Hooked on Needles

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Crocheted Scarves for Special Olympics

I have finished my second crocheted scarf for the Special Olympics and I love the Red Heart Delft Blue and White combination. The scarves are quick to work up too so I got some pretty instant gratification. I'm not usually a fringe kind of person, especially on something like an afghan which will be up around my face, but I thought these scarves would look nice with fringe, so I put some on and discovered something in the process.

Here's how I did it:



Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfAfter finishing this scarf, crocheted entirely in the half double crochet stitch, I worked a single crochet stitch border around the whole thing, working one stitch into the end of each row along the sides. Across the two short ends, I worked one single crochet then a chain stitch, then worked another single crochet into the second stitch from the hook and then another chain all the way across. This left nice little holes into which I knotted my fringe.

I got my supplies together which included a very large (size N I think) plastic crochet hook, my latch hook which I had never used for fringe before, my scissors, my white yarn and something to wind it around to make the fringe. That happened to be the plastic packaging in which some linen fabric came. It was sturdy and just the right size for the fringe I wanted on this scarf.


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfI wanted white fringe on this scarf so I wrapped my white yarn around the plastic 4 times, with the beginning and end of the yarn at the bottom. I held all strands together at the bottom then snipped right through all the loops, at the bottom only.


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfThen I took the 4 lengths of yarn off the plastic from the top which was the middle of the lengths. I folded the yarn at the middle and hooked all 4 pieces with my big crochet hook that I had put from back to front through one of the holes on the end of the scarf.


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfI pulled the loop through the hole just enough to open it up and draw the ends of the yarn through the loop.


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfThen I tightened up the loop against the edge of the scarf and one fringe bundle was complete. Pretty easy. And pretty looking too!


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfI decided to try my latch hook instead of the big crochet hook to see how that would work and I was quite surprised. I grabbed the middle of the yarn with the hook and pulled it through the hole.


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfThen grabbed the tails of the yarn and pulled them through the loop with no problem at all. In fact it was much easier using the latch hook than the crochet hook mainly because the latch hook has that little latch that closes over the yarn so it doesn't slip out of the hook and goes through the loop very easily. I had heard of others using a latch hook for fringe, but I always thought the many lengths of yarn would be too thick for a latch hook. I was glad I tried it!


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfSo this is a close-up of the scarf I put the long white fringe on. It is worked widthwise in half double crochet stitch throughout and has three 2-row stripes of white towards each end of the scarf. The white and blue yarns were carried up the side of the piece between stripes as shown in this tutorial, so I only had a few ends to work in after I was finished. I also worked a single crochet border around the scarf using the blue yarn. This was mainly to crochet over the yarn ends and the yarn that was carried up the side for the color changes. It just makes the finished product look neater.


Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfThis scarf was crocheted lengthwise using the woven stitch, one of my all-time favorites! The colors were carried up the side in this scarf as well so there were only two ends of each color to weave in afterwards. The fringe covered up where the yarn was carried up the side since it was on the short end. The short fringe on this one was worked in blue and white to match the stripes.

Special Olympics Crocheted ScarfThese scarves were fun and quick projects to make and I hope the special athletes who receive them will wear them with pride throughout the games and beyond.


Happy Stitching!



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1 Comments:

  • Thank you for the tutorial and patterns. Fringe is one thing I can't seem to get right. It's usually uneven, for the most part on my projects,or I have to work REALLY hard to get it right. I hope one day to use your tutorial so I can get that fringe right. I like the look of your fringe.

    Thanks again for sharing all of your talent. It's very appreciated!

    Regards.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At December 11, 2009 at 6:55 AM  

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