Crocheted Scarves With Horizontal and Vertical Designs

The final pieces of my granddaughter's winter present are complete. I began the accessory project with coordinated hats and mittens late December after we sat next to each other at my husband's birthday dinner. I was happpy to crochet pieces in her favorite colors,  Although I completed the scarves a couple of weeks ago, I waited to publish this post when I learned that my granddaughters would visit this weekend.

I initially planned to design and crochet one scarf (horizontal) that included the colors blue, white, pink and green that would coordinate with the hat I presented in my previous post.  However, as I began to look at the styling options I knew that I had to try out a vertical option as well. The horizontal scarf was best matched with the predominantly white hat.  The vertical scarf matched best with the blue  Which would my granddaughter choose?

---

Several of my friends in my knitting and crocheting group suggested a 48 inch scarf that would tie up easily and not interfere with the activities of an active 8 year old.  However, I decided to check with my granddaughter, as I believed that she would want a longer style that could be wrapped around or looped in a more teen-like fashion. Since my subject is 4'8" tall (56 inches), I added another 4 " for a total of 60 "  The resulting scarf is my own creation in a color-block design.

The Horizontal Colorblock Scarf begins with a chain of 27 stitches using worsted weight yarn  and an I hook (5.5 mm).  Once I made a Half Double Crochet Stitch (HDC) in the second chain from the hook, I had 26 stitches. I maintained that count throughout the length of the scarf.  I planned to have a longer block of blue in the beginning and a contrasting section of pink at the end of the scarf so that the different contrasting colors would present when the scarf was tied or wrapped around.    

​

The sequence for my original scarf pattern runs as follows:
15" blue
15" white
1 1/4 "blue
​5" green
1 1/4 blue
5" pink
1 1/4" blue
5"pink
1 1/4"blue
5"green
15" green
The blue strips between the colors were about 4 rows of HDC. When the scarf was completed, I added a border of 3 rows:  white, green, and blue HDC.  The border finished the piece and evened out the edges.The completed scarf measured 7 1/2" in width and 60+" in length.  For the simple wrap around scarf I left the scarf open.  However, for the looped style, I folded the scarf in half lengthwise.

As I wanted better control over the width of the scarf for a variety of styling options,  I searched for a pattern that could be crocheted lengthwise.  Then additional rows could be added until I reached the desired width.  The Candy Stitch Scarf explained in a YouTube video by Nati Crochet fit the bill. Al;though the scarf crocheted in the video was crocheted in a single off-white hue, I wanted to incorporate all of the colors from the blue hat. Using a medium worsted yarn, Twist from Joanne's Fabric, I chained about 240 stitches in blue to reach a length of about 60 inches.The next row and the final row were crocheted in HDC.  To achieve the bumpy texture of the Candy Stitch, each  color had to be done in two rows, creating a definite right and wrong side.The Candy Stitch is a variation of the HDC that calls for slipping the hook into 2 stitches in the row below before pulling though 3 loops onto the hook.                                          

The demonstration on the video is clear and easy to follow  I definitely recommend taking the time to view the presentation before starting the project.   I was  totally pleased with the end result.  My granddaughter felt likewise and immediately chose the blue hat and vertical scarf.  The Candy Stitch will definitely remain in my stitch repertoire as I consider future projects. Tassels can be attached to decorate a shorter version of the scarf.  Her younger sister was also pleased with the white hat and the Horizontal Colorblock scarf.

Both girls are delightful models, They smiled broadly in their new pieces as they continued to indulge their Gram Gram who places their photos in her LilCreates blog.

​Thank you for your reflections and feedback.  I welcome you to join me on my stitching journey.