free pattern friday: the glamour scarf

Ah, free stuff! In the ongoing quest to de-commercialize my little universe, I am going to start offering free patterns on occasional Fridays. Not every Friday, mind you, but every so often. It will be a fun surprise. Plus I like the way it sounds: Free Pattern Friday. Doesn't it have a nice ring to it?

So here's Free Pattern Friday offering #1: the Glamour Scarf. This project is way, way, way easy. In fact, you really don't need me to tell you how to make it, but I'm going to anyway, because why not? You might learn something. Or I might.

I first made this scarf as a gift for my mom, so here she is modeling it (isn't she cute?). I've made several more of them since then for charity auctions, because they are inexpensive to make, but look glitzy and tend to bring in a nice sum. That's the beauty of this little project: high glamour factor, low input. Recently I made a kit out of this for my Secret Pal, Paloma.

This is a deceptively easy scarf that dresses up any outfit. The lightweight yarn makes it suitable for almost any weather, too.

Finished scarf measurements (before tassels): Approx. 5 in. wide and 50 in. long (she is wearing it doubled in the picture - it is a fairly long scarf).

Sizes: One Size

Materials:

• Berocco Mosaic FX 25g/78yd, (2) balls. Shown in color #4611, Splendor in the Grass. 100% nylon (they call this a "railroad ribbon" yarn).
  
• Royale Crochet Thread, size 3, (1) ball. Color: #0012, Black. 100% mercerized cotton.
  
• US 13 straight needles (9.0 mm).
• Piece of cardboard for making tassels.

Gauge: Approx. 4 st/in on size 13 needles.

Scarf body:
With both yarns together, cast on 20 st. Work in garter st (knit every row) until scarf measures approx. 50 inches. Bind off loosely. Weave in loose ends (wasn't that easy?).

Mosaic FX warning: Do not try to knit this yarn by itself. The crochet thread stabilizes this yarn and makes it behave, using some kind of magical power that I don't understand. Attempting to knit Mosaic FX by itself has caused me much crying and gnashing of teeth, not to mention huge awful tangled yarn snarls. Thank heavens for magic crochet thread (or any other lightweight stuff you want to use).

Tassels:
To make the tassels, first cut a piece of cardboard approx. 5 in. wide and 8 in. long.

Then wrap crochet thread once around cardboard long-wise. Cut ends across bottom to line up with cardboard, keeping thread in place.

Next wrap Mosaix FX three times around cardboard long-wise, still keeping the crochet thread in place. Cut ends across bottom to line up with crochet thread and cardboard.

Now you should have four lengths of yarn/thread, open at the bottom (one length of crochet thread and three lengths of Mosaic FX). Being careful to keep yarn together and ends lined up, use a small piece of scrap crochet thread to tie all the yarn together at top (use a loose knot – you will be untying this again soon). Now you can drop the cardboard – tassel stage one is complete! (Note: these things don't look totally tassely yet. They look like 4 long strands of yarn folded over and tied together at the top with some scrap). Each proto-tassel will measure approx. 8 inches long.

Make 12 tassels in this manner.

Tie 6 tassels on each end of scarf as following:
Use the scrap crochet thread to pull the top of the tassel through a stitch so that the tied-off end makes a loop. Using your fingers or a crochet hook, pull tassel ends through the loop and gently tug to make a knot, being sure to keep yarn ends more or less even. Untie scrap thread and remove. Now it's a full-fledged tassel.

Space tassels evenly as you tie 6 of them across each scarf end.

Viola! You are now extra glamorous and can start using French words like voila!

important notice: This is a free pattern and you are welcome to use it for all the non-commercial purposes you like. However, you may not reproduce this pattern to sell, and you may not sell what you make with it. You may donate what you make with it to charity, and you may use it for charity fundraisers only if 100% of the proceeds are donated to the charity (and by charity I don't mean your kid's college fund). Thanks for understanding!