Stripey Winter Throat Warmer

Wear this winter throat warmer as harbinger of blazer-striped, deckchair days and the promise of that elusive sun-drenched picnic in St James’s park being hustled by the Canada geese for your sandwich crusts or as an evocation of halcyon memories of melted, sunscreen flavoured ice-cream traumas of seaside holidays at Brighton, Hove and Skegness.

Not only does the simplicity of this Garter stitch scarf makes this project perfect for complete beginners, the striped pattern can also be adapted to use up all those odd spare balls of yarn, that more experienced knitters hoard by the bagful, left over from years of knitting tear-inducingly complicated, decoratively stitched garments.

Step 1: To Knit the Scarf

I made this as my first knitted scarf project and not wanting to fork out oodles of money on yarn for a project that I may or may not successfully complete I bought this bargain discontinued stock. If buying wool specifically for this project be sure to check your yarn shop's bargain bin as this project doesn't need very many balls of each colourway and, the stripes mean that you can use different dyelots of a single colour. The variables of the pattern below are in no way fixed but it's merely descriptive of how I achieved the scarf pictured above.

Materials for the scarf:
Pair 3.5mm needles
1 xmm crochet hook
2x 50g balls Debbie Bliss merino dk red 225700
2x 50g balls Debbie Bliss merino dk blue 225203
1x 50g balls Debbie Bliss merino dk grey 225104
1x 50g balls Debbie Bliss merino dk white 225100
2 x 25mm buttons

To knit the scarf:
With grey yarn cast on 38 stiches, knit 5 rows.
Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to blue, knit 10 rows
*Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to red, knit 10 rows
Change colour to grey, knit 6 rows
Change colour to red, knit 10 rows
Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to blue, knit 10 rows
Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to grey, knit 6 rows
Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to blue, knit 10 rows
Repeat from * until the scarf wraps around the back of your neck and the ends come to in line with your breast.
Then change colour to white, knit 2 rows Change colour to red, knit 10 rows
Change colour to grey, knit 6 rows
Change colour to red, knit 10 rows
Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to blue, knit 10 rows
Change colour to white, knit 2 rows
Change colour to grey, knit 5 rows
Cast off. Finish off by weaving loose ends into same colour knitted fabric using a blunt ended knitter's needle.

To knit the strap:
With blue yarn, cast on 36 stitches
Knit 1 row
Next row (right side, RS) beg incs: k2, m1(twist to the left), k32, m1(twist to the right), k2
Knit 1 row
(RS): k2, m1(twist to the left), k34, m1(twist to the right), k2
Knit 3 rows
Next row (right side, RS) beg decs: k2, k2tog, k34, ssk, k2
Knit 1 row
(RS): k2, k2tog, k32, ssk, k2
Cast off

Key:
m1 - make 1
k2tog - knit 2 together
ssk - slip, slip (in this instance slipping stitches knitwise), knit

Don't worry If you haven't yet got to the point where you know how to increase or decrease, simply knit a strip of fabric 40 stitches wide by 12 rows high.

The white "piping" was chained stitched using a crochet hook. I proceeded by pulling the white wool through a stitch in a row second from the edge of the knitted blue fabric and chaining a stitch. Then I slipped the crochet hook through the next stitch in the knitted blue fabric, pulled the white wool through, chained a stitch and so on around, just inside, the edge of the knitted strap.

Step 2: The Detachable Flower Corsages

I sewed the corsages to badge pins so that they could be removed or positioned where you like once you have put on the scarf and adjusted it in the mirror. They are also very convenient for disguising the odd unsightly twisted, picked-up dropped stitch or any other unintentional loop, split stitch, hole, knot or irregularity. You can then feel confident in wearing your scarf on the tube to and from work , blithely nonchalant under the close scrutiny of your fellow sardine-packed commuters.

Materials for the corsages:
Yarn for crochet flowers
Shirting fabric for fabric flowers
Felt
Buttons
Badge pins
Thread & sewing needle
Clear adhesive

For the crochet flower I used the quaint five petal flower pattern posted on Marianne Horton's blog applehead

Step 3: To Make the Fabric Flower:

Print out the A4 pdf 'corsage_pattern' document. Pin the Fabric flower back and front pattern pieces to your fabric of choice and cut out the shapes.

Step 4: To Make the Fabric Flower Cont..

1. Trim the Fabric flower back pattern piece to the inside line. Place the two fabric shapes, right sides of the fabric together. Pin the pattern piece in the center making sure the pins secure both layers of fabric. Hand sew around the outline of the pattern piece.

2. Snip the selvedge.

3. Turn the flower inside out (through the hole in the center of the back) revealing the right sides of the fabric. Press the edges with a hot clothes iron.

4. Pin the Medium flower shape pattern piece to a piece of felt and cut out the shape. Hand sew the felt shape over the hole in the back to conceal it to prevent the raw edge from fraying and to reinforce the area to which you will sew the badge pin.

Step 5: Assembly of the Corsage

1. With a button forming the top most layer, stitch through all the layers from back to front several times to secure the flower elements into a single corsage. Knot off the thread at the back as per sewing on a button.
2. Stitch on the badge pin.
3. Finish the back of the corsage by covering the stitches lashing the badge pin by gluing on a Small felt flower shape as per the pdf pattern.