Left Hand Free Crochet Pattern Hooded Scarf Workshop Part 3 ~ Crochet Along Easy Pattern

So it's important to be able to know what a stitch is and where our rows begin and end. Because we're working in the back loop, our rows are a little bit shorter than just normal double crochets. As you can see, we have a row here, and then a row right in the middle, and then another row. So you can see that middle row is quite smaller than these other two because of that back loop. When I flip it over, then those two rows are the ones that become the short ones. It's just important to be able to count how many rows we actually have. So instead of counting, you know, one or two, you have to make sure you're counting that center small row so that you can measure gauge properly. Now for the actual stitch measurement, if you are experienced enough to be able to count the post, then by all means go ahead and do that. If it's a little confusing where each stitch ends and begins, you can always turn and count the top stitches along the top of your work, or the Vs that you see, so you can use those This is as your stitch count. So let's take our gauge and what our gauge tells us in our pattern is that two inches is going to equal seven double crochets and four rows. So what I'll do is I'll measure my rows first since that one is pretty easy to do. These rows are quite easy to see. So you can see that we have one, two, three, and four right here. So let's see if it's measuring two inches. So I'm going to go right Right where this little line is, I'm gonna put my checker. Right along that line, and then I'm going to push it up so I can see if I am fitting all four rows into that two inches. And you can see that it is. So this little cutout's really nice because it shows you, you can just count what's right inside the checker. Now, if I am good at counting posts, or my posts on my stitches, I can just... Put my gauge checker right at the edge of one of my stitches and then count across for my two inches. So I have one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, which is what I needed for my gauge. If I am new or beginner and it's a little difficult to tell where these stitches end and begin, I'll just turn my work and look for my v's up top and count from there. So I'll go right to the edge of where that first V is and put my checker right in there and then I'll count across. So I have one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. So you can see that I've made gauge by using the hook that was called for, which it was an H hook. If you need to make gauge and you find that the H hook is not working, maybe your stitches are too small because you're crocheting really tightly or they're a little big, you're just going to change your hook. So if you're making too many stitches, say you have eight or nine in your two inches, go up the hook size and it'll make your stitches a little bit bigger so they'll spread out a little. If you find that you don't have enough stitches, so maybe you only have five in your two inches, Go down a hook size and try that, and that'll put your stitches closer together. So if you're a very lofty crocheter, lifter, and you make very wide stitches, going down a hook size should help that. Now I used an H hook, which is kind of a small hook for worsted weight yarn, because I wanted a very dense scarf. I wanted minimal holes in between. Because it's a hooded scarf, I wanted the hood to be nice and thick so that a lot of weather doesn't get through it. So depending on how you want your hooded scarf to be is going to kind of also dictate what hook you use if you don't mind what size it turns out. And if you're making it for maybe an adult, just by substituting a larger hook can give you a larger scarf. But if you really want a longer scarf, all you have to do is just add foundation chains at the very beginning of your foundation chain to make it a longer scarf. We'll talk about how to make it a wider scarf, so if you need a bigger hood for a bigger head, we'll talk about that once we get near the end. But what I'm going to do right now is I'm going to continue on in my rows. I'm just going to keep on double crocheting in the back loop only. Hopefully this little gauge break gave you a couple of new... Um, ideas or information that you can take and use in any kind of crochet that you're doing. But go ahead and meet me up. I'm going to probably go near the very end of my project. So you go ahead and head back to working on your project and meet up with me when it's time to sew your hood all up. I will see you then. Alright, I have finished all 16 rows of my project. Let me show you, I've bunched up here. We have finished the entire scarf. And I'm all the way at the very last stitch of my very last row. And I'm about to fasten off. So you can see I've already drawn through these last two loops. Just so you can see how I fasten off. I'll draw through the last two loops on my hook. And then I'll have that loop left. Um, sometimes they'll tell you to pull it out, um, cut your tail and then pull it through. An easier way that I do it for fastening off is I'll just make a chain through that last loop and then I'll pull it long, as long as I want my tail to be, so that I can weave it in easy, and then I just tighten down that chain. It's kind of the same way but a little bit easier to do. You don't have to worry about trying to get it through the hole after you cut. And then