Day 212 and Free Wardrobe

I'm thrifty. I'm cheap. I'm frugal. No matter how you look at it, I don't much care for spending money. This scarf is a testament to the fact that sometimes you really CAN get something from nothing or at very least almost nothing.

This was made from one of those orange emergency blankets that wouldn't be of any use in an emergency because they're thin as sheets anyway. They are, however, ridiculously huge so the yardage is admirable and it's jersey so it doesn't fray or ravel.

Cut yourself a piece no shorter than 3 yards and no more slender than 16 inches.

Grab yourself a mannequin or a dress dummy or a willing friend and start tying. Be creative! Be Crazy! Be daring! Amaze yourself with what you come up with and when you've found something you like, take it apart and do it three or four more times so you'll be able to recreate it on yourself.

Granted, making a scarf bodice does take a certain kind of courage as not every woman is ready to show off her every curve and most of these bodices are on the provocative side. Go on. Take a chance. My favorite is this one and is tied as such:

Center your scarf across your abdomen. The left end should come up from behind your right shoulder and the right end should come up from behind your left shoulder so that they criss cross at the back. Tuck both ends into the portion lying across your abdomen and tighten and adjust until you feel comfortable. (This one happens to have the most coverage. Maybe that's why it's my favorite.)

Day 211 and Fire Hazard

I learned today that trying to do crewel embroidery on crocheted fabric is ... well, it's folly. I'm a little bit ashamed of the end result. You can't even tell it's a fire hazard logo except for the fact that you read the title. I suppose a much smaller gauge would have helped me out a lot, but you live, you learn. Right? Right. I probably should have gone with something a little less detailed like an initial.

Anyway, what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to try something because it might not turn out. As with most yarn crafts, you can always just tear it back apart and try again another time.

Day 210 and Playaway

Anyone who knows me, knows I like to have my literature read to me. It's not that I don't like reading, I do! It's just that ever since Kevin started reading bedtime stories to me every night, I've realized the joy of the audio book.

I can knit and "read" at the same time! If I'm on the go, the cord does get in my way a little bit so I made a nice unisex basketweave design cowl and on the inside made a garter stitch rectangle that was just big enough to hold a music player and the wound up cord. Upload all the stories, listen on the go, stay warm. I love it.

Day 209 and Neons

This yarn was ugly ugly ugly on the ball. I can't even describe to you how badly it clashed and burned my retinas. That's saying a lot, mind you, considering I generally like a little bit of clashing! Well as it happens even the worst color combinations can be made attractive by picking the right color to break it up a little bit.

In this case flat black was exactly what was needed to make this go from princess barf to radical 80s inspired neons. In addition, because the second yarn added so much thickness, it worked up so fast! A border on each end to contain the gnarly and three matching colors, but mismatched sized buttons gave it just a little detail. Oh how I wish I had had a couple different shapes in these colors. The 80s effect would have been perfect. Happily, changing a button can always be done later on, so there's no reason for me to sweat it.

Day 208 and Wolf

Red riding hood was a helpless little girl, but the wolf was an ambitious go-getter. Can anyone really fault him for going after his goals? After all, hunger was in his nature.

Hungry for a new kind of project, I started thinking sideways. What are some other things that go around the neck besides scarves and cowls and lariats? Well hoods for one. They go over the head when being worn, but they hang around the neck and shoulders when pulled back. When you think about it, hoods are just cowls that reach a little further. A hood is also among the easiest things to make and require almost no measuring.

Get yourself a tape measure and drape it over your head. Pull it tightly so the ends meet at about the center of your sternum (chest bone). This gives you enough ease, drape and freedom to move comfortably when it's ready to wear. Pick a yarn and a set of needles and make a swatch. Count the number of stitches per inch in your swatch, multiply by the number of inches you measured over your head and cast that many onto a circular needle. I made the first and last 5 stitches garter for a nice flat edge around the face and worked in stockinette for the rest for a laid back and relaxed look. After about 5 inches of knitting, fold the cast on edge in half and sew it together. With the fabric still on the needles try it on. If it seems perfect on the needles, you need at least 1 more inch of stitching (the cable of the needle gives the fabric more stability than it would have on its own which is what the extra inch of stitching is for). In the end I needed about 10 inches of fabric before I was happy with the depth and cast off. For a closure, this is a great place for a pin or a shawl stick or a frog closure. A Cardigan pin clip would be perfect for this project! If you want to add a button flap, cast off except for the last 3 inches and knit a few rows, add your buttonhole in the center and stitch another few rows. Place your button and be on your way.

