Woven Scarf Week Month

Not sure if it was weather, an unheated office, or my crochet addiction, but this year I have discovered an object that the rest of the world has known about for a long time… the scarf.

It started with one for my husband and branched into a bunch for Christmas presents, but I’ve never been a scarf person and I can’t remember the last time I owned one. Now it’s starting to get a little out of control. You put them around your neck and they keep you warm, who knew? Many can be made in one night and they’re crochet instant gratification! Scarves are my favorite object of the month (as opposed to sweaters which are just my eternal UFOs).

I’ve improved my crochet skills greatly since I picked up Amigurmi World back in August and made my first amigurmi. Recently, I’ve been seeking out more and more challenging patterns which has led me to what started as woven scarf week and has turned into woven scarf month. I think I’m stopping at 4 woven looking scarves for the season. There’s a limit to how many scarves you can wear at one time and I think I’m reaching excessive levels.

Alpaca Woven Look Scarf

My favorite of them all is a textured woven looking pattern made of post stitches. This one was done with Bernat’s Alpaca Natural Blends and I fell in love with Alpaca while making it. When it was done I almost cried as it broke my heart. It was itchy as hell. Regardless, it’s still my favorite of the four and I will attempt to wear it… until I can’t take the scratchyness anymore or I my skin starts turning red.

Pattern designed by Jenny Collins. Available as a Ravelry download and on Etsy through her SpottyOwlStudio Etsy store.

Ocean Waves Woven Scarf

This woven scarf is truly a woven scarf. It’s very thick as a result and is also made of post stitches. It takes a while to work up. Take note of the “behind the stitches” line in the pattern. If you don’t work “behind” you will end up with diagonal lines that do not look woven, which is what I had going on for a while before I contacted the designer and started over. Sometimes the shorter the pattern, the less attention I pay to what it actually says. Bad idea. This was a fun scarf at first, but after a while, I just wanted it done. It was a very interesting pattern and fun to see how it was done.

Pattern designed by Amy Anguish. Available on Etsy at the Beads and Lace by Amy Etsy store.

Entrelac Scarf

This entrelac crochet scarf has also been a very enlightening project and fun to see how it works up. It’s a great way to learn the technique and I plan on making some notebook covers based on this pattern. Unfortunately, it’s been taking a lot more yarn than I expected and Michael’s has been out of this color or Charisma, so it will be a while before it’s done. For some reason, my son has decided to claim this scarf as his. I think he likes the colors.

Pattern designed by Joyce Renee Wyatt. Available in the AMAZING and inspiring book Crochet Master Class.

Final Woven Scarf of the Season

Then there’s the Final Woven Scarf of the Season. Not my favorite of all of the patterns, but I have a feeling I’ll be wearing this scarf almost every day. The pattern confused the hell out of me and my “translation” can be found on Ravelry. Thanks to gerrijo on Ravelry who tackled this scarf way before my attempt. I never would have figured this out if I hadn’t read your comments.

Pattern designed by Julia Redman. Available for free on her blog.

This scarf did grow on me throughout the day and by the time I was done I was inspired to create matching fingerless gloves (pattern to be posted later this week). You never know when inspiration will strike.

I am officially putting down the hook and walking away from the woven scarves… at least until next year.

Not THAT Kind of Hooker… moron

This weekend, I read the funniest story on Ravelry.com (THE knitting and crochet social website in case you didn’t know). A woman was crocheting in a restaurant reading a pattern from a book when the waitress told her they were getting complaints about what she was reading and they “don’t allow that kind of reading material in our establishment”. A customer then yelled at her, “People like YOU shouldn’t have children, its disgusting!” She was reading the pattern from the book Stitch and Bitch: The Happy Hooker.

Since then, some have proposed a Hooker Day be established where crocheters everywhere go out into public yarn, hook, and questionably titled pattern book in hand to show the world that we are free to hook wherever we want.

It just so happens that I bought The Happy Hooker last weekend and left it on the table the other day. My husband saw it and started to question me about it. I guess he thought it was a porno crochet book that I had left lying around for our 4 year old to peruse. Hide the book! Don’t let him see the bunny slippers pattern!

That made the woman’s restaurant encounter just that much funnier.

Inspired by one woman’s hysterical public display of crochet and an attempt to confuse my husband, I have named this blog Hookers Don’t Bite. No, I’m not THAT kind of hooker… moron.