Column: Chain Letters
Of all the things I worked on whilst cruising with a bajillion sock knitters, this by far drew the most attention:
Not a knit. Not a sock. I call it The Wavelength Scarf. It be a knit inspired crochet and today I shall be sharing it’s Noro-ish wonder with you.
This is the scarf that snuck up and blindsided me. I saw a version (follow the link and scroll down to April) of Lucy Neatby’s Spindrift that my LYS owner had worked up in the new Noro sock yarn and fell in love. I immediately pondered the binding off and casting on of stitches that must be necessary to knit this and my newish to knitting head just about blew up. Sometimes things are just meant to be crochet, and this was one of them. (If you go both ways I imagine this has happened to you going one way or the other as well.) Strengths are strengths and let’s face it, crochet is built for ease of openwork. Blissfully forgetting what I came in for in the first place, I happily trotted home with the Noro and started the research. A bit of time spent in the edging section of my ancient Harmony Guide, Volume 7 confirmed my hunches. A simple 2 row repeat would handle things nicely, though the floating ends would take some tinkering. About 30 minutes later I was humming away, improv-ing the pattern as I went.
Luckily for you, I took notes. (Fair warning given, I am an abysmal pattern writer. I like words. Slap me if this is confusing and I will try to clarify.) Here they are:
The things you shall need: 1 skein Noro sock yarn (I will hear no disparaging of the Noro here…there is simply no substitute to get this effect in one yarn and it both blooms and softens remarkably once washed, which mine is not yet), 1 US E or F crochet hook
The stitches you need to know: fsc = foundation single crochet (tutorial link here)
sc = single crohcet
ch = chain
The beginning: Fsc a multiple of 10 stitches + 2. (it’s your scarf, do what you like)
[ 6/26/08 ETA: For those that need to know, my scarf is worked in colorway 95, has 49 wavelets and a base of 492 stitches and is about 6ish feet long without being blocked.]
The pattern:
Row 1: (making the holes) Ch 1, sc 2, *ch 7, skip 7 stitches, sc 3. Repeat from * until 2 sts remain unworked. Sc 2, ch 1, turn.
Row 2: Sc in each st. (In the holes, to avoid obscuring the color in the row below which would happen if you worked into the chain space itself, you need to work into one loop only of each ch st. This is a bit odd in this instance as you are working at the “back” of the chain. Essentially you work into the “top” leg of the ch.)
That is the essential pattern, though there is a bit of trickery involved in getting pretty open ends like this:
So Row 3 goes: Turn. Slip 4. (this brings you to the top of an arch where a series of 3 sc will be) Sc 1. Turn. Ch in the top of the sc you just made. Ch 5. (making a free standing partial arch back to the end) Turn. Slip 5. (the last one should be in the top of that lone sc yet again) Sc 2 next to the single you made before all the confusing turning business. Continue as in Row 1: *ch 7, sc 3, repeat from *. After the last set of 3 sc, ch 5 to end. Turn. (one of those ch is your turning chain.)
[7/1/08 - ETA: OK, I told you this was the fiddly bit. It's not at all hard, just a bugger to visualize. Let me explain in a bit less short hand to see if it helps those having trouble. See if this makes sense to you: OK, you've just finished doing a big long row of nothing but single crochet. You're at the low point of a wave, right? You're ready to start back across making all the arches. The problem being that the row above you needs to start with a partial arch that hangs out into space right? And you can't do that from your position at the low point of the wave. So you slip stitch back up to the crest of the wave, where you work your first single crochet (of the three that inhabit the crests of all the waves). Then you TURN to work backward, toward the end you just left, chaining that partial arch. You slip stitch back down it and resume the arch making row. You work some extra slip stitches coming and going into that lone single crochet at the top of the wave just to position the yarn better.]
Row 4: SStarting in the second ch from the hook, sc in each st. (see Row 2)
So that be it. Go until you run out of yarn. It’s really not as quirky as it seems. If you look at the close-up whilst following along, you shall indeed get it. At least I hope you shall. ‘Cause I think you’ll likes it. I do:
Please send all pattern critiques, love notes and yarn to Dawn (who yes is again mentally berating herself for not “making-up” before photog-ing for public consumption) c/o crochetcompulsive@limenviolet.com
Popularity: 82% [?]
michelle Says:
Ooo…what a great use of the Noro!
Great job!
Posted on June 20th, 2008 at 7:47 am
crochetcompulsive Says:
Thanks! It’s awesome to crochet with too…the nature of the stitches really goes a long way to evening out the extremity of thick/thin, and once it blooms it’s just gorgeous. And because of the nylon content, it be machine washable!!! Plus, I really like working with overspun yarns…I think I shall be using this a lot.
Posted on June 20th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Mandi Says:
That is FANTASTIC!! I love it! I don’t crochet often at all, but this pattern would make me dust off my hooks.
Posted on June 20th, 2008 at 8:18 am
tantej Says:
Just gorgeous! You have inspired me to get this yarn at last! I love the look as a headband. I’ll just have to go crochet myself one. Thanks!
Posted on June 20th, 2008 at 9:32 am
melinda Says:
YAY! Thanks honey!
