Beth's comment + design notes

My friend Beth is one of the most organized and level-headed people I know. Read this:

"when I have to cast-on (or chain) so many stitches for a project, I often place stitch markers every 25 or 50 stitches so that I don't have to keep re-counting those beginning sections more than two or three times."

That was in response to the Madness Note at the end of the pattern in this post. I swear to you this strategy had never occurred to me. I usually just grit my teeth and try to power through and pray no one interrupts me. So um please use Beth's method, not mine, if you want further sanity preservation.

Beth also asked if crocheted scarves are usually done length-wise as opposed to width-wise. I want to say that I don't think this is the case; most of the patterns I've worked with have been width-wise. But for the both of the scarves that I've designed here, I knew that the length was more important than the width; I wanted length to be a prominent design element of each. Also, the seed stitch, which I used for Snow Angel, and its variant which I used for Frosty, are very stretchy heightwise, and less so widthwise. I wanted my scarves to be flexible and soft when wrapping around your neck, but I also knew that if they stretch lengthwise they would have a tendency to thin out in the middle, right where you need the most warmth; so for those two reasons I chose to design both of them oriented the way they are.

That's a long-winded answer, hope you like it :)

Frosty

Allow me to introduce Frosty, a new scarf design!

I am wearing this scarf right now. No, it's not that cold, but I love this scarf. It's the length that really sells it for me. It feels very stylish, and the yarn is so soft. It's the same yarn as my Snow Angel scarf, so the same yarn notes apply.

For those of you on ravelry, I hope to have both of these scarves available as free pdf downloads in the next couple of days.

A big, HUGE thanks to my wonderful pattern testers, Erin, Suzen, and Ann-Marie!

I hope you enjoy!

“Frosty” Scarf

The color of this warm winter scarf reminded me of the coal eyes of a child’s snowman. The subtle texture emphasizes the softness of the yarn and makes the scarf thick and cozy, without being too heavy.

Materials: I Love This Yarn! (distributed by Hobby Lobby) 100% acrylic, 355 yds/198

grams: 1 skein, Black. (or 350 yds other soft, bulkier-weight worsted)

M hook

N hook

yarn needle

Gauge: not really important

Finished size: about 4” x 104”

Special stitches:

Seed stitch

Seed Spike stitch (sdsp): in seed stitch pattern, dc into ch-1 sp two rows below,

overlapping sc immediately below.(note: in .pdf version, charts will be included to explain this stitch)

With M hook, ch 252 LOOSELY (see notes below). Switch to N hook.

Row 1: Sc into second ch from hook; sc into remaining ch; 251 sc.

Row 2: Ch 1 (count as 1st sc now & throughout), sc in next 2 sc, * ch 1, sk next sc, sc into next sc*, repeat from * to * until 2 sc remain, sc into each of last 2 sc. (123 ch-1 sp).

Row 3: Ch 1, sc in next sc, *ch 1, sk next sc, sc into next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 3 sc remain, ch 1, sk next sc, sc into each of last 2 sc.

Row 4: Ch 1, sc into each of next 2 sc, *dc into Row 2 ch-1 sp (sdsp made), sc into next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 2 sc remain, sc into each of next 2 sc.

Rows 5-13: Repeat Rows 2-4 three times.

Row 14: With M hook, sc in each st across. Fasten off.

Sizing note: The pattern as written will produce an extra-extra-long scarf, which is part of what I love about it. If you want to re-size it, just calculate any odd number + 5 for the base chain.

Madness note: I understand that chaining 252 without losing count can be insanity-inducing. Trust me, I know. I strongly recommend going into a room where you can shut the door (especially a sound-proof room) before attempting this. I think it’s worth the effort! And everything after this is a piece of cake in comparison.

Snow Angel

In honor of the glorious, picture-perfect snowy day we are having here in DC, I decided it was time to finally publish my first pattern!

A big thanks yet again to my tester Celeste for her help editing this pattern. I'm hoping to have this available as a Ravelry download in the next couple of days.

Please enjoy!

