Crocheted Scarves by Vogue Knitting

Last year, after doing some research, I purchased Crocheted Scarves by Vogue Knitting. According to the people who had left comments on Amazon, this was the perfect crocheting book for me, with simple yet stylish scarf designs that I might actually wear. When I got it, I was very happy with my purchase. It is not a large book, very easy to handle while sitting in front of the TV, and it has lovely pictures and clear instructions.

I brought the book with me to a specialty yarn shop and purchased the materials needed for the Mohair Ripple Scarf on page 24. For the next few months, whenever I watched TV (which was not that often), I would have my hands occupied by my scarf project. Pretty soon, as one row after another was completed, the striped scarf began to take shape. An awkward, oddly uneven shape.

At least the scarf was scarf-shaped, long and thin—much thinner than the scarf pictured in the book was—but the ends were not straight. I had some trouble with the turnarounds. Each row of color seemed to be of a different length, but this was somewhat hidden by the tassels I guess.

It was then that I realized that I was in a bit of a bind. I live in California. About three times a year the temperature dips below forty degrees, but generally it is not that cold here. Not like New York, or Boston, where I spent my first 21 years of life. I don’t really need a scarf and don’t usually wear them. I had thought of making it a gift, but now, with its not-quite-right look, I wasn’t so sure.

I decided to do it anyway and sent it to M for Christmas that year. She lives in Connecticut where it might actually be useful, and the uneven ends and funny shape would just serve to highlight the fact that it was made by my own hands. Something made by a friend is more valuable, is it not?

When M received my gift, she was properly thankful, but not unusually so. A few weeks later, though, without my even bringing it up, she mentioned that she had gotten a lot of compliments on the scarf when she had worn it to work. Wow, she actually wore it to work! Now, that’s friendship. The compliments were gravy.

Crocheted Scarves by Vogue Knitting

Tags: crochet friendship Vogue Knitting