Popcorn Jewels Cowl

Wrapped three times.

My blog has been quiet for a while.

Life has been busy: work, Mom's Taxi Service, craft shows, special orders for knit and crochet items, trying to get past level 419 in Candy Crush Saga...

In the midst of all this busy-ness, I finally got around to frogging a scrap yarn afghan on Thanksgiving Day. For those of you not familiar with the slang of yarn crafts, "frogging" means to take a project apart by ripping out the stitches. The "rip it" led to the term "frogging."

So, my frogging doubled the size of my "too small for much of anything" yarn collection. What used to fit in a jumbo-sized Ziploc bag needed a much larger container now. I ended up putting it in a large plastic cover from a catering tray. It conveniently fits under the end table next to my chair, but I realize it looks untidy and can't stay there indefinitely. My goal, once Christmas presents and special orders and craft show items are done, is to get the "small ball stash" back to fitting into the jumbo Ziploc bag.

I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head for projects to use up some of the small scraps. A little girl from church has a striped hat done in reverse stockingnet that would be easy to duplicate. I printed out a pattern for a stained glass window scarf, and would like to scale it down for a blanket for an American Girl doll. I would like to make a few doll blankets with Granny Squares or variations on Granny Squares. I'll be making some striped baby stocking caps. The list goes on and on.

After seeing the pattern for the Stained Glass Window Scarf, I got the idea to make a cowl scarf with bobbles of color. I wanted it to work up quickly, so I used a size M hook and two strands of yarn.

The scarf used 5.3 ounces of yarn (according to my kitchen scale). If you don't have a collection of black scrap yarn to use up, you would probably need about 4.5 ounces of black yarn to use up with your colorful scraps.

Wrapped twice

I started my chain with a size N hook, then switched to size M for the pattern stitches, so that the scarf would be a little stretchier with the starting chain. You could also start with a chainless foundation HDC. Here's a Youtube tutorial on how to do that.

The "Pattern" : (Although it's actually more of a general guideline...)
With two strands of black yarn, chain 132. Join, being careful not to twist.
Round 1: Chain 2, hdc in each stitch. Join with slip stitch to chain 2.
Round 2: Chain 2, **hdc in 3 stitches, attach colored yarn and make a Popcorn Stitch in next stitch**. Repeat from ** to ** 3 or 4 times, depending on the length of your scrap yarn, working over the black yarn. Tie off scrap yarn and do 6-12 hdc with black. Then tie on another scrap color and repeat from ** again as needed around the row. You're making bobbles with 3 hdc between the individual bobbles and a longer stretch between the groups of bobbles.

I didn't have a real pattern for my bobbles - I just tied some yarn on when I felt like it, did as many bobbles as I could with that scrap, and went back to black.When I got to the end of the row, I joined with a slip stitch.

I did three rows, then finished off with a round of hdc. The finished scarf is about 68" around, and 3" wide. You could do more rows for a wider scarf.

I'm thinking of other possibilities with this pattern... done with two colors... done with off white with colored bobbles.. the ideas are as endless as my supply of scrap yarn!