Use this recipe as a base for other projects too. The hood could easily be added to a cardigan in place of the collar to make your own hoodie as well as to a full sized scarf or a capelet.

I hope to write a more detailed pattern and add it to ravelry's databases in the future.

Day 207 and Bias

Interesting things happen when your ribbing doesn't match up. For example, if you continuously shift your ribbing pattern one stitch to the right every other row, you get this diagonal illusion without ever having to do a single k2tog. Knit and Purl patterns are excellent for beginners because of the vast range of effects with only 2 stitches. Not only that, personalized patterns are easy to write with just some grid paper and a pencil. Take the time to search out knitting graph paper if you can get it since knit stitches are a little bit wider than they are tall. This way you'll have to do a lot less fudging with your pattern while it's on the needles and can concentrate on just easy fast knitting.

Day 206 and Caught

I think it looks like a fishnet, but who knew a fishnet could be so stylish. I changed it up a little bit by using my own koolaid yarn in two shades split just about down the center. The colors play nicely together. It's very important to use natural yarn for something like this. The mesh really does require blocking to look its best and wools and wool blends make the process much easier.

This is a very basic double treble (American) mesh with a chain 3 space. If you need more detailed instructions, head over to this site and check it out! Lilibeth's Garden

Day 205 and Chameleon

Knitting and crochet cross paths in many different ways. For this scarf, I looked at broomstick pace and figured there surely was a way to easily duplicate it with knitting.

It's not hard, but the first time you work the twisted stitches work slowly and be careful not to drop the yarn overs too soon or on the wrong stitch.

I used size 19 needles with a mohair blend, but as long as your needle is at least 2 sizes longer than you'd normally use with a particular yarn, it will look nice.

Cast on 16 (or any multiple of 4)
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: *Yo, K1* repeat across
The tricky row! Row 4: *(Knit 4 together, YO, Knit 4 together, Purl 4 together) all into the same 4 stitches* repeat across.

Repeat these 4 rows until you have the desired length of your scarf. For added interest I choose to make the first and last specialty stitch row with larger loops.

Alternate Row 4: *(Knit 4 together, YO, Knit 4 together, YO) all into the same 4 stitches* repeat to last 4 grouping in which you will (knit 4 together, YO, Knit 4 together, Purl 4 together).

Day 204 and Afghan

I'm new to this technique so it looks pretty raw, but one has to start somewhere -- am I right?

Tunisian crochet, also known as afghan crochet, seems to me like a cross between knitting and crocheting. You work with a long stick like a knitting needle but it has a hook at the end like a crochet hook. The fabric is thick, warm, and tends to curl a little bit so blocking is helpful. I can understand why it would be useful as afghans because the fabric is so hearty. There are plenty of videos on youtube as well as pictorial instructions all over the web so it's work a shot if you're a happy hooker.

I did a basic keyhole construction here by stitching until it was a nice length, making a gigantic vertical button hole and finishing when I felt the cut end would be about the same length as the pull through end when worn. No real instructions here, sorry!!! I think this is the sort of scarf that everyone should learn to improvise in order to make oneself more versatile. Good luck!

Day 203 and Bacon

Kevin insisted on the title. I caved.

Anyway, having already dabbled in moebius knitting, I figured there was a crochet version. In fact crocheting a moebius is even easier than knitting because crochet offers the benefit of working in any direction since every stitch stands alone. All I did was chain a length I wanted and gave it a twist before single crocheting in every chain starting at the slip knot end. Upon arriving at the beginning of the round, I kept moving forward but into the bottom bumps of the original chain. After that, it was all stitch for stitch and they always faced me.

I suspect that doing patterns in moebius crochet might be a little trickier and I'll have to give it a try!

Day 202 and Hot

It's hot today. So hot the two cheapskates that live in this apartment (us) actually turned on the air conditioning for a whole hour. Now most people would say that's nothing and will run the AC day in and day out, but we're a different breed of person. We're old fashioned, cheap, climate change believers, and stubborn. We'll put up with a LOT before we bend to something as trivial as a little sweat.

There's NO WAY anyone in their right mind would wear a scarf on a day as hot as this. Maybe this one. It's a piece of lace. One yard by eighteen inches with a cut in the center. I took some crochet thread and worked around the cut edge with single crochet stitches for a more finished look. It weighs nothing, it feels like nothing, but it's so darn pretty. Even on this ridiculously hot day, it would be useful for someone who would like a little more on than just a tank top.

