Scrappy scarves – clusters of colour

I am a member of a local knit and natter group, which has inherited rather a lot of yarn. I always love a scrappy project – I think what appeals is the ‘permission’ to play with colour without being too precious about what the yarn cost, or whether you are making something worthy with it. I wanted to do justice to some of the smaller balls of yarn that we had, and also make something for charity. So here are two of the scarves that I have made so far:

They are made in (UK) half treble crochet clusters. I got the original idea from The Crochet Swirl, who has used them to make a glorious colour-block blanket. Mine are made in various dk yarns, on a 4.5mm hook and are 14 clusters wide. I changed colour every 2, 4 or 8 rows, with the wider stripes working better I think. My finished scarf is 16cm wide, 136cm long and weighs 160g.

I did enjoy the colour-play, and I’m confident that they will keep someone warm this winter. I notice that Knit for Peace has a call-out for adult hats and scarves in neutral colours, so that’s where these will be heading.

Charity scarves

One of the nice things about winter is that I get a chance to work through some of the stash that has built up over the course of my crochet year, and making scarves for charity is probably my favourite way to do this.

These ones are made in: Stylecraft Batik Elements Platinum (1935) with Debbie Bliss Rialto Lake (23086) and Sea Green (23081); King Cole Drifter Utah (1358) with Rowan Wool Cotton Smalt and Skipper; and King Cole Drifter Kansas (1373) with too many scraps to remember!

My general strategy is to put together 100g of scrap yarn, choose a variegated yarn in co-ordinating colours and make a 30 stitch wide scarf in (UK) double crochet alternating between the scrap and variegated colours every two rows. The variegated yarn is a constant throughout the scarf, and the scrap colours are changed every 2, 3 or 5 stripes depending on what proportion of each colour I have available. You might notice that there are little loops of yarn being carried over going along one side of the scarf, which cuts down on the weaving in of ends considerably and makes the scarf no less warm or cosy.

They will be going to Knit for Peace who now have a database of local centres who will accept knitted donations.

March challenge – Happy scrappy scarf

At first sight this scarf might not look like a challenge at all. I have after all made rather a lot of corner-to-corner scarves already, so what is special about this one?

Well to start with none of the yarn was mine, I was using up a friend’s stash, and so the colour palette is hers. Secondly I didn’t buy a single scrap of yarn to add to the project, so there was no background base-colour that I knew would bring everything together. Finally the scarf has 12 different colours of yarn in it, including different textures and weights and in very varied quantities.

So what do I think I achieved? The thing I am most pleased with is that to me the scarf has a cohesiveness that does not suggest that it was made of scraps. There is a loose six-stripe repeat, which allowed me to space out the dominant red and turquoise colours evenly between some more neutral shades, and finally I used pretty much every scrap of yarn that there was!

I have shown the scarf to my friend, and she is pleased with it, and with her agreement it will soon be winging its way to Knit for Peace. They currently have an appeal out for items suitable for teenage boys – and I am hoping that this will fit the bill.