crochet scarf

Late last month I gave my sister a fall themed birthday gift that included two homemade projects. Last week I shared the first part of the gift which was a small polymer clay pumpkin container. It's a cute little keepsake that will hold her tiny treasures and remind her that it's fall. 

The next part of the gift I made her is a crochet infinity (or not) scarf to keep her warm on chilly fall days. The pattern for the scarf came from this lovely book on crochet. 

I highly recommend The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stroller if you want to learn crochet. When I was starting out my nose was constantly in this book. The instructions are very straightforward and easy to follow. 

The pattern I used is actually for a bolero jacket called short 'n sweet. It is a popular pattern among crocheters. I've used the pattern to crochet a few different projects so I'm pretty familiar with the stitches. I made the jacket as a Christmas gift for my mom a couple of years ago and then used the same stitches to start this ginormous blanket that I'm pretty sure I'm going to take apart. 

I didn't mean to make it this monstrously long but after working on this blanket I had the intricate lace pattern completely memorized.

Although the scarf I made for my sister is much smaller than the blanket above, it brought on a new batch of challenges. It was the first project I had completed with very thin yarn and a tiny hook.

It took some getting used to but I really love how it came out.

Once I got the body of the scarf to the right length I added a finishing border of single crochet. My original plan was to attach the edges making it an infinity scarf but after some consideration I decided to crochet a spot at the ends for functioning buttons. This way my sister can choose to wear it as a traditional scarf or as an infinity scarf. Plus I thought the buttons would be a nice finishing detail.

But before I could sew the buttons on I had other ideas for this scarf. I love the yellow thread, and it is appropriate for fall, but because my sister is blonde I figured a darker color might suit her better.

And just like that it was dark brown! The buttons I picked out are covered in a white fabric. I wanted them to stay that way so I had to wait until I was finished dying the scarf before I could sew the on.

Once they were attached I was finished! It's so satisfying to finish a project and have it come out pretty closely to how I imagined. I hope she loves it as much as I loved making it!