Day 249 and Everywhere

It's the little things that make us special. It's the little things that make our hometown or our school or our hobbies special. It's the little things that make the things that we like special.

A little thing like a piece of fringe can make a boring scarf into a special scarf. In my world it's very rare to have too much of a good thing so I figured I'd add that fringe all over the place!

Easy recipe! Chain as many as you want (as you can see, I made a super long scarf this time). DC into the 4th stitch and every stitch across for every row for as wide as you'd like your scarf.
The real excitement is adding the fringe. Cut many many lengths of fringe and go to town! Use your crochet hook and latch them in anywhere you think feels good. I made a sort of broken zig zag pattern with mine and I made them quite long (9 inch cuts). I used all the same color, but lots of scraps would look fun as well.

Day 195 and White Clovers

This interesting trellis design looks to me like a clover outline in the negative space. I've become a fan of the crochet panel. Many crochet overall patterns are harsh and bold and prove that too much of a good thing really is too much! making it a center panel gives it stability, subtlety and a much better style.

Translating an overall pattern into a panel isn't all that difficult. Start by choosing a pattern and swatching it with only one repeat. Choose patterns that line up vertically or you'll find part of the pattern chopped off part of the time. At the edges of every pattern there is usually an anchor stitch that gives you the height for the worked row followed by a chain to get height for the following row. Usually you can use that as a suggestion and extend your rows with stitches of the same height. Your one repeat will tell you right away all of those things.

1- If it doesn't look good as a single repeat, it probably won't be much better as a panel.
2- If it changes width often, or has a wavy edge, it can be used as a panel, but expect puckering or a lot of extra practice to compensate for it.
3- If the edge anchor stitches are constantly changing length, you can still use it as a panel, but your stitches in the rest of the row will have to correspond. e.g. Row 1 ends with a treble crochet followed by a chain 2 for the turn. Row one should have treble crochets at each end, but the following row should be worked with half doubles.
4- Be bold and only use these as guidelines. Just because your pattern gets a thumbs down according to one of these other rules, doesn't mean it gets the thumb down all together. Be creative and work around the difficulties and you may have something you really enjoy. If worse comes to worse you can always frog the darn thing.

Day 194 and Shorts

I'm not a hoarder!!! Though I suppose some people might worry a little bit because of how adamant I am about not throwing any scraps of yarn away. 4 yards is my cut off. If I have 4 yards of any particular yarn, I'll mostly likely keep it.

This scarf uses less than 4 yards for every single stripe. It's very similar to mixed berries, but for this scarf both ends are fringed and only one row is completed with a color. If you have a stash of scraps so small and scrappy, you're embarrassed to admit you have them, this is what you can do.

All of my scraps were worsted weight held double (4 yards) but you could use bulky (2 yards) or sport held triple (6 yards) all to the same effect and really clear out that scrap bin. If you're not a fan of letting nature take its course by choosing your colors at random, grab yourself a ruler and wrap your yarns around it. 4 rounds of each color on the width of your ruler will give a pretty decent proportional idea of your finished scarf. You'll get the benefit of planning without having to dig out colored pencils that don't even really match. Not only that, 4 wraps is so very small that you could do dozens of different color schemes without it feeling like a chore.

Size M or N hook
Yarn
Scissors

Leave a 4 to 6 inch tail and chain 7. Cut the yarn leaving a 4 to 6 inch end tail and tie off.

*For every single stripe: Make a slip knot and place it on your hook. Yarn over (use your fingers to hold it in place). Put the hook in the very first stitch and complete a double crochet stitch as normal. DC 6 more stitches, tie off.*

Repeat this instruction as many times as you'd like with as many different colors as you like until your scarf is complete. Trim the fringe even, leave them crazy, or even trim them in a zig zag or wave pattern. If your yarn is bulky, you could cut the ends quite short and they would stick out horizontally for an interesting effect.

Day 186 and Wiggles

I've used crochet chains as ladders before, but when the chains aren't all the same length an interesting thing happens. Even when every single row has an equal number of chains and single crochet stitches, they still wiggle side to side.

I used 11 chains, a single crochet, 1 chain, and another single crochet on my starting chain repeated over and over. For each following row, I subtracted 2 from one chain set and added 2 to the other chain set always making sure the single crochets lined up.

I suspect that there are lots of interesting effects that could be made by just changing the number of chains in each set and whether or not they lined up. I'll have to play with it some.

Day 182 and RicRac

I don't know if that's what it's called everywhere, but in America, ricrac (or rikrak) is a type of zigzag ribbon embellishment. Because the bends are exactly symmetrical you can take two pieces and swivel them around each other and still have a flat piece of now doubled ribbon.

I saw no reason why this couldn't be done with a chevron pattern in yarn. I used a size K crochet hook and worsted weight yarn. I didn't count my chain, but just made it very long and cut off whatever I didn't want when I was finished.