“Snow Angel” Scarf

With a fresh blanket of snow, the world looks clean and soft, and we get to indulge in our warmest, snuggliest clothes. I wanted to capture all of these elements of winter into one simple but luxurious scarf. The stitch pattern is warm without being dense, and the light frilling on the edges remind me of a dusting of snowflakes.

Materials: I Love This Yarn! (distributed by Hobby Lobby) 100% acrylic, 355 yds/198 grams:
1 skein, White. (or 350 yds other soft, bulkier-weight worsted; see yarn notes below)
L hook
M hook
yarn needle
Gauge: not really important for this pattern
Finished size: about 6” x 74”
Special stitch: Seed stitch (sc, ch1, sk next st, sc in following, repeat)

With L hook, chain 206 LOOSELY.* Switch to M hook.
Row 1: Sc into second ch from hook, sc in next 2 sts, *ch 1, sk next st, sc in next st*, repeat from * to * until 2 sts remain, sc into each of last sts (100 ch-1 spaces). Turn.
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in first two sts, *ch 1, sk next st, sc in next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 3 sts remain, ch 1, sk next st, sc into each of last 2 sts (101 ch-1 spaces). Turn.
Row 3: Ch 1, sc in first st, *ch 1, sk next st, sc in next ch-1 sp*, repeat from * to * until 2 sts remain, sc into each of last sts. Turn.
Rows 4-18: Repeat rows 2 and 3. Switch to L hook.
Edging: Top and bottom edges (long sides): Sc in each st. (205 sc) Ch 1 at corner, turn piece. Side edges: Sc again into corner st. (Sc, ch 1, sc) in each st along side edge (18 ch-1 sp). Ch 1 at corner, turn piece. At fourth corner, fasten off.
*Note: This pattern can be made longer or shorter, depending on your preference; ch any multiple of 2 and follow pattern as directed.
**Yarn note: The I Love This Yarn is actually quite a nice acrylic; very soft and definitely on the bulkier side of worsted, although it doesn't feel "heavy." Feel free to substitute your own favorite yarn that is lofty and squishy without being weighty; the texture of the pattern definitely benefits from the wider gauge of the yarn.

Full Disclosure

The heat index was 98 degrees when we took these photos yesterday. And yes, I was miserable.

But I had bought a spot in the Etsy Fall Fashion Showcase so I needed some Fall things up. I was patient with DC weather for two weeks; the mercury was slowly dropping into the pleasant high 60's, and then...well, Summer hadn't finished tormenting us yet apparently.
(You'll notice that if it were actually as cold as that scarf would merit, my legs and feet would be frostbitten, but I refused to walk outside in knee-high boots in the 80% humidity...)

Just looking at these pictures makes me crave Fall. Please please please, have mercy on me, Climate!

I've been a busy girl

I promise.

I've been crocheting up a storm, not to mention my little 10-day jaunt to the UK (oh how fabulous). But I've somehow met all of my project goals, and over Labor Day weekend finished up everything I wanted to have finished up.

After learning elann.com is discontinuing the glittery-fab yarn I made scarves out of, I frantically bought up a couple of bags full and made a few more scarves; I'm saving the rest for something bigger later. Got photos of the new colors, and re-did the old color so everything would be uniform:

Those are up on etsy starting today.

I also finished a slew of hats for the fall, and did a photo shoot of those on Sunday with my best guy friend, I really can't wait to see how those come out.

AND, I finished up a prototype of a new scarf design for fall, which I'm really really excited about. In that way that one gets excited when an idea actually turns out as cool as it was meant to be, which I'm discovering only happens about 20% of the time with me so I'm really trying to savor it ;) So I'll be making a few scarves as soon as the yarn gets here. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a little bit of "fun" crocheting for the first time in...a while. And by fun I mean the afghan I started for my grandma for Christmas. A full-size afghan in three months on top of all of the other million projects I'm anticipating? No sweat (eeeek)

I found something really exciting this morning. In my etsy store I'd been getting a whole lot of un-looked-for hearts, and I didn't see myself in a treasury so I couldn't figure it out, until I saw this scroll across the bottom of the front page. Holy. Cow. I squealed, at work. Fortunately I was the only person in the office at the time. I am so so so flattered and excited. Geez. It's not on the front page any more, but STILL. Holy cow.