Granny Scarf Pattern

Hello again and I hope you are enjoying this run up to Christmas 2020 in the best way you can. We have to look for the positives in this troubling year, and sometimes it’s the little unexpected things that give the most joy.

I took a break from pattern writing in December to make a few Christmas presents. If you follow my Instagram or Facebook pages, you’ll know that I started with a scarf……then another one…..and yet another one. The yarn I was using was so lush that I just couldn’t stop and so far four have been wrapped up for friends and family. There’s enough yarn left for a fifth one but I’ve run out of people to give it to. That probably won’t stop me though!

Now, a few people have been in touch recently asking if there is a pattern for the scarf, and until now I’ve replied saying no, I hadn’t thought about it. Well, I thought about it today and decided maybe I could write up a pattern for it. Consider it my Christmas gift to you all as a thank you for your continuing support and friendship and the fact that as I write this I’m just a little off the amazing number of 20,000 followers on Instagram. That is quite frankly, unbelievable.

So here is the pattern –

You will need 3 balls of King Cole Riot DK in a shade of your choice, (and there are lots of gorgeous colourways to choose from). You could just about manage with two balls, but I think you would have to make the scarf shorter. I chose to make mine long enough to wrap twice around my neck.

A 4mm crochet hook, sharp scissors and a blunt tapestry needle.

The instructions are in UK terms. Stitches used are treble crochet (TR), double crochet (DC), treble two together (TR2TOG), slip stitch (SL ST), chain stitch (CH).

Equivalent US terms are TR= double crochet (DC), DC = single crochet (SC), TR2TOG = double crochet 2 together (DC2TOG)

The scarf is made in two parts. First there are the little granny squares. There are three squares in each row and 26 rows in my scarf. If you have the three balls of yarn, you could add another row or two to make it longer if you like.

Secondly, there is the joining method and a border to finish it off.

To start, check the balls of yarn. Hopefully you will have two of them wound differently, so that the beginning of the thread starts at a different part of the colour sequence. For example, say you had a ball that shaded through red and blue to yellow. One ball might start with the red length whereas another might start at the yellow part. This is ideal, as the beauty of the scarf is that the colours of the squares are at a different point in the sequence from the joining. Does that make sense?

If your three balls of yarn are all wound exactly the same so that they all start with the same shade, don’t worry. Just wind some off one of the balls until you reach a different colour. You can keep that first bit for later on.

The squares are made up of a very simple two round granny square. I’m going to assume you know how to make that, but if not there are plenty of tutorials on google. Start making a fine big batch of them and lay them out in rows of three. You can continue to make all 78 at this point, or if you don’t have the space to lay them all out, make a few rows then start to join them with the second ball. And please, please, please sew in the ends of the squares before you start joining them! I sewed them in as I went along, and when it came to joining it was a much more enjoyable process, with neat little squares lining up to be attached and not an end in sight!

The colour sequence in this yarn is generally very good, but sometimes there is a part where all three squares in a row look exactly the same colour and therefore a little boring. This is where a little tweaking can help. I looked at the squares as they were laid out and pulled a few, just a few out of the line up, then swapped them around a little to get a pleasing balance. So again, say you had red, yellow and blue in your yarn and you had a row of squares that were all red. Just pick a blue out from somewhere else and swap it with the middle red in the row. I wouldn’t change it too much, as the colour sequence is pleasing but the occasional pop of a contrasting square helps to liven it up.

Row 1 of squares -When you are ready to start joining, take a fresh ball of yarn. Attach it to the bottom right corner of the square at the right hand side of the first row. This is called Continuous Join As You Go, and the following photo shows the direction in which you will be going as you join the squares together.

(The following photos were done with odd left over scraps of yarn so the colours don’t correspond with any of the above scarves, in case you’re wondering).

CH3, TR2 into that corner. TR3 in next space up the side. TR3, CH2, TR3 in the corner space. Now work along the top of the square with TR3 in the next space and TR3, CH2, TR3 in the next corner. Continue down the left side of the square until you reach the bottom corner where you TR3, CH2 and then stop. Don’t complete the corner, and also just forget about working along the bottom of the square for now. (pic 1)

Instead, line up the middle square of that first row and put your hook into the bottom right corner of it. Do TR3 in that corner, then move upwards to the next space in the first square. (pic 2) Slip stitch into that square, then come back across to the second square and TR3 in the next space in it. Over to the first square and SL ST into the next space. Now you have reached the corner of the second square. TR3, CH2, TR3 into that corner. Don’t be tempted to slip stitch to the corner of the first square, that’s where my needle is pointing in pic 3. Instead, leave it unattached and a bit flappy for now. You’ll attach it later.

Work along the top and down the side of the second square like you did the first until the bottom corner. Like before TR3 and CH2 in the corner, then line up the third square. Work up the side of it as before and along the top, leaving the corner of the second square unattached as before. (pic 4)

Attaching Row 2 – Now, when you reach the top left corner of the third square, something different happens. TR3, CH2 into the corner but don’t complete it. Instead, rotate your work around so that the top edge is now at the bottom. You can see that my hook which was at the top left of pic 4 is now at the bottom right in pic 5. You are going to work along, going from right to left, joining the second row of squares. Pick up the blue square which had been at the left hand side of the second row and TR3, CH2 into its top right corner.

SL ST into the next space of the peach square, TR3 into the next space of the blue square, SL ST into the peach and now you will at the left corner of the blue square. TR3 into that corner, then move diagonally up to the corner of the pink square ( see where my needle is pointing in the pic 7). SL ST into that corner space, CH1 and then repeat this process with the next square of the second row. So continue working along the second row, joining the squares. Remember you are just working horizontally along the row at this stage.

