A Homemade Holiday: Crocheted Scarf

Surprise!  We’re going to start our homemade holiday a little early!  I didn’t want to make any promises, but I had been wanting to work on a crocheted scarf for awhile now, and I wasn’t sure if I would have time to get it done and written about this week.  I found a pattern for a blanket online that I liked the texture of, so I figured out how to do the stitch and then made a scarf instead.

Just a little disclaimer to throw out there: I’m no expert at crocheting.  I mostly stick to simple blankets and hats of my own designing.  My work has improved a lot over the past few years, but I’d only consider myself an intermediate crocheter.  I’ve never written up a crochet pattern before, so I pray I do this right!

(I am including some affiliate links to the supplies I used for this project for your convenience.  To read my whole disclaimer, check it out in the sidebar or at the bottom of the page.)

To get started, you will need:

Tools:

• Size I (9)-5.5mm Crochet Hook
• Scissors
• Counting markers (optional, but maybe especially helpful if you are a beginner or tend to drop stitches)

Materials:

• 7 oz. medium weight yarn ( I had left-over yarn)

I used “I Love This Yarn!” in Dark Denim from Hobby Lobby to make this scarf.

This scarf is really pretty simple, but it might take you a little bit to get comfortable with how to turn your rows for the first row or two.  You only need to know how to chain and do a single crochet to make this project.  The finished size of the scarf I made is 6″ x 64″, but you can adjust your length and width to suit your personal taste.  I really only like a scarf to be wrapped around my neck once or twice, because I don’t want it getting caught on things, and I don’t like feeling strangled by endless wrapping, but that’s just me.  And since this is made with a medium weight yarn, I didn’t want it too wide because I didn’t want the scarf to be too bulky around the neck.  But again, these are my personal preferences.  Keep in mind that you can always use a heavier weight yarn or a larger hook to make this project go a little faster or to change the texture, but that changing the weight and/or hook size will change your finished dimensions, as will how loosely or tightly you crochet.  Feel free to get a little crazy and add stripes to your project if you want!

Let’s get started:

Chain 251.  (This made a scarf that was roughly 64″ finished along the length, without the tassels.)

Row 1:  1 single crochet in second chain from the hook, *chain 1, skip a stitch, 1 single crochet into next stitch, *repeat until you reach the end of the row.  Chain 1, turn.

Row 2-24:  Repeat row one.  (Note that you will have to 1 sc into the first stitch every time you turn, but sometimes you will have to ch 1, then sc after the first sc, and sometimes you will need to do a sc, and then ch1.  This is because aside from the end sc, the next sc should end up wrapping around the ch stitches of the previous row.  This is sort of an interlocking stitch.)

Here I have turned the row, and you can see my chain 1 sticking up above the first row of stitches.

1 SC into the first SC.

1 SC around the chain from the previous row.

After your first SC around a chain, chain.

1 SC into the space AROUND the chain.

Here you can see the space between the SC made by the chain in the previous row a little better. That is where you place your SC stitches for the next row.

On the final row, end by chaining 1, and tying off.

Make sure you do not miss your final stitch before you chain at the end of the row. You may end up with two SC at the end of the row. It alternates from row to row.

1 SC into last stitch, and then chain off.

It took me a while to master the row turning on this one because of how the ends alternate.  I practiced this stitch, just making rows that were a few inches long so that I could get the turns right without missing any stitches.  To see the original blanket tutorial I mentioned, check out this post… you really only need to understand rows one and two.  She references this YouTube video, which I found to be helpful with understanding the turns, though the color changes made it a tad confusing for me at first, since I wasn’t switching colors, but I realized that even with the way she ties off and starts a new color, she leads into the next row the same way every time.

When you are finished with your scarf, you can always add tassels to the scarf, weave in the ends, or create an infinity scarf by crocheting the ends together to form a loop.