I just take my scissors and I cut my tail and then I take my working yarn and I just pull it out through the chain that I made and then I have my fastened off end. I'm going to go ahead and put the scarf together first, and then I'll weave in the ends, and I'll show you how I weave in my ends, just so if you're new and you have trouble with that portion, we'll go through that also. But the next step that we're going to do is join our scarf to make it an actual hooded scarf. So let's get started on that right now. Alright, now I am ready to put my hood together on my scarf. I have folded the scarf in half and lined up my edges so that they are right in line with each other. And then I'm going to come back over to where the fold of my scarf actually is. Now to begin the hooded portion what I need is my hook with some yarn already attached so I take my yarn and I just put a slip knot on there and then I'm going to join it to my scarf to start creating my hood. So what I'll do is I have, and this is where having worked into the bottom bump of my foundation chain comes in handy because you can see that I have the V's that are very easy to work into. If you didn't work into your bottom bumps, you can always work the last row of your work where you have the V's. You can join on this end, whichever end you choose to join. It's not a very big deal because they're both pretty much identical. So I'm going to join my yarn by slipping it through two loops and just doing a slip stitch to join it. And then I'm going to start doing a single crochet join. So all that means is instead of working through just two loops to join or to single crochet, I'm going to put it through both sides of my hood. So I'm going to insert my hook into the two loops that I have and then go straight across to the two loops on the other side. And then I'm going to yarn over and pull up the loop. Yarn over and finish that off, and then one thing that I'm going to do that I don't do on my regular single crochet is I'm going to tighten it down, so as I work across, I'm going to tighten down my single crochet because I'm not going to be working into it again, it's just a join, so that way I get a nice tight join. So again, I'm going to go into the next two loops, find the next two loops on the back side of my scarf, and go through those, yarn over and pull up. Yarn over, finish off that single crochet, and tighten it down. So I'm just going to keep on doing this for eight inches of my scarf to create that hood. Go through the first two, second two, yarn over, go through, and this can, oops, lost it. Let's say this can get a little bit tedious and a little difficult sometimes to get through, back through all four loops, so just give it kind of a wiggle as you work if you get a little stuck. Pull through and tighten down. Now the reason that I chose this join for my hood is because it's a very strong join. If I just whip stitched or did a mattress stitch on this, it has a bigger tendency to come undone. And since it's going on my head or the head of whoever's going to be wearing it, I want it to make sure that it's nice and secure. And I don't have to worry about ever having to re-stitch it back together. So I'm going to continue with my single crochet join for 8 inches. So all you do is just stop and measure how far you've gone as you work. And once you get to 8 inches, we're going to stop and we're going to fasten it off and I'm going to show you how to weave in the ends. So I'll meet you back in 8 inches. Alright, I am at my 8 inches of joined hood. And I am ready to fasten off, and just like before, I'm just going to do a chain, and pull it nice and long and tight, so that I can have a nice tail for weaving in. Pull that down tight, and get my scissors, pull my tail out, and then I'm going to get rid of all these extra things here. I'm going to show you how to weave in this end right here, since it's kind of a weird one, you may wonder what to do with it. Um, instead I have my yarn needle and it's got a nice big hole so usually I can thread it pretty easily, um, just with the end. Some of the yarns may not work as well. Okay, now I'm going to thread my end onto my yarn needle. I do this by laying it over the top of my needle and pinching it nice and tight and then just sliding the needle off. And then I turn it so that the eye is facing that little, um, bend that I just made and And push it through. That way I don't have to deal with if I have a frayed end trying to stick it through the eye of the needle, it's just a lot easier. So this is a pretty easy project to sew up because it's all one color, the stitches are nice and dense so I can pretty much stick my yarn wherever I want. This is technically the wrong side of the project because this is the side that I seamed. Once I sew this in I'll flip it out and show you the the correct side. So I'm going to try to keep my end or the the part that I'm sewing through Mostly on the wrong side of the fabric, so I usually like to go back through the last stitch I made to kind of bring down my Fasten off where I fastened off Just to bring it down a little and then I just simply start going back and forth Through my stitches by back and forth what I mean is I go one way Until I can actually go the other way. Let me go to the end of this double crochet here I sew one way and then I turn and I go back the other way and by doing the zigzag motion of sewing It's going to secure it a lot