Bollywood – bamboo and cotton knit scarf with sequin yarn (includes pattern)
Bollywood - magenta cotton and bamboo scarf with sequins
This knit scarf is made from three strands of yarn: two are bamboo/cotton (60%/40%), and one is a sassy polyester, sequined number!
The colour is a deep magenta and the effect is razzle dazzle. I’ve crocheted some rosettes for each ent to finish it off. Originally it had crochet ‘arm’ tassles with baubles at the end, but they looked a bit odd. The rosettes work much better.
There are more pictures on my esty site.
How to make it:
You’ll need: Three balls of yarn, each allowing at least 100 metres. (Use two threads of the same yarn, then add a bit of bling yarn as the third. ) Note: I used three balls on this. 100 m of sequin yarn; 260 metres of cotton/bamboo, with a tiny bit left over.
How it’s done – scarf :
- Cast 14 stitches onto approx. 13 mm needles.
- Knit plain rows until you run out of wool! (Though leave a ball aside for the rosettes.)
The rosettes:
Bollywood scarf rosettes up close
- Using your doubled-up yarn and a hook that feels about right for the ply (perhaps 5 mm), chain 23 stitches.
- Turn, skip a stitch, then double crochet (Australian/UK DC) into each stitch to the end (22 DC).
- Cut the yarn and sew ends in.
- Sew the strands of crochet into rosettes by twisting them around themselves from one end, and securing with a couple of stitches.
- Sew rosettes to scarf. Note both sets need to be on the same side of the scarf.
Of course my Siamese, Peabody Wiggle, is way too interested in this number due to the high natural fibre content.
Bollywood scarf with keen Siamese cat, Peabody Wiggle
Felting ‘flowers’ into scarves
Swirls of Merino wool flowers, ready to be felted into a scarf or two
I did a felting course on Thursday and Friday last week, so on Saturday I wanted to play around with what I learned.
I dragged out an old bag of leftover Merino bits. The bits were all mixed together and not that inspiring. A bit like when you mix too much paint and all you get is brown. I set about untangling and sorting and had a lovely time creating these ‘flowers’ above.
I am not an experienced felter yet, so thought I’d experiment with embedding them into a scarf. I didn’t know how they would take, given they were a bit worked already, just from hanging around with other bits of wool in the same bag. I placed a thin layer of wool fibres over the top of each flower before felting, just to see if they’d anchor in place.
I am delighted with the result!
Emmylou - felted scarf with 'flowers'
So delighted, in fact, I made another one straight after it, though this time I shaped the scarf around the flowers shown in the first picture.
Felicity - purple, blue and orange felted scarf with 'flowers'
New mohair crochet flower and knit scarf
Rose Red - crochet mohair scarf made of flowers and leaves
Meet Rose Red. She’s the latest in my crochet series of wearable sculptures.
I am thinking of making another like this, and felting it, now that I understand the felting process.
You can see more pictures on my etsy site, in the crochet category.
New skill learned this week – felting!
Elfi - felted grey scarf with coloured and embroidered shapes
This week I took a Yarra Valley Arts Council class at the Healesville Primary School in felting a scarf and felting a hat.
What a great time we had, laying fibres, wetting wool, rolling until we thought we could roll no more. It was much easier and much less messy than I thought.
And here’s the result: Elfi. Named after my Aunty in Augusta, Georigia. You can see more pictures on my etsy site.
Happy felting!!
Erika – knit scarf with crochet flower, includes pattern for flower
Eirka, knit scarf with crochet flower. Pattern included for flower.
I’ve named Erika after my mum, not because it looks like her, though. It’s because when I finished the edges in maroon, it started to take on a Teutonic look (Ma was German). The scarf is knitted, the edges and flower crocheted in complementary colours.
The pattern for the flower is this:
Close up of Erika, knit scarf with crochet flower. Pattern included for flower
Use any wool in complementary colours and pick any crochet hook that’s easy for your thickness of wool and your tension of crochet. You might have to experiment it you’re new to this.