I hope to make this a little more specific after I do some serious counting, but for experienced crocheters, this is the recipe.

The pattern repeat is 5 DC, skip 3 ch, 5DC, ch3, 5DC (the first dc is in the same chain as the most recent stitch). Make this single row as long as you want your scarf and then make it once more with a contrasting yarn. Twist the two ribbons together so that they lie flat. For the outer edge, DC 4 into each corner as they present themselves as well as 5 DC in each color ribbon at the ends to turn the scarf corner.

Day 175 and Strings

I love how comfortable a nice worn t-shirt can feel, but after a while it needs a little refresher. If you're bold enough to make t-shirt yarn, than you're certainly bold enough to make this easy cowl/necklace/belt.

First, it's important to use a shirt that has no side seams around the lower body. This way when you cut your strings you'll have nice continuous loops. Second, it's important to cut cleanly. Jagged edges will make the strings hang strangely, so go slowly. So here's your basic recipe for a scarf of this kind.

One t-shirt (I prefer 100% cotton)
A small amount of yarn (less than an ounce is needed)
A hook or knitting needles that match the yarn

-Cut the torso of the shirt directly across from the underarm seam to the other under arm seam.
-Cut off the bottom hem.
-Cut long loops by making many parallel cuts through the shirt. Use your eye. I prefer strips that are between 1 and 2 inches.
-Put all the loops together over your arms and give a light stretch to make the fabric curl attractively.
-Option one: With your yarn and tools, make a wide squat rectangle. Use your eye again. It should be tall enough to just barely wrap around one leg of all the loops of t-shirt. Any pattern that you like can be used if you find it attractive. Sew or graft the rectangle so that it traps all the loops.
-Option two: If you don't want any seams to sew you might alternately choose to work in the round. Chain or cast on as many stitches as you need putting the loops in the center of the round before joining. Make a tube (it will enclose the loops naturally without you having to do any extra work) as long as you find attractive in any stitch pattern you like.

It's a very fast project and a good beginner project if you choose the seaming option because the amount of actual stitching is so slight. This might even be a situation in which one could truly wear the very first bit of stitching they ever made

Day 174 and Miters

This seems like such a simple technique and yet I've never done it before. It's basically a garter stitch scarf, but it's made in squares. Each square is mitered by making a centered double decrease every other row creating a very distinct corner. Picking up stitches along the edge of the old and casting on the same amount plus one means that there is no need to sew all the squares together. Interestingly, I had to use garter stitch because when I made the first square and tried to use stockinette, the square turned out more like a kite. This is one place where row gauge for your scarf is actually important. The stitches need to be about square.

Size 9 needles
Various worsted weight scraps.

Cast on 31.
Odd rows: Knit 14(less one stitch every row), Double decrease, K 14(less one stitch every row)
Even rows: Knit across

You'll be taking away 2 stitches every second row and will eventually have only one stitch on the needle. Turn your work, pick up 15 along the edge of the square and cast on 16 with the next color in order to begin the next repeat.

Have fun :)

Day 173 and Spiral

Okkay, you've only got half a yard/meter of fleece and you either don't have a sewing machine or feel intimidated by having to cut up your fabric. Even worse, the idea of seams breaking up the terrific pattern horrifies you! Time for geometry to save the day!

Lay out your fabric and start in the center. Draw a big spiral and you'll be amazed at how far your fabric will seem to grow.
As a bonus, because there are no straight lines, the resulting scarf will ruffle very gently as it drapes in a very attractive manner.

Day 164 and Teacher's Mask

Your first project probably wasn't that good looking. I made a practice swatch out of a hideous washed out traffic cone orange and the fiber was a squeaky uncomfortable 20 year old Orlon acrylic. It's a wonder that I kept up with it at all!

In any case, let's say you want to teach someone how to crochet. This unusual mask/cowl has all the basic stitches that a fresh new student would want to know! Naturally you have to chain to start the fabric, then single crochet to get the hang of it. Increase a little bit and decrease so that you can shape for future projects. Use a double crochet stitch for a while to get you started with texture on the fabric. End with a loop style button hole. Separately, practice the magic circle method to demonstrate how to work in rounds and use it as a button to better understand the best places to sew in loose ends.

It's all so basic, but everyone was a beginner at first, right?

Day 161 and Washington

These need to come back into fashion. I always see the gentlemen wearing these in 18th century oil paintings but in brighter colors and bigger ruffles they really become a ladies ascot.

This couldn't have been easier. With bulky yarn and a size M hook, I started with 20 double crochet stitches on the first row. Decreased for every stitch down to 10. On the third row I decreased again. Crochet even until it's just barely long enough to tie into an overhand knot around the wearer's neck and increase by double crocheting twice in each stitch for two rows and doing one row even for length. I know it's just a recipe, but I feel confident that even a beginner can follow this very very basic layout.