Day 201 and X

Ah, embroidery. It takes so many forms and this form happens to be cross-stitch. Before I learned to knit, cross-stitching was my preferred form of domestic art. I'm now a yarn convert, but every now and then, it's fun and relaxing to visit my roots.

Here we have a very plain, very blank, very boring, very inexpensive scarf which can be found at any dollar store in America. Not much of a statement the way it is, but it does offer a very large canvas! Depending on the size of the design of you're cross-stitching, it might be prudent to purchase some waste canvas which is an even-weave fabric that can be used as your grid and then pulled away one thread at a time when the design is finished.

For this project, I picked out a couple of skull designs from Makoto's Cross-stitch Super Collection and since they're a little bit punk and a little bit funky, I went ahead and pictured the grid in my head. I had waste canvas on hand, but I rather like the slightly uneven look for these two motifs. Since the background fabric isn't on a grid of it's own, you could rotate each design in any direction at all if you so chose. Just remember that the thicker and denser your material, the sharper your needle needs to be. This scarf was a thin woven fleece and I got away with using a blunt embroidery needle. If I had been working on a herringbone fabric or through more than one layer, I would definitely have needed a sharp crewel needle and a thimble to save my little piggies.

Day 200 and Bruges

Bruges lace is a crochet technique which appears much simpler than it is. A simple strip like this sure enough is easy, but just google "Bruges lace" and the complex ways you can join as you go will astound you. I'm not sure I can do the fancy stitches, but I can certainly get the basic ribbon going.

There are a bunch of ways to do this and any smooth stitch with loops at each end can be used as a base.

Mine is like this:
Chain 13, DC into the 7th chain from hook and each of the next 6.
*Chain 7, DC once into each of the 6 DCs of the previous row* until you have the length you want.

If you want to make pretty patterns you have to plan ahead and join the chains at the appropriate time. I'll need some practice before I get

Day 199 and Crowned

This was a very very simple slender cowl with a border, but after finishing the top half of the border, I couldn't help but see a crown in the design. Coincidentally it's a snug cowl and also fits perfectly around the ears so it does double duty.

Size J hook
Worsted weight yarn
tapestry needle

Base--
Chain 7. DC into 4th chain from hook and next 3 chains (5 sts)
*Chain 3, DC into the second stitch and next 3 stitches* until you've made 39 rows in total or until the length will comfortably fit around the head. Tie off and sew the beginning chain to the final row to form a loop.

Border--
Row 1: Slip stitch around any DC and chain one. Single crochet around the length of the loop 64 times. Slip stitch to join the round.
Row 2: Chain 3, DC into the same stitch, chain 4 and make a picot by slip stitching into the first of the 4 chains you just made. DC twice more into the same stitch. Skip 4 chains. *DC twice into the next stitch, Make a picot, Dc twice into the same stitch, Skip 4 chains* Repeat to the end of the round making a slip stitch to connect the round in the 3rd chain of the beginning of the round.
Tie of ends.

Repeat the border on the opposite side of the loop.

If you like the crown look and want to make an earwarmer instead, complete the first border but on the second side only complete round 1 so as to give a neat edge.

Day 198 and Better Beginner

I do enjoy teaching someone a new craft technique. Very occasionally, a friend will ask me for help and I can always tell when they are looking for some immediate satisfaction. Now as much as I appreciate the good old standby of the garter stitch scarf, I'm always a little bit bothered that it can look so very unprofessional on the edges for a beginner with no experience in tensioning the yarn.

This scarf is the solution to that problem. The edges will look much more professional when there are incorporated i-cords on each edge. They're made as you knit so there won't even be any extra ends to weave in. This is a technique that's been around forever, but here's the basic recipe:

Any yarn you like.
Any needle that gives the type of fabric you like.
Tapestry needle.

Cast on any number of stitches but no less than 10.
Every Row: Knit across to the last 4 stitches. Bring the yarn forward between the needles. Slip the remaining stitches to the right needle. Turn the work.

Because the stitches at each end are worked out of order by way of slipping the stitches and the working yarn coming from four stitches in instead of the end of the row, any uneven stitches can easily be massaged away in the final project.

The scarf you see pictured used Caron One Pound worsted acrylic and size 15 needles over 12 stitches.