Note, this pattern uses Australian/UK stitch names, not US.
- Form chain ring:
5 chain then slip stitch into first chain to form a ring. - Create 8 spokes with spaces in the ring:
5 chain (the first 3 chain form the first spoke of an eight-spoke wheel you’re about to make).
Make the next seven spokes by crocheting 1 treble then 2 chain seven times.
Slip stitch into the top of the 3rd chain in your original spoke. - Create petals:
1 double crochet into the first gap, next to the first spoke you made from chain stitches.
Follow it with 2 chain, 2 trebles, 2 chain and 1 double crochet.
Repeat this in the remaining 7 gaps until you have 8 petals.
Put a slip stitch near where the first double crochet was, to tighten the flower shape.
Sew in the ends.
You now have a flower.
Note.
- You can either make many of these in different threads (thick, thin) then sew them together like a layered pancake stack, with pancakes decreasing in size; or
- You can crochet another layer or two onto the back of the first round. See extended pattern below.
Creating more petal layers:
After you’ve created your first flower, if you want more layers, work the thread to the back any way you know how, near your first spoke. Make sure the front of the flower is facing you (you’re working behind the first layer).
- Create chain loops behind the flower, anchoring them onto the spokes:
4 chains, anchor the string of chains into the 2nd spoke.
Do this until each spoke has a string of chains behind it (8 sets of chain, strung along the back of your flower, anchored to the spokes. You’ll use these as the base for crocheting more petals, behind the first round of petals. - Create more petals:
When you have your eight strings of chain, slip stitch again into your starting point.
Now, into the first string of chain, 1 double crochet, 2 chains, 3 trebles, 2 chains, 1 double crochet.
(If you want a fuller petal, substitue the 3 trebles with this routine: 1 treble, 1 double treble, 1 treble.)
Now, move to the next chain string, again, with the front of the flower facing you, and keep creating petals as outlined in step 4, above, until all 8 petals are complete.
Slip stitch near the start again to give the flower a strong, uniform shape. - Complete, or keep going: Sew in the ends, or make another layer. Try another texture or colour. Sew in a few French knots. This is the fun part and it’s all up to you!
Visit my etsy store to see more pictures of this scarf. Also, checkout the recycled and upcycled section and let me know what you think. I’m loving recreating from something that existed before.
Lisbeth – recycled and upcycled sheet turned into rag knitting scarf
Lisbeth - recycled and upcycled rag knitted scarf
I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry, both in a culinary sense and when it comes to combining colours.
I also love to recycle then upcycle fabrics, and play around with textures and colours.
Lisbeth is my latest rag knitting scarf, with an op shop shredded sheet as a base, knitted with a sequin yarn and a lovely alpaca blend in raspberry and chocolate. I’ve made this scarf a little shorter, so you double it up and put the flower at the end. It’s probably more like a cowl or scarflet, though it’s still around five feet long.
The flower has five layers, one made out of the shredded sheet, and the centre picking up more of this theme. The flower looks good enough to eat.
I’ve put a long fringe on one of the long sides, to enhance the notion of doubling the scarf over to wear it as a cowl.
There are 12 stitches and three strands of yarns/sheets. It’s done in garter stitch (plain, pearl), and took around 100 metres of each of the three yarns to make.
You can see more recycled and upcycled scarves on my etsy site.
Lisbeth - rag knitting scarf, front view
Erin – black knit scarf with green highlights
Black knit scarf with green trim and detachable flower brooch
I have a friend, Bec, who owns the Pampervan. It’s a campervan that’s been turned into a mobile hair salon. Over the past few years, we’ve become friends. This scarf, if she likes it, is for her.
She’s not really a scarf girl, maybe with the exception of football games in winter, so I made something a bit understated, though with a subtle frizzle of excitement agitating in the background, waiting to get out, in a green theme.
Becca, if you don’t like it this one:
- my sister will so there’s no issue offloading it – be honest!!
