dust. What you are not seeing are all the frogged stuff. Lots of it. This hooky business is an addiction.

Here is a winner. I hooked the first square, went "meh", gave it a wet block, and then made another and attached it as I went along. Hmmm. I rather like it. It's interesting to hook.



This motif was done in 4 different yarns and mostly in one color, and then Mandarin Petit appeared at my elbow, and voila, a motif was born. What I'm going to do with it is anybody's guess. I'm thinking of doing another round in white, maybe, just to offset the unbearable preppiness of the colors. I don't know. I don't want to do a blankie all in cotton. It's very pricey, and will be heavy. I'm thinking of maybe some Baby Ull. I wouldn't have to dye it, and it is a lovely yarn, and skinny. Hmmm. This takes some serious thinking here. But I like the idea enough to play with it some more. That'll be attempt #6 on this baby.



Here's a yarn that's driving me crazy. I love love love the colorway and can't seem to settle on a pattern. I'm not wild about this little scarf so far: I love the pattern which is autopilot, but I think the colors get in the way of seeing what I've hooked. So, back to the frog pile yet again. Any brilliant ideas on what to do with this yarn? I'm pretty good at figuring out variegated yarn patterns, but this one has me stumped. I suppose I could yet another pair of Roundabout socks; I know that would work well, but I really want something different. I think a little shawl might be possible. Stay tuned; this yarn WILL be used in something pretty, but what I don't yet know.



Now this one is a keeper. Yet another zigzag crochet scarf, with a different pattern than the others I've done, but very soothing to work on, and the yarn is not too crazy so that the pattern can be seen. This one is in my new Bambi yarn, and I like it very much indeed.



If only I had taken pics of all the stuff I frogged; then you'd really be impressed with my activity, but I didn't.

Today is a vertigo day. What can I say? Sometimes it just arrives and I have to deal with it. Blech. At least I got tons of work done on Mon and Tues. Elder DD is coming out for a visit, and is arriving this afternoon, so I'll have lovely company. I was going to visit the Mommie, and the farmers' market, and some errands, but the world is spinning and I'm not great for driving. Not to worry, it'll go away sooner or later, hopefully sooner.

So, back to the couch and the hooks and the yarns and the books. If you're not feeling up to par, this is not a bad way to spend the day. I think my WOTFT (what's on tap for today) is a bit of laundry, making a bread, and taking it easy. I can handle that. But tomorrow, I want to dye, so this better be gone and soon.

Totally off topic, I'm embarrassed to admit that I can make a pretty mean loaf of bread in the bread machine. Hey, I'm a real bread baker from way back when! I use the machine to knead, and that's all. I love the mixing, the shaping, the smell, the whole 9 yards, but the other day, I had a yen and we were out of bread, and it was really hot, so I thought I would actually bake in the machine. And you know what? The loaf came out very very nice. I used buttermilk, lavender and lemon in it, and a medium crust. OK, it came out as a very light crust, and the bread looked like something that kids would eat: not dark and crusty the way I like it. But, oh the taste! What a bread! So today, in my dizzy spell, I'm going to do it again. Same ingredients because the taste was amazing. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

Off to slave away.

itsJUSTme - I also started doing doilies when I was a kid! Can you imagine? Now my eyes would need magnification for all those tiny holes, but it was fun to do. I put a bread up in the machine again. It's way too hot to put on the oven, no?

Leedra - Yep my head is really really dizzy and the hot flashes don't help much either. Sitting, knitting and hooking are my speed today.

Jadielady - I hear you. My poor knitting is languishing while I try out a gazillion crochet stitches.

The Yarnarian is Hooked!

By crochet. I'm in love with it. It's my sister's fault, of course. She's a wonderful crocheter, and so it's her fault.

As you may have noticed, I'm into these hooky scarves. I like the ease and speed of them, and I think they have an impressionist quality when done in variegated yarns. And sock wt yarn done on a D hook makes light weight drapey little pieces. So what could be better? Plus, they are so portable.

So here's my latest, which is almost done.




The Hubbo and DD are not admiring it much. I suspect that they think it's way too busy with those colors, but I like it. I see it draped around my neck and the colors appearing here and there just like an impressionist moment. OK, I just like it.

Tea notes: Today's tea is Tiger Hill Nilgiri FOP. Yummy. I don't remember where I bought it, I think it was in a tea shop in Tarrytown, NY, but am not sure. Anyhow, it's tasty and delicious.

The Schmutzmeister (aka DH) found this neat tea cup - infuser set. It came with a container of tea, and it cost him about a half buck. Yay, garage sales and DH!