Day 197 and Cards

Does anyone remember in grade school when your friend or sometimes the teacher would show you a geometry trick. Of course you didn't know it was a geometry trick at the time and even when the trick was complete you weren't particularly impressed by it. Anyway, you would be shown a playing card and told that it could be made big enough to fit over your head (or, if the cutter was particularly skilled, your entire body). I still remember that little trick being the nerd that I am and by making the cuts in this piece of fleece wider and shorter I got a very interesting result.

Drapes!

Big drapes with pointed ends that hang below bib level and if hung properly look rather stylish. I used half a yard of fabric and my cuts were very short and very few indeed. I don't think I made a cut longer than about 5 inches and including cutting the fold I only used the scissors 4 times.

If you've never seen the playing card trick, check out this link with pictures to the oldie but goodie math trick.

Day 196 and Gryffindor

Everyone (in English speaking countries at least) knows that today at midnight (last night) the final installment of the Harry Potter movie series was released. I am completely unashamed to admit I was there and I teared up a bit and a scene or two.

This Gryffindor inspired scarf was a crocheted version of the second movie style scarf. Large crochet stitches made it very fast and easy and since the alternating rows were only one row wide, it was easy to carry the color along the side just for those three rows. Construction is essentially the same as a scarf I did months ago but with smaller stitches and a very specific color pattern.

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 193 and Mixed Berries

Kevin named this one for me. Sometimes I show him progress on a particular scarf and he just shouts something out. Sometimes I agree with him!!

Anyway, this would be a good candidate for a scrap scarf. I happened to have five colors that looked nice together, but any number of different colors would make a fascinating piece.

You'll need:
Size M or size N crochet hook.
At least 3 oz. Worsted weight yarn which will be held double throughout.
Tapestry needle is NOT necessary! (This thrills me.)

Every single stripe has not only the yarn tails as fringe, but also a slight chain length which acts as part of the fringe. It creates the illusion of a much wider scarf as well as the illusion of a more substantial fringe. Of course, if you're a fringe enthusiast, there's no reason you couldn't add even more fringe after the fact.

All abbreviations are American.
The beginning section:
-Chain 15.
-Double crochet into the fourth chain from the hook as well as the next 5 chains.
-Chain 6, cut your yarn leaving about 4 inches and tie off.

All following sections:
-Chain 6.
-With the fringe on the right, SC once into each of the 5 DCs and once into the top of the turning chain.
-Chain 3 and turn. Skip the first stitch and DC once into each of the next 5 DCs.
-Chain 6, cut your yarn leaving about 4 inches and tie off.

Repeat these sections for as many stripes as you'd like until you have the length you'll enjoy. Trim the fringe so that it's even if you like or leave the lengths uneven. If you're really an overachiever and have a sense of fun, consider each of the chain tails a place to attach a pompom or a tassel or even a large bead or button. There's definitely room to use your imagination here!

Day 192 and Shy Lace

You can't even tell, but this is a one row lace pattern. Every single row has yarn overs and decreases, but they overlap in such a way as to create a thick hollow fabric with lots of air pockets to keep you very very warm in the winter. The Super Fast Ultra Cozy scarf is available on the sage yarn blog.

I think it's important to read around. I can't always comment either because I feel awkward commenting on a 2 year old post or because I'm pressed for time or don't have an account on the blog site, but I sure do appreciate everyone else out there in the creative community. As a whole, we keep each other going.

191 and Sandart

Am I doomed to use scraps until I save up enough cash for more yarn? Maybe. It's not necessarily a bad thing. I do find the necessary innovation exciting. I do find the color combinations surprising a fun. I also can't wait to have something matchy matchy! It's a gift and a curse.

I did have enough of the sandy color to carry throughout the entire scarf (clearly the namesake) and enough of a rainbow of other colors for one row each. With a large gauge, the color scheme couldn't have been quicker and simpler.

Day 190 and Itty Bitties

See because itty means small and bitty means old lady and these you see are tiny little granny squares! Since I'm amazingly averse to seaming, I slip stitched these together as I went just like I did the flowers yesterday. As much as I hate sewing in ends, I bet I could finish an entire afghan with this method.

Day 189 and Wildflowers

Sometimes all you need is a single common color to make everything else look like it goes together. For a field of wildflowers, it's usually the green grass or yellow wheat all around it. For this hexagonal flower scarf, I made all of the many colored flowers match just by making the center section the same color for all of them.

