The Scarves of Summer

Although quilting is what I blog about the most, personally I enjoy crochet just as much. I almost always have two crochet projects going on at any one time. It is fun to have one project that challenges and grows my skills and a second one that falls into the "social crochet" category. This type of crochet is portable and easily done in situations that do not require a great deal of concentration and counting - such as riding in the car, or while visiting with others.

This past summer I did a lot of social crochet and loved every minute of it. I was able to make four gift scarves. This first one was with an alpaca/acrylic mix yarn. A sweet young lady, S, whom I've know for her entire life, was heading off to the University of Virginia. I thought a school spirit scarf would be a fun gift :o) The yarn colors are Dark Apricot and Midnight.

School spirit scarf

I found this V-stitch pattern in the Fall 2012 issue of Interweave Crochet. It is the featured stitch for the Thistledown Tunic pattern. This stitch really makes for a warm fabric - perfect for football games!

This alpaca yarn is so nice and soft

The next three scarves all feature the same stitch pattern, but are made with different yarns. I believe I may have invented this stitch by accident. I thought I was following the directions for a stitch called the double V, but it turns out I did it wrong. However, I really like how my stitch turned out, so I continued to use it on all three of these scarves. 

The first of the three is made from an acrylic/wool blend Red Heart Boutique Treasure yarn in the Horizon colorway. I just love this yarn and working with the variegated colors was so much fun! I couldn't put it down because I kept wanting to see what was going to come next. This scarf was made as a birthday gift for for my dad's wife, J, in joint celebration of her birthday and retirement :o)

My interpretation of a double V stitch

Since this double V stitch was so easy to do and looks nice, too, I used it on a scarf for my dear friend M's birthday present. This next yarn is Lion Brand's Amazing in the Aurora colorway. It's a wool/acrylic blend. Goodness the shading in this yarn is beautiful!

My interpretation of a double V stitch

Finally, I made a scarf for my favorite birthday buddy, A. This is another sweet young lady whom I've know all of her life. We both celebrate our birthday on the same day, but 34 years apart. This is also Red Heart Boutique Treasure yarn, but in the Abstract colorway.

My  interpretation of a double V stitch

These four scarves saw me though several hours of car travel and sweet summer evenings out on the deck. Thank goodness for friends and relatives to make things for!

I'd love to hear about what's been on your knitting needles, or crochet hook :o)