Lace Cluster Scarf: A Free Crochet Pattern

A few weeks ago I ran into the fabric store to grab something and while I was there I decided to check out the clearance section. They had a lot of yarn there and it was all really tempting but I have so much yarn and fabric at home, a lot of which has been given to me, that I rarely buy any unless I have something I want to make with it. I ended up buying two skeins of an acrylic/alpaca blend in a light blue color. I thought it would make some soft, pretty scarves. After I got home I immediately started thinking up patterns for it.  It took less than one skein to make this scarf. I figure I will probably be able to make 3 scarves from the two skeins that I bought.

The only problem I have now is what to do with three scarves that are all the same color. I have never been much of a scarf wearer but they are really nice to make when you want to try out a new stitch pattern. I have several more scarf ideas scribbled down in my little idea notebook. I have a feeling that all of my sisters will be getting scarves for Christmas. 

 For this pattern I alternated v-stitches with 3 double crochet clusters. It was a really easy, repetitive pattern and like I mentioned before it used less than 1 skein of yarn. I got the idea for the stitch pattern from this book:

Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. The book was my great-grandma's but my mom had the same book when I was growing up so even though the book is older than me and the pictures and designs are all very dated and I definitely don't see myself ever making any of the projects in this book, it is one that I just can't get rid of because I have lots of memories attached to it. As a kid when I was learning to crochet or knit or wanted to learn a new embroidery stitch this was my go-to resource. Of course, that was 15-20 years ago and now it is a lot easier to just google something but I still occasionally pull it off the shelf to look through it for questions or ideas. Anyway, I pulled it out the other day to look at some of the crochet stitch patterns and I found the lace cluster pattern. I tweaked it a little to work better for me but that is where I got the idea.

So now for the pattern:

Lace Cluster Scarf

You will need

medium weight yarn (I used Deborah Norville Alpaca Dance in Cornflower)

H crochet hook

yarn needle for weaving in ends

dc cluster: yarn over, insert hook into stitch and draw up yarn, yarn over and pull through 2 loops (2 loops left on hook), yarn over, insert in stitch and draw up yarn, yarn over and pull through 2 loops (3 loops left on hook), yarn over, insert in stitch and draw up yarn, yarn over and pull through 2 loops (4 loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through all 4 loops

ch 25

Row 1: (dc, ch2, dc) in the 5th ch from hook, ch 1, [skip 2 ch, dc cluster in next ch, ch 1, skip 2 ch, (dc, ch1, dc) in next ch, ch 1], repeat [to] two more times, sk 1, dc in last ch, dc 3, turn

Row 2: [dc cluster in ch 1 space, ch 1, (dc, ch 1, dc) in the top of cluster, ch 1], repeat from [to] two more times, dc cluster in ch 1 space, dc in ch 3 from previous row, ch 3, turn

Row 3: [(dc, ch 1, dc) in the top of cluster, ch 1, dc cluster in ch 1 space, ch 1], repeat from [ to ] two more times, (dc, ch 1, dc) in top of cluster, dc in top of ch three, ch 3, turn

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until desired length is reached. My scarf ended up about 7 inches wide and 68 inches long.