Your Favorite Team Colors Scarf: Crochet!

I love personal gifts. That's why homemade stuff is the best! I would much rather receive something my children made than a trinket from the store. Hoping that other folks feel the same, I definitely push homemade stuff on them - teehee! Even teachers. I figure one can only have so many apple shaped pencil sharpeners ^_^ So this year I thought I'd get the inside scoop on what my kids' teachers are into and see if we can't make them something unique this year. However, I had to stop and wonder what I could possibly make for my son's male teacher that he may actually use?

As I mentioned, I'm sort of into scarves this year, so I asked my son to figure out what his teacher's favorite sports team is. Well, he did his homework and reported back that the Bears where top on his teacher's list of favorite sports teams. The Chicago bears have great colors: Orange, White and a dusty Midnight Blue. Here's what I came up with:

Colors aren't showing true, but you get the idea!

I am a sucker for sacrificing yarn types for color. Now, this can turn out poorly if the weight is so dissimilar, but in this case, it was close enough! I grabbed a Sugar n' Cream in Indigo (100% cotton) because the color was spot on. I used Orange and White Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. Now, to be sure the stripes are a touch wider than the length of the blue, but honestly, I cannot find a good orange color in any other yarn type (let me know if you know of one!).

I used the hdc stitch throughout, which is my favorite stitch right now and edged the ends with the reverse single crochet or "crab stitch" (check out the tutorial here)

You can see the crab stitch better here

What I like about the crab stitch is that it is a decorative edging, but not a girly one. It sort of creates a corrugated tube when it is worked up. I rather like it!

So go forth and make scarves in whatever team colors you like! Personalize them with their favorite team colors, kids' school colors, or alma mater colors. Use the crab stitch edging and give them to the men in your life ^_^

A Cute V-Stitch Scarf

Last Christmas I received a lovely red crocheted scarf that went with practically everything. Thus, I wore it all the time and fell in love with it! The stitch was not a lace stitch, nor was it tightly crocheted, so I set out to figure out just what technique the yarn artist used. After a bit of research I found that it was a V-stitch. It's the perfect stitch for a scarf with some heft for warmth, but loose enough to be soft and wrapped snuggly around one's neck.

I knew I wanted to do scarves this year for Christmas so I came up with my own version using the V-stitch. It works up quickly, and I really think it turned out cute. So without further ado:

A Cute V-Stitch Scarf:

Hook G
WW yarn (I used Deborah Norville Everyday soft worsted in Chocolate Brown)

**Technique used for the V-stitch: (dc, ch 2, dc) all in one stitch**

Ch 24
R1) start 3rd stitch from hook 22 hdc, ch 2 & turn (22)
R2) 22 hdc, ch 2 & turn (22)
R3) 22 hdc, ch 3 & turn (22)
R4) sk 1 hdc, V-stitch, *sk 2 hdc, V-stitch* repeat 5 more times, sk 1 hdc, dc, ch 3 & turn (7 ch-2 spaces)
R5) V-stitch in ea ch-2 space across, then sk las dc, dc into top of turning ch, ch 3 & turn (7 ch-2 spaces)
R6) repeat R5
R7) repeat R5
R8) *hdc, hdc, hdc into ch-2 space* repeat 6 more times, hdc into top of turning ch, ch 2 & turn (22)
R9) 22 hdc, ch 2 & turn (22)
R10) 22 hdc, ch 3 & turn (22)

Repeat R4 - R10 until desired length of scarf is achieved.
I repeated the pattern a total of 12 times and end added the fringe to the bottom of both ends.

I used 3 lengths of yarn per ch-space for this scarf

How to add the fringe:
On both ends of scarf, attach yarn and do the following:
FRINGE BASE ROW: Ch 3, sk 1 hdc, sc, *ch 2, sk 1 hdc, sc* repeat across row (you should have 11 ch-2 spaces)
Cut equal lengths of yarn and follow this picture tutorial for adding the tassels or fringe through the ch-2 spaces you created.

I liked the look of the dividing up the v-stitch section with the hdc
Sort gives it a "patchwork" look ^_^