Day 154 and the Structure

I was going one way with this scarf before it took a turn and ended up somewhere else. I'll tell you about what I was originally planning later because it's still a potential future scarf.

I happened to be using a combination of hook and yarn which I noticed had a lot of negative work space despite the weight being a match for the hook size. Something about the structure of the yarn made every single stitch a separate entity. Seeing this, I took an opportunity to use the stitches themselves to stand in for what would otherwise require specific shaping and finishing.

The stitches stood with enough space around them that I began tapering by means of your classic double crochet decrease in order to end with a very clear point. The size and shape and stitch definition made it so I could thread the point of the resulting triangle through the very stitches as if I had designed a keyhole in the first place.

I suppose this is a clear case of the improvised doghouse outshining the heavily planned treehouse. Yes I know that's not a phrase, but I just said it; you're now free to use it!

In case you want to duplicate this scarf the basic recipe is thus: Katia Somoa Yarn and a size K crochet hook. Chain 20 and work 3 rows of double crochet (american). On the fourth row, make a decrease at the end of the row followed by 3 more rows worked even. When you only have 4 stitches, decrease every second row and tie off when only one stitch is left. I expect other woven tape style yarns would give a similar structure. If they're on the thin side, use treble crochets and decrease slightly more often.

Day 129 and Trio

Using three yarns harmoniously is an excellent way for a beginner to learn color knitting. I'm not much of a color knitter myself, and even a long time knitter like me learned something new while working on this scarf.

Take three equal thickness yarns and use one to cast on. Take the second for the first row of knitting and take the third for the second row of knitting. For each following row, knit using the next yarn in the sequence. You won't get out of sequence because setting up like this gives you only one choice of yarn to switch to.

My recipe was three worsted yarns on size 15 needles. I cast on 11 and worked in moss stitch throughout. It gave an interesting effect. Looking at the fabric from the front looked like an even mix of color. From the side looked like bumpy stripes. Most interesting of all was looking from an angle down the length because it had an illusion effect! All of the purl bumps were visible and the knit stitches disappeared and made a three colored checkerboard. I was pleasantly surprised.

The hardest part about three color one row knitting is keeping your yarns from tangling and I found that rotating your needle at the end of each row should be done in a certain sequence. Lay out the yarns with one ball on your left, one on your right and one right in the center. At the end of the row, rotate clockwise. At the end of the next row rotate clockwise. At the end of the third row, rotate counter clockwise. For every row, bring the new yarn up from behind and you'll not have any annoying tangles, or at very least, it worked for me!

Day 120 and Bubbles

I've picked up my little toy knitting machine again!

I still can't get it to make a flat panel, but I did make an interesting effect with the tube. I made it exactly as long as I wanted the scarf and then with a secondary yarn (I choose to match my color, but since you can't hardly see it, any color would be fine) and evenly spaced some running stitches. By pulling on those running stitches tightly, the tube squished up to make a very cute chain of bubbles or... well they would have looked like sausage links if it was in pink! If you were so inclined, you could even stuff those bubbles for a more substantial third dimension and a quilted feeling scarf. Call it hotdogs XD

It's a good thing I have a sense of humor or I could never live with my weird self :P

Day 109 and Endless

So you want to make a striped cowl. What's that? All those ends to darn in have you dreading it? Well, I say "WHY BOTHER??" This was a short cowl done on straight needles. Any size needle and any size yarn would work as long as you like the way they look together and as long as you plan on cutting after every single row. I knitted or purled changing the stitch on a whim and cut after each row letting the ends hang unprotected. When I was done and had bound off, I folded the whole thing in half and each of the like ends were knotted together. It created an interesting corner and by cutting the fringe on an angle it accentuated this corner.

If you don't like purling, but still want the look, do this on a circular needle and push all the stitches around. If you're fearful of the stitches coming undone, do it in the round and tie off each end as you go. If you do it in the round you could also start your new row in a random spot so that you'd have fringey ends all around your cowl. This also makes a great inexpensive project because you can dive into your stash and each row takes very little yardage.

Day 107 and the Fox

These two natural colors together remind me of the lush fur stoles that ladies used to wear back in the day though now they are politically incorrect. This one happily enough uses plant fibers and manmade fibers and is therefore animal friendly! Dare I say it, perhaps it is even more comfortable.

You'll also recognize fun fur as a part of this scarf. I was hoping to show yet another way that it can be used without being the exact same all fur scarf that beginners love and advanced yarnheads have being sadly unused. It's just enough fur to be flashy, but not so much as to be overwhelming.