To form a loop: 

When you are just about ready to tie off the end of your last row, instead of trimming your yarn, bring the ends of the rows together, and do a half-double crochet through the corner that lines up.  Then do a half-double crochet down the lengths of the ends of the scarf.  Personally, I found that if I was going to do an infinity scarf with this length, I could wrap it around my neck comfortably, twice, but I would want to make it wider than the 24 rows listed above.

To form a loop: Before tying off, line up the two ends of the scarf. For an infinity scarf, one end should get flipped around so that there is a twist in the loop. That’s up to you. Hook through the corner that lines up with the end you are finishing, and start to work your stitches down the ends of the scarf.

Half Single Crochet down the length of the ends by inserting your hook through both layers and hooking your yarn.

When you are done going down the ends of the scarf, you need to chain and tie off.

Trim your yarn, and pull the ends through to create a knot.

To weave the ends in:

If you just want plain ends to your scarf, you can easily weave the ends of your thread into your work.  I typically weave up and down through the rows to help hold the ends more securely.  (I’m not sure if it actually makes a difference, but I feel like it does!)  I will put my hook through a few stitches at a time, hook the tail, and pull it through, repeating multiple times until most of the tail has disappeared, and then trim off the rest.  There are other ways to work your ends in to your work, so do what works for you!

I put my hook through different stitches, going up and down through the piece to better hide the ends and make them more secure. Pull ends through the stitches.

When the tail of your yarn becomes too short to work through or you feel you have gone far enough, trim off the excess yarn.

When you are all finished, your scarf should look something like this!

To make tassels:

I decided to add tassels to the ends of my scarf, because I felt like it looked unfinished, and I wanted the feeling of extra length without actually making the scarf longer.  To do this, I cut pieces of yarn, roughly 8″ long.  I put 3 pieces of yarn in each tassel, and 9 tassels on each end of the scarf, for a total of 54 pieces of yarn cut at 8″.

Cut one piece of yarn to desired length. Make sure it is long enough when folded in half to make the length of tassel that you want, after the loop end folds over on itself.

Three pieces of yarn makes a tassel that is 6 strings full.

Take a group of three pieces of yarn, fold them in half, over your finger.  Insert the crochet hook into the scarf at one corner of one end, hook the loop of yarn, and pull partway through.  Then hook the tails of yarn and pull them through the loop.  Pull tight.

Insert hook through one corner of one end of the scarf, and hook through the loop of your tassel yarn.

Pull that loop partway through the scarf, and hook the tassel ends.

Pull the tassel ends through the loop and pull tight.

I didn’t want too much fringe on this, so I left a little bit of space between each tassel.  If you choose to attach tassels in the same color as the scarf itself, you don’t need to worry about weaving the tails of your yarn into the scarf, since they’ll hide in the tassel.  If needed, trim your tassels to make them a consistent length.

It can be kind of hard to gauge just how long a scarf will feel once you have the width of the scarf completed.  If the scarf ends up shorter than you wanted, you could always add a length of color blocking on either end of the scarf, using the same stitching pattern, or doing something completely different.  Tassels would also help give the scarf a bit of added length.  Personally, I’m a wrap-around-the-neck-once kind of gal for warm winter scarves.  If this were lighter-weight or narrower, I’d probably make it long enough to wrap around a few times.

My original intention for this scarf was to give it as a gift, but I like it so much that I’m not sure if I will or not!  Besides, I really do need a new winter scarf.  Either way, I should have time to make another before the holidays arrive.  I worked on this scarf over the course of several hours while watching movies.  Part of the reason it took me that long is because it took me a bit to get the feel for this pattern and to understand the turning at the ends of the rows.  Once I really got it down pat, it wasn’t too bad.  It takes awhile to build this stitch up with a medium gauge yarn because the rows interlock, almost like zipper teeth.  It took at least 4 rows before I could really see the pattern/texture emerge.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to answer them!  If you end up making this scarf, I’d love to see pictures.  Feel free to post them on our Facebook Page!  Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss any of the posts in our A Homemade Holiday series!  By the end of the day tomorrow, I will have the tutorial for pajama pants up.  See you then!

Love~Danielle