You plop your loose tea into the infuser, put it into the cup, pour in your water, cover, and voila! in 5 minutes you have a tasty cuppa. I have a bunch of regular infusers, but this one is the infuser of the moment. The mesh is thin enough for me to use it for rooibos tea, which makes it even better. And the infuser fits into all my mugs but one.

Now and then I actually use a tea pot, but I usually make one cup at a time, so it's just easier this way.

Disgusting, miserable moment: I have to do my bills today. I hate doing bills, really hate it. It's not that I don't have the money; I do, I just find it beyond boring, and I hate boredom. I suppose there's a syndrome in the psych books for this, but I don't care. I just hate writing out checks. Go forth, Yarnarian, and be mature. Blah.

It's almost Cape Cod time! I'm counting the minutes! Whoo hoo. OK, immature 66 year old woman is going to do her bills with much muttering and kvetching and grumping and general infantile behavior. Maturity is a phase; adolescence is forever! sigh.

itsJUSTme - I'll post when I get back home. I try to keep computing time to a minimum when on vacation. I need to get away from work.

Scrabblequeen - I'll do almost anything to avoid paying bills, even bopping around from topic to topic. giggle

Deborah - It works up very nicely. I'm thinking of even trying a size E, which would work well with heavier sock yarns.

The Yarnarian Learns Patience.

Miss P's Shawlette

NOT. Etsy is having some sort of melt-down today, and I can't load up pictures. I am not a patient person. Needless to say, I'm grumbling a lot. I did go to the gym, and got those lovely endorphins flowing, so that helped. But Etsy, my Love, you need to get your act together today. Can't sell if I can't upload images.

There. Now that wasn't too bad of a rant. It was the endorphin factor. Boy was I irritated before I exercised.

It's working again! Yippee! Whew relief.

Project news: I finished it. Yep, you saw it last week, but now it's done and washed and happy, and I even wore it the other chilly day.




Miss P's shawl is finished and delivered, and she too has worn it in her usual 7 year old galumphy way. How many kids her age get a merino/silk shawlette designed and knit just for them? I hope it survives. But it was a lot of fun to do, and anyhow, I'm doing a much larger version of it in lace yarn. I'll do patterns for both at some point.



I would show you a pic of her wearing it, but I want my grands to have privacy, so trust me that she looked quite cute in it. We all went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant and she gave it to me to hold. Didn't want it to get tomato sauce on it.

We had a wonderful time in Minnesota as usual. DD took us to Northfield to wander around the shops and such. We love little town, especially college ones, and this one really appealed to us.

And now I'm going back to fight with Etsy some more. Hah! Dyeing tomorrow, I hope. I have some lovely inspiration to play with. If it works, I'll tell you. If not, I won't reveal my source. Heh heh.

The Yarnarian Has a SALE!

When? From now, Mon. Oct. 5 through Wed. Oct. 7 I'm having a sale in the Etsy Shop! Why? To celebrate being in business for 2 wonderful years! How much? $2 off each yarn! I don't do this very often, maybe once or twice a year. But I started my little business in October of 2007, so I thought that I'd celebrate and give you all a little reward. Right here:

http://fritzl.etsy.com

Knitting news: Remember the scarf I was designing and knitting for the Nov. sotm shipment? The one that had maybe 3-4 rows to finish? That one? Frog Pond! The entire megilla. Frogged. I took one look at it and didn't like it. It looked OK as I was knitting it, but I didn't like the end result. So, as usual, I frogged, and am now about 1/3 of the way through the new design. Gotta tell you that the first scarf was fairly mindless to knit. This new one is evil, well in keeping with the Wicked Women theme. She's not auto-pilot. You have to pay attention to her as you knit her. Wicked Woman, indeed. Heh, heh, heh!

On a happier, less stressful note, I've come this far on my Ten Stitch Blankie. I rather like it. It's hard on my hands, even with knitting only 10 stitches on every round, probably because I'm using a size 9 needle, and that miserable Noro yarn, Silk Garden. Miserable because I don't like knitting on a thick and thin yarn and in worsted weight, to boot. Beautiful colors, but I can't say I'm enjoying knitting this. Still, I like the way it looks, and I do only a little bit of knitting on it to keep my arm pain down. Yes, I know it doesn't look very even, it'll behave once finished and steamed.



Crochet scarf coming along very nicely. Attic24 is to blame here (along with my sister). I'm now crocheting a scarf. I've crochet a scarf a few years ago, but now I'm back with a vengeance. The trouble is that it is not easy on the wrists and arms. Still, a little at a time, and I might just have a pretty scarf.



Sneak Peak at a new yarn I just dyed!