The entire scarf was made with 2 strands held together. For the first row of double crochet, one strand of fur and one strand of a lovely cotton wool blend are used. For the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rows, it's 2 strands of the blend. For the final row it's once again one strand of each. Especially in crochet it's important to blend the fur with something else so the fluffiness doesn't get matted down.

Day 94 and the Escape Route

By now you're probably wondering just how much more of this blue sky with clouds fleece does this woman have?? I swear to you it was just a remnant! The fact that remnants can last so darn long is a testament to the fact that you really can find good deals in the bargain basement!

If you've ever watched a cartoon or a farce of an escape movie, and I'm sure you have, then I expect you've seen the traditional escape line of a row of bedsheets tied at the corners and used as a rope out some window somewhere. Now if I really just tied a bunch of short ends together I would have ended up with some pretty large, hard, and uncomfortable knots. Instead I used a very simple loop technique which give the illusion of knots but leaves the "knot" supple and comfortable.

First, cut a small slit near the end of each of two pieces that will be connected and place one piece on your left and one on your right.
Second, thread the left fabric through the slit in the right fabric.
Third, feed the opposite end of the right fabric through the slit in the left fabric.
Repeat all three steps in a chain until you've worked as long a scarf as you'd like. This also works very well with jersey knit (t-shirt) and anything other fabric that doesn't unravel. You could also knit or crochet pieces with a large slit or hole near the ends and weave them in the same way.

Day 71 and the Keychain

So named because I was inspired by those little leather keychains and their peculiar woven construction.

This was made of many pieces and each piece was cut in the same way. A circle was cut on a fold so that about 3 inches of the circle remained connected at the fold. If you were to open each piece it would look a bit like a sleep mask. Keep it folded and fold it in half again but in the other direction and make a cut in the center. Both layers will have a horizontal slit. Do this for all the pieces you need for as long as you'd like your scarf to be. One layer of the next piece gets threaded through both layers of the piece before it. When you have only one left, cut an additional slender length of fleece. Fold it in half and poke the fold through both layers of the final piece. Thread the loose ends through the loop to secure the final piece.

That was wordy, but some day I intend to take pictures of the step by step because it was a fun and easy scarf to make.

Day 69 and BINGO

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. This has got to be the fastest, most adorable, least messy ways to paint.

All you need is either fleece, t-shirt, or a pre-made blank scarf and a couple of bingo daubers. They're very inexpensive and you can usually find them at dollar stores for 2 to 4 to a pack. If you or someone you know plays bingo regularly just ask to borrow them! They're sure to have lots of colors to choose from. Just make sure to daub on some scrap fabric first to test how long it takes to dry, how much pressure to put on the fabric, how much it bleeds through (use some newspapers to protect your surfaces), and how the color of the fabric affects the color of the dab.

Then go to town! Get this kids involved. This would be a very fun party craft for anyone to participate in and have a keepsake to take home.

Dot Dot Dot Dot DOT!

Day 66 and Dreads

You have to be a bold and daring person for this crazy number! It looks like the longest dreadfalls you've ever seen!

This is a really quick craft/crochet scarf. It only uses chains so even if you can't crochet, you can make a scarf like this by learning the foundation chain. If you're very patient you can even finger chain and end up with the same result.

You'll need a thick and thin yarn and it's actually pretty important to find a machine made yarn. I love handspun as much as the next yarnhead, but this scarf requires a yarn that has very regular intervals of thin and thick areas.

What you want to do is cut many lengths of the yarn while lining up the slubs. Lay all the pieces side by side and use a contrasting or coordinating smooth yarn to make a chain. For every single chain that you make you must catch one strand of yarn in the back bump of the stitch. Do this until you've caught all the strands one at a time. Move on to the next section of thin segments and make another chain. Once you've done this for all the thin spots, you can go back and make more chains in the same segments until you're happy with the look. I did 3 chains in each segment and left my ends to hang as a design choice. If you want you can always weave your ends back into the chain for a marginally tidier scarf.

Day 65 and the Topsy Tail

Does anyone remember this thing? It was a tool that was mostly known in the late eighties and early nineties which was used for styling ponytails. You would make a basic ponytail, then thread your topsy tail through the tail in whatever direction pleased you. When you threaded your ponytail through the loop and pulled the tool out, you had a twisted hairdo that looked a bit like Belle from Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast.

That's where this idea came from. Twisting a piece of fleece through itself made tufts of thick areas and pinched areas that appeared smaller.

Cut a piece of fleece as long as you want and about 12 inches wide. Every 9 inches, cut a 1.5 inch slit vertically though the center of the fabric's width. When you've cut all your holes, begin doing the topsy tail maneuver. Keep the top secure so your moves stay consistent. Thread the entire scarf from front to back through the slit. Pull until it's as far through as it will go. Do this with each slit all the way down the scarf. Fluff the wider parts and enjoy!