Mrs Eschers' Scarf

I've gone from pre-Christmas blues (also known as crochet burn out!) to New Year positivity. To celebrate I have an accidental pattern for you.

I almost called it synchronicity because it was the coming together of many things. Normally designing is a slow and painful process for me. I 'um' and 'ar' about stitch patterns, colours and yarns. I swatch with this and that; wave them at Nick for his opinion; change my mind a couple of times; and finally give myself a good talking to. This time I wasn't even thinking about writing a pattern. I was under the time pressure of Christmas, wanting a scarf or shawl for a gift. I was also working through my stash yarn and trying to de-stash acrylic yarns. I'd just started listening to The Crochet Circle Podcast, where Fay is currently on a yarn-buying-ban. And, I was recommended Melissa Leapman's Indispensable Stitch Collection for Crocheters. Are you still with me?!

I am attracted to any design where the upright crochet stitches lay down and go horizontal for a change. So when I spotted 'Mellissa's Meandering Chains', Lace work pattern I was sold. When I swatched a sample, I saw what photography can't show. It has a three dimensional quality. It reminds me of MC Escher's Perpetual Motion waterfall. The design is simple enough to work up quickly but unexpected enough to be interesting.

Remember my post about alternate ways of making starting chains? Well I added the scallop foundation, et voilá!

Let's talk about customising.

Yarn:
I used the Scheepjes Whirl that was left over from my Dora Ohrenstein, 'Ava' sweater. It's a fingering/light 4ply, No1 superfine weight. You can use absolutely any yarn you like. Just make sure your hook is over sized to give you that loose lace work style. It would look great in a hairy lace weight mohair or alpaca yarn. But you could take your inspiration from Doris Chan and go chunky lace. Try a 5mm hook with sport weight, or a 6mm hook with DK.

Size:
It's so easy to adjust in this pattern. When you're making the foundation chain, you make it one scallop at a time. Each scallop is one pattern repeat. So keep making the foundation scallops until the scarf is wide enough! You might want to make it wider, so that it is more of a shawl than a scarf. My scarf has come out at approximately 10"/ 25cm wide.
As for length, stop when it's long enough!! I stopped when I ran out of yarn. If you swatch with your yarn you should be able to work out how big you can make it. Weighing scales which measure grams are ideal for this purpose. For Scheepjes Whirl there are 455meters to 100grams. So my scarf weighs 74g which means it contains 337m of yarn. My scarf is 53"/135cm long.

Blocking:
I'm going to tell you not to. Gasp! Wash it, by all means. Dry flat and lay it out with straight edges, absolutely. But please don't stretch it or pin it. We want to keep all that three dimensional ripple.

 OK, so here's the free PDF download. Have at it!

fastening off...