Find yourself this book: Beyond the Square, Crochet Motifs and use Motif number 36 to make this scarf. The great thing about slightly pointed hexagonal motifs is that you only have 4 points of connection. This means that you can slip stitch your motifs together as you go and only 2 points are attached at any one time. It's fast, it's easy and it's satisfying to be able to make all the motifs and not sew anything together at the end. I'm not sure I can work any other way!

Day 188 and Rosie

Some things take practice. I made a similar flower lariat with lace a few months ago, but this one looks WAY better. Last time, the vines went through the center of the flower. This time behind and it's such an improvement.

I have very little doubt, I'll try a similar thing at least once more because even now there are improvements that could be made.

Day 187 and Cities

I made this cowl to work with a Harry Potter ravelry game prompt about fairy tales. It represents a very stylized and simplistic skyline.

I used the story of the 2 frogs which summarizes as such:
Once there were two frogs. One lived in Osaka and one in Kyoto and at the same time they both decided that they'd like to see what was over the mountain that separated the cities. They met at the top of the mountain and each confided their desires to the other.

One frog said to his friend, "There's no need for us to wait to see what is over the mountain. Let's hold each other's arms and stand up on our legs and we'll be able to see farther." When they did, their bodies faced the wrong direction because frogs eyes are of course on top of their heads. Seeing an identical city to the one they left, both frogs disappointedly decided not to continue their journey. "If I had known the city over the mountain was so similar, I wouldn't have traveled on this journey," they each said not knowing they only saw their own city in reverse.

I suppose the moral of the story is that you don't really know what's over the mountain until you travel the entire way. What you see from afar is quite different than what you see firsthand. That's what I got out of it at least. I'm on the simple side, though, so if you have another interpretation, I'd love the insight! :)

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 185 and America

I hail from the United States of America. There's no hiding the fact that we are a very proud people (maybe a little too much). So Happy American Independence Day!

America
Size K crochet hook
Worsted weight yarn in three colors of your choice (about 1 oz each)
Tapestry needle

Part 1
Chain 147
DC into 4th chain from hook. DC 5. * Skip 3 ch, DC 7, (DC, Ch3, DC) all in next stitch, DC7* Repeat to the end of the row including the partial repeat at the end.

Part 2
Chain 147
DC into 4th chain from hook. DC3. *Skip 3 ch, DC 7, (DC, Ch3, DC) all in next stitch, DC7*
Repeat to the end of the row including the partial repeat at the end.

Part 3
Chain 147
DC into 4th chain from hook. DC 5. *(DC, ch3, DC) all in next stitch, DC7, Skip 3 ch, DC7*
Repeat to the end of the row including the partial repeat at the end.

You'll notice that all of the pieces have the exact same pattern, but with the repeat started at a different spot. The three strips will braid together and lay flat because of the built in bend.

Choose one fo the three colors for the slender border and attach it with a slip stitch to a point of the same color. Chain 4, SC into the next exposed corner. Repeat this all the way around including the ends of the scarf where instead of working the SC into a corner, you'll be working it around the End DC or the chain which represents a DC. Sew in all your ends and be proud.

Day 184 and Incognitowl

Inspired of course by the very popular pattern available on ravelry called Owls, I as well as many others have seen fit to use the single owl motif as a fun insert pattern! It's so amazing that a certain arrangement of cables can have so much personality.

Day 183 and Turkey

Happy Halfway Point!!!
Only 182 scarves to go!

It's strange to describe this stitch pattern because it's as easy as it is tricky! Experienced knitters will recognize it right away as either the Turkish stitch or the purse stitch. As best I understand, the two stitches are very subtly different, but perhaps that's a different scarf.

Cast on any multiple of two stitches (I used 16 stitches) using a sport weight yarn and size 15 needles. I highly recommend a plant material for this one. Cotton, bamboo, hemp, and linen will all make a very airy summer scarf that will be easy to clean and maintain the wide lace holes while it's being worn.

Every row is as follows: *K2tog, YO* repeat to the end of the row.

If you're wondering what makes this tricky, keep in mind that the very last stitch of every row is a yarn over. If you set this scarf down, it's entirely likely that the yarn over will have fallen off. Check your work before each row and wrap that yarn once more around the needle if the YO has gone missing. You'll know at a glace if you have the correct set up because the first stitch on the needle will NOT have a stitch below wrapped around it.

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.