When you reach the left side, TR3 into the pink corner, then SL ST into the corner above, where my hook is in pic 8, then CH1 and complete the corner on the pink square with TR3.

In pic 9, I’ve rotated the work through 90 degrees to show you that you work around the pink square like you did in the first row, and my needle is pointing to the 4th corner of that square. There are three TR already in that corner, so you just need to TR3. Now, pull up the loop that’s on your hook to make it a good bit bigger, then slip the loop off the hook. The next bit is a little different.

So, with your hook free, look for that corner from the row below that is still flapping free. It’s the one which is diagonally below the corner where you’ve just done the TR3. Put your hook into that corner, then also under the joining stitches and finally put the loop back on your hook. Anchor the whole corner neatly together by pulling through a SL ST and then make another SL ST. (pic 10)

The journey now continues up the side of the peach square, joining it to the pink square like you did in row 1. Remember to leave the top corners unjoined. (pic 11)

Continue in this way, joining all three squares of row 2, remembering again that you don’t join the top corners together, and doing just half of the corner at the left side, before revolving the work once more to start attaching the next row of squares, repeating the instructions as for row 2.

Right, you now know how to do continuous join as you go, or nearly. You will be aware that the whole left edge of the scarf, as well as the bottom edge is unfinished. This will get sorted out when you reach the top end of the scarf.

So, you’ve reached the last row of squares. You’ve attached them along their bottom edge ( as in row 2 of the pattern) and you are joining them all together. This time don’t leave the top corners flapping. You are doing an outer edge now, so SL ST from one corner to another and CH1 between the two groups of TR3 in the corner of the second square. (pic 13)

When you reach the corner on the left side, TR3, CH2, TR3 to complete the corner and now you start the LONG journey to work all the way down the left side and finally back along the bottom until you right back where you started!

There is just one little trick to help keep it all neat and tidy. When you reach the point where two squares butt together, you’ll notice that there is quite a big jump you have to do when going from TR3 in one corner to TR3 in the next. I’ve drawn an arc in pic 14 to show you where I mean. So, to get you neatly over that join, TR3 in the first corner, then CH1. Now make a SL ST in the actual join itself, CH1 again and you will find you have travelled over to the next corner and can TR3 in it quite neatly. (pic 15)

Work all the way round in this way until you get back to the beginning, finishing off that very first corner with TR3, CH2 then SL ST into the top of the very first CH2. Fasten off and sew in the ends.

And now, the scarf just needs a border to finish it off. At this point I turn the scarf over and work on the reverse as it helps to keep the edges flat and the corners square.

Round 1 of the border. Starting in any corner, CH2,TR2. Work all the way round the edge with TR3 in every space and TR3, CH2, TR3 in each corner. There is one important point to note though and again it’s when you have reached a point where two squares have met. If you put TR3 in one corner, followed by another TR3 in the next you would effectively be increasing the number of treble clusters. The result of that would be the edge starting to ripple. So to keep it the right number this is what you do.

In the corner of the first square, TR1 then TR2TOG from that corner into the next and finish off that corner with TR1.

(To make a TR2TOG, you yarn over, insert your hook in the first corner, yarn over and pull through (three loops on your hook), yarn over and pull through two loops. Now leave the remaining two loops on your hook, yarn over and insert it into the next corner, pull through the loop. You will have four loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through two loops then yarn over again and pull through the remaining three loops). (pic 16)

Work round all four sides of the scarf until you get back to the beginning. Finish off the first corner with TR3, CH2 and SL ST into the top of the first CH2. Fasten off and sew in the two ends.

Round 2 of the border. This is a pretty scalloped edge, which really shows up the colour changes in the yarn.

In any corner, attach your yarn and CH1, then DC1. *Miss a stitch, TR5 in the next stitch, miss a stitch, DC1 in the next stitch. Continue from * all the way around. This stitch is quite easy to “fudge” as there may be times at the corners where the stitch count isn’t quite accurate. If you have to miss two stitches for example,d I don’t worry. And I like to do TR7 in the corners which gives a nice rounded effect.

So there you have it, your finished granny square scarf! The yarn is machine washable so I now give it a pamper wash on the shortest setting with ordinary wash pods and fabric conditioner. In my machine the the setting is 30 degrees and a 15 minute wash and I put it through a spin cycle of 1000 revs so that it comes out just damp. You can block it if you like, but I found it was fine to just lay it on a blanket on my spare bed and gently tweak any parts that needed pulling slightly. Then leave it overnight to dry naturally.

Finally in my opinion, if you are giving it away as a gift, this is now the MOST IMPORTANT THING to do before you parcel it up – take several minutes to just look at it! Drool over those colour changes, the surprising little areas where different colours meet, the fact that the scarf goes through many different colour combinations along its length. That is just so satisfying, and testimony to the utter delights of this yarn.

Now let’s see all your finished scarves, particularly if you have used a different shade of yarn. I would be so delighted if my Instagram and Facebook feeds started filling up with colourful scarves in all different hues. Share them with me @woolthreadpaint.

Please note, this pattern and all the photos are the copyright of Marion Mitchell of Woolthreadpaint. I would respectfully ask that you do not copy or lift any part of the pattern, or any image without my permission. You can make the scarf for yourself, as a gift or indeed as a finished item to sell, where I would expect you to acknowledge me as the designer.