Posted on June 20th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Stacey_CrimsonPurl Says:
Great project for the Noro sock yarn! Mine has been sitting over here deciding what to be other than socks!! ;op
This will be a great project for me to practice my crochet basics. And Noro will keep me interested too!
Posted on June 21st, 2008 at 4:40 am
Jocele Says:
Thank you. And I just bought a skin of Noro sock yarn on Thursday! Crazy coincidence? Hmmm….. Beautiful pattern.
Posted on June 21st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
h Says:
This is beautiful. I think I just found the pattern I needed to make the wrap to wear to the wedding.
Posted on June 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 pm
jenniethepotter Says:
Just the thing to tone my flabby crochet skills!
Posted on June 23rd, 2008 at 7:23 am
Debbie Says:
Fantasitc use of the Noro Kureyon Sock yarn but could you maybe be a little more specific with the pattern?? How many did you chain to get whatever length scarf you made?? And did you use the whole skein for said size??
Thanks
Posted on June 24th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Diana Troldahl Says:
I’m thinking this would also be gorgeous in Jojoland Melody
Posted on June 24th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Marti Browne Says:
Great Pattern. This one really inspires me. I think I’ll try it with some of my llama yarn I hand spun! Thanks for sharing it!
Posted on June 24th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
crochetcompulsive Says:
Thanks all! The personal details of my scarf are now in the pattern details. Remember that depending on your crochet style, particularly how loosely or tightly you chain, yours will vary even perhaps greatly from mine.
Diana, thanks for the yarn suggestion, I hadn’t seen this yarn before. Fabulous!
Posted on June 26th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Darlene Says:
I have started your beautiful scarf, but am having trouble with row 3. You say Ch 4. (this brings you …) Sc 1. You don’t say where the Sc should be? Turn, Ch in the top of the sc you just made. Did you mean Ch 1, sc in the top of the sc ? Ch 5. (making a free standing partial arch back to the end) Turn. Ch 5. Do you mean a total of 10 ch or did you leave something out here? (the last one should be in the top of that lone sc yet again) Last one what? I hope you can understand what I am trying to say here. Thank you for any help (clarification) you can provide. Darlene
Posted on June 28th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
crochetcompulsive Says:
Darlene, check the pattern again. There was an earlier draft up first. The chain 4 should have been slip 4. I’ve added a bit of explanation for what you’re doing there…unfortunately in regular pattern short hand it’s tough to visualize…oh for an accessible crochet symbol/chart program! I’m also working on a new picture with arrows and labels inserted. It’s really simple once you get it, just a bugger to explain without sitting on your shoulder.
Posted on July 1st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Cherryskin Says:
Awesome! Thanks for your generosity in sharing this pattern.
Posted on July 4th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Perry Says:
Way cool… and a great use of Noro sock yarn with those wonderful colorways. I am definitely going to give this a try in the fall. Thanks for figuring it out!
-Perry-
Posted on July 16th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
mama anderson Says:
lovely lovely lovely…..couldn’t get this to copy/paste….am i supposed to but this pattern? did I miss something…..i would dearly love to try/have this pattern and i don’t have access to a computer to hand copy….again, this is lovely and i dearly want to try this one….and about being verbose….the more instructions the better!!! thank you, mama crocheter……..:)
Posted on July 31st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
moo Says:
Gorgeous, I’m pretty much a corchet nub, but I’m gonna give this a try as a gift for my best friend.. It’s lovely!
Posted on September 27th, 2008 at 10:59 am
maya Says:
Ok, this is a love & affection note… thank you Dawn, the scarf is beautiful, instructions for pattern so complete and helpful (let me tell you, ’cause I’m Italian and that makes it a little bit more akward!) and you really are a nice Person
A ciao from Padua!
maya.
Posted on October 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Dici Says:
Oooooo….PRETTY!
And it started buzzing around in my head that it could be adapted for a shawl or….wow, this has lot of possibilities! And not just for the Nord…*EG*
Great job and your pattern made complete sense to me.
Dici
Posted on October 26th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Lynn Says:
Are this the basic listing of this scarf?? Is there another spot for the complete directions??
Posted on October 26th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Kerry Says:
Thanks!!
I just did this with Lion Brand Micro Spun and had to do color changes ever 2 rows- which was the hard part. But it still came out SUPER fun and I’m really pleased with it!!
Thanks for the great pattern!
Posted on November 28th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
heather Says:
wow. this is the most fabulous thing!!! its so PRETTY!!! im gonna have to find some noro sock yarn… 50 skeins… haha! thanks for posting a great pattern
it sounds really easy… and if i cant figure it out ill figure something out hah… even if i have to single chain every row and sew them together afterwards… i dont care, i need a scarf like this. 
*heart* heather
~
Posted on December 29th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Liz Says:
I like yours better (than Lucy’s).
Thanks for sharing your pattern notes!
Posted on June 17th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Ginger Says:
Super pattern, thanks for sharing. I always have had an anxiety with a foundation chain, but I did this one with no problem. Maybe it was the drive to make the scarf. I have some old Red Heart that I’m using, but when I finish this one I may do this pattern again with some fluffy stuff from my stash!
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 at 1:44 pm