Crochet- French for that warm fuzzy feeling... or frustration

 Technically, it comes from the French word for "hook." I think my translation is much more accurate, though.

At least a year ago, possibly two, I gave my step-daughter a skein of yarn and a crochet hook to make herself a scarf. Yesterday, whilst cleaning her room, she found it. The 3 rows she'd completed, but since she dropped a few stitches per row, it had to be pulled out and started over for about the 4th time. Watching her agonizing effort was too painful (see- frustration). And since she, and her classmates, have recently discovered she has quite an amazing singing voice, she really needs this scarf to take care of her vocal chords during the coming winter months.

So I thought I'd get her started, and let her finish it, but then changed my mind and finished it myself. I'll give her a pattern for a hat (probably from this site) so she can still practice her crochet skillz.

The first step to starting a crochet pattern is to pick out your yarn. There are so many different types of yarn on the market that it can be a little overwhelming. If this is your first time attempting crochet, I highly suggest staying away from the more decorative yarns, like eyelash. They look really neat, but can drive even veteran crocheters into psychosis.

Instead, go for a medium thick yarn, a medium hook, and a medium soda. Nothing's worse than having to stop what you're doing every 5 minutes to use the bathroom.

 Anyway, start by looping your yarn over your hook.

Like so.

 Now, hook the strand that's behind the other strand and pull it through the loop. You now have a knot.

 If not a knot, you picked the wrong thread. Try again.

Make sure the "tail" is several inches long so you can weave it through your work later, or turn it into fringe.

 Now, with the long thread (the one attached to the ball or skein), hook around it and pull it through the loop. Continue making these chain stitches until it's as wide/long as you want it to be.

The trick is to make the loops uniform in size. They should be able to move freely on your hook but not be loose.

 When you've got it as long/wide as you want, you can begin to crochet. I'm doing a double crochet because it makes for a more open design which, contrary to logic makes for a warmer scarf. It also adds more length to your stitches in fewer rows, good news for sufferers of carpal tunnel. Darn you data entry job!

Please note, I'm right handed. The pictures show me working with my left hand. It's because I can only take pictures with my right hand, so I'm just holding the piece with my left hand.

 Loop the long thread over your hook, back to front.

 Put your hook through the first loop in the row that you're adding onto.

 Loop the long thread around your hook again.

 And pull through the loop from the previous row, thereby connecting the stitch.

You should now have 3 loops on your hook.

 Hook the long thread again.

 Pull through the first 2 loops on your hook.

You should now have 2 loops on your hook.

(I feel a bit like Dr. Seuss.)

 Hook that long thread once again.

 And pull through the 2 loops.

Now you have 1 loop on your hook, and it should look like how you started, except one space to the left.

 Continue until the end of the row. At the end of each row you need to do 2 chain stitches (like how we started) in order to give the yarn space to go to the next row. If you don't, that's when it starts getting narrower as you continue to work.

We're doing 2 chain loops because we're doing a double crochet. If you're doing a single crochet, you only need to do one chain stitch. Pretty easy to remember the rule, not as easy to remember to actually do it. I make a blanket that went from 150 stitches to about 40 before I unravelled the whole thing and started over again!

 One.

 Two.

 Now, flip your work over, and do the next row.

 Make sure you get the first stitch in each row in the last stitch of the previous row.

Second stitch means your work will narrow as you go on.

Hooking into the chain loop will mean in will widen, and also curve in a peculiar manner.

I love how that sounds: peculiar manner. I think I need to add it to my daily repertoire.

 Now I could describe every stitch, but then I'd loose what few readers I have. Some of you would delete me from your bookmark list (what do you mean you haven't bookmarked me?!?! I'll wait while you do). Some of you would slip into a coma. Still, others of you might die from boredom, and I don't want that on my conscience.

I treasure each and every one of you.

Wipe your tears and keep going.

Ta-da! A warm wonderful scarf.

 You can stop here if you so choose. Well, almost. Weave that loose end into the work with your hook to hide it. Then you can stop.

A pretty straight end scarf.

 Or you can embellish! The only limit is your imagination. That goes for everything. In fact, why not add different color stripes to your scarf by using different color or variegated yarn. I did this one all in black because it's for my step-daughter to wear to school and it has to be black for uniform purposes (BLAH!).



Thank you to Steve for taking the pictures, and thank you to my little boy for handing me my strands of yarn (that's the belly button behind me).

Remember to cut your strands longer than you want them. You can shorten it later, but making it longer is not a happening thing.

Working one at a time, fold a strand in half, put your hook through a loop in the end of the scarf, then hook the fold in the strand and pull it partway through the loop.

 Then, with your hook still in the new loop formed by your fringe, hook the loose ends and pull through.

Pull the knot tight.

Continue.

Until you have as much fringe as you want.

 I think I wore my assistant out.

 Look! Fringe!

It's much too long, and uneven. Believe it or not, that's a good thing.

Because now you can trim it to a good length and straighten it out.

Lovely warmness for winter!

Feel free to add buttons, charms, beads, etc. to really personalize your new scarf. Afterall, that's the fun part!