- go to my etsy site and look through the scarves on the site. If there’s something you like, email me the ID number and I’ll send it to you.
You might end up liking the green one though.
While it’s called Erin, it really should be called After Dinner Mint. And since you, like me, think more regularly about food than is considered healthy, perhaps this will be the selling point?
xx
Recycled and upcycled orange silk remnant, now a new scarf
Raw silk rag knitting - voila, a new scarf
Montmartre, this raw silk and cotton rag knitting scarf, is the second of two I made this weekend.
I bought the remnants from my local op shop and paired them with a bobble trim yarn in varying shades of oranges, browns and greens. To add a bit ot pizzaz, in came the sequin yarn. To finish, I crocheted a two-layered flower with some of the ripped up cotton and paired it with some silk, some complementarily coloured wools, and a bit of spangley sequin yarn.
I used 13 mm needles, and three strands of yarn: the rag shreds, the bobble yarn, the sequin yarn. There were 13 stitches. I knited pearl stitch (garter stitch) for about six feet.
Use any two-stage flower pattern from the net. Use the rag knitting thread as your bottom layer. Put a bit of rag knitting thread in the middle. Go crazy with coloured french knots. Make it pretty, then sew a pin on the back. You’ll feel artsy if you do this 
Rag knitting during Christmas down time
Cinderella - ripped up sheet paired with sparkling things and turned into rag knitting
It’s Christmas and, with a couple of days off work, my mind turns to rag knitting.
Today I completed this scarf, Cinderella, made from a ripped up, op shop sheet, paired with a fancy ball of trim yarn that changed every so often (like a packet of multiflavoured LifeSavers or a girl who wears rags ’shezzamming’ into a girl who wears a gown) and a silver metallic yarn (read princess at the ball).
So, it’s pink, it’s sparkly, it’s unusual, it has a flower that’s detachable, done in complementary colours.
If you’d like to see more pictures, it’s on etsy, under recycled and upcycled: www.handmade3777.etsy.com
Happy knitting.
Recycled and upcycled scarf – doona (duvet) cover, shredded and knitted
Ruby - recycled and upcycled doona cover turned into a scarf
I didn’t realise there was a rag knitting movement when I found an old doona (duvet) cover in our shed.
The cover had clearly had its day as a bed linen item so I couldn’t give it to the op shop. And I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.
I stood by the cover for a bit, thinking.
I liked how soft it had become through wear. The colour was appealing – an olive green flower and leaves pattern: not too much, not too little. Very baby bear.
The same week I found the cover, my dear big sister had given me a birthday present. She had ripped up a bit of patchwork fabric, pretty pink and dotty, and used this as the ribbon. Because I’d been knitting so much, I was keen to knit the ribbon, though it was a bit short. Instead it became a play item for special charge number three: Peabody.
Peabody, Siamese? Balinese? relaxing on the deck
The dotty fabric became the inspiration for upcycling the doona cover, so rip up the cover I did (after washing it scrupulously clean).
Anyway, back to Ruby. She’s the last of the doona cover. I made three scarves out of it in the end. Two looked like this.
Making a recycled/upcycled/rag knitting scarf
You’ll need:
Some fabric about 3 foot by 3 foot. A couple of balls of interesting wool. Biggish knitting needles – try size 13.
How it’s done:
- Rip the fabric into a quarter-to-a-half inch shreds and knot it together.
- Find some complementary coloured wool and an interesting trim yarn.
- Cast on 12 stitches and knit the three strands together, until it’s about 6 foot long.
- Embellish it by creating a crochet flower in similar tones.
- Use knots in the ripped up yarn as centres for your crochet flowers.
- Put tassels on the end (like in this picture) or attach a fringe.
I bought some orange-red silk and some textured cotton from the op shop the other day, from the remnants section. This will be the next scarf in my recycled/upcycled scarf series. If you like them, take a look at my recycled and upcycled scarf range on my etsy site for more inspiration.
