Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf

While searching through my stash recently, I found two balls of Patons Venus yarn in white. I remembered buying three balls on sale for $1.99 over a year ago. At the time, I was making a baby bobble blanket and wasn't sure how much I would need for the border. You can read about that here if you missed it. I used one ball adding two to my stash.

Patons Venus yarn is a luxuriously soft worsted weight yarn with a unique thick and thin texture. I love how working simple rows of single crochet back and forth with this yarn creates a pretty pattern. I was able to make this Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf for only $4. How cool is that? 

This Infinity Scarf is smaller than the Calm Cowl I made recently. I took photos side-by-side to show the difference.

I can wrap both scarves to wear as a cowl, but this white scarf fits a little tighter around my neck than I like.

This shorter infinity scarf is much more comfortable worn hanging down like a scarf rather than wrapped like a cowl. I would add one more ball of yarn to make this scarf a little longer before calling it a cowl.

Technical details for this Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Patons Venus Yarn - 1.75 oz/50 g (2 balls) $1.99/ball
Worsted Weight (4)
5.0 mm hook
Cold water wash, lay flat to dry

Stitches Used:
ch - chain
sc - single crochet

Note: chain at beginning of row does NOT count as a stitch

Starting ch = 31
R1 - sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across (30 sc)
R2 - ch 1 and turn, sc in each stitch across (30 sc)
Repeat row 2 until you run out of yarn 
Leave a long tail to sew ends together (yarn texture hides flat join)

Finished Size: 18.5" folded in half - 37" circumference - 6.25" wide

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Crochet Calm Cowl in Cottonwood

Making a Linen Stitch Blanket for our grandson was so much fun, I decided to carry on crocheting the linen stitch making a cowl following this free pattern on Ravelry called "Calm Cowl". It is a circular scarf crocheted in the round that can be worn wrapped like a cowl or hanging like a scarf. 

For the blanket, I bought two balls of each colour plus one extra of cottonwood, leaf and white totaling 15 balls of yarn. In the end, these extra balls were added to my alredy extensive stash. 

To crochet this cowl, I used the leftover ball of cottonwood yarn. 

I prefer to wear this scarf wrapped like a cowl to hide the crooked seam. You can see what I mean in the photo above. I worked and frogged the first 7 rows of this scarf a few times before finally giving up. I wasn't too worried as I knew wrapping would hide any imperfections. 

Technical details for this Crochet Crochet Calm Cowl in Cottonwood are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Hook size - 5 mm
Yarn Used (Worsted #4 weight):
Mary Maxim Best Value 100% acrylic (170 g/6 oz) - Cottonwood

Starting Chain - 211

37 rows

Finished size: 22" Folded in half - 44" circumference - 7" wide
Free pattern: Calm Cowl by Suzana Davidovic on Ravelry found here

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Crochet Moss Stitch Infinity Scarf

I am always reluctant to buy really good yarn because it seems so expensive. A couple years ago I bought two hanks of Alegria yarn at The Yarn Factory Outlet in Listowel. Alegria yarn is super soft hand-dyed fingering weight or sock yarn made from a blend of superwash merino so it's both easy care and durable.

To start I had to roll the hank into a ball by hand. I convinced my husband to hold up his hands and support the yarn while I rolled. It takes quite a long time to roll this amount of yarn into a ball so once my husband was tired of 'helping', I draped the yarn over a kitchen chair back to finish. I didn't think to take a picture. The whole process is really quite labour intensive and I still have the second hank to roll. It can wait.

I was saving this yarn for something really special. I finally decided to make an infinity scarf with it. I love the moss stitch so I followed this free crochet cowl pattern. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn which works up much bigger than fine sock yarn. 

I made this pattern last Christmas and it was much easier to do with worsted weight yarn. Working with sock yarn and a 4 mm hook is challenging when you have a starting chain of 215 and have to join it without twisting. I started over about three times before I was satisfied. 

Once I realized how much smaller it was gong to be, I decided to carry on but call it an "Infinity Scarf". It was not going be long enough to wrap twice around the neck but if I made it wide using all the yarn, it should drape nicely on its own.

When I first started working on the cowl in this colour I had my niece in mind as bright colours look so good on her. Once I finished I tried it on and decided it made a perfectly fine Infinity Scarf. I also discovered I could take a decent selfie in front of a mirror. The camera reflection in the mirror shows where you're aiming which is much easier than working blind. My head is cut off on purpose as I just wanted to show the scarf.

I also draped the scarf over a wine carafe to show a close up of the stitches and beautiful colours in this yarn. The crochet moss stitch is one of my favourite stitches. I just love how it looks.

I was so pleased to finish in plenty of time for our niece's birthday today. It's wrapped and ready to go. I hope she likes it.

 

 

I think the colour suits her perfectly and I'm pretty sure she likes it. Another Crochet Moss Stitch Infinity Scarf made with love to help keep her warm this winter.  Happy 25th Birthday to our beautiful niece. 

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Christmas Wrap Up

Christmas this year was much like other years with the focus on family, fun and food. In an effort to simplify, we have scaled back on gifts but still have plenty under our tree. 

My parents and son join us for breakfast and our Christmas morning is off to a good start with capuccino, biscotti and gifts. 

After breakfast and before starting dinner, we hike to the Sifton Bog Boardwalk. Last year it was cold and snowy, but this year it's mild and clear, a perfect day. 

Our dinner is relatively easy with everybody contributing. I cook the turkey, broccoli and brussel sprouts. My parents make a huge pot of mashed potatoes, my sister-in-law makes crockpot stuffing and my mum-in-law makes gravy, trifle and lemon pie. With so much help, we are able to relax with drinks and more gifts while dinner cooks.

Our family Christmas dinners include lots of laughs, lots of fun and lots of food. We all save space for my Mum-In-Law's Santa-adorned trifle. It has become a favourite family tradition.

We all had a bit of fun with a magnifying glass from my Christmas cracker this year. Who can resist making googly eyes? Funny how we all picked our right eye to enhance. I wonder what that says about us?

So to wrap up our Christmas this year, I have to say it was truly wonderful. Of course we missed our daughter and her family but I am happy to hear they are enjoying themselves in Brazil. I feel lucky to have such a fun and loving family both at home and abroad.

With such a simple Christmas, I managed to fit in lots of crochet time over the holidays. I am working on both a cowl and a big fluffy blanket. 

I decided to finally use some luxuriously soft and expensive hand painted yarn I bought a couple years ago. I am making a cowl using this pattern but my yarn is finer so the cowl is too short to loop around the neck.

I love the colour and can't wait to see how it turns out. I might make another in the grey/green colour only longer for looping next time.

I plan to keep going until all the yarn is used up. As you can see there is quite a bit left so I think this cowl will be warm and cozy once it's done. I'll be sure to share a photo but it might be awhile yet because I also started working on a big fluffy blanket this week.

On Boxing Day I couldn't resist buying Lion Brand Homespun Thick and Quick yarn on sale at Michael's for $7.99 a ball, a significant savings from the original price of $12.99. I bought 6 balls each in Dove and Pearl to make a fuzzy ripple blanket for my son. I don't enjoy working with chunky yarn as it tends to snag and stitch details are lost in the fluff.

My son loves fluffy blankets so that's why I'm doing it. I decided to follow the same ripple pattern I used to make my Cosmic Rays Ripple. It looks completely different but still very nice and of course totally cuddly with such chunky yarn.

I'm hoping to finish this blanket by Saturday but I also want to write a year end review and I'm running out of time. Wish me luck.

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