Crochet Ribbed Scarf. It’s like knitting, only better!

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Knitted scarves are beautiful and soft, but a crocheter wants to crochet! Crochet is faster than knitting, and is great for producing nice chunky stitches. But too often, crochet scarves turn out awkward and stiff, lacking the nice drape and softness of knit. Determined to make a warm, soft, beautiful crochet scarf, I set out on my quest to find the perfect way to crochet a scarf.

I experimented with a lot of stitches to find one that would look nice (on both sides of the piece, because who wants a one-sided scarf?), would feel nice (not too dense, and with soft and smooth stitches), and that would work up quickly.

What I finally settled on is this beautiful ribbed variation of a half double crochet stitch. I love the look and feel of scarves made using this stitch.

Here’s how it’s done:

Start with a row of half double crochet (hdc).

The following rows will all be worked in the ribbed hdc variation. The only difference between a normal hdc and the ribbed variation is with where you insert your hook. Hdc stitches create an extra horizontal loop below the ‘V’ where you would normally insert your hook. To create hdc ribbing, you will insert the hook through that extra loop instead of through the V.

Some pictures to help:

The image below shows the hook inserted through the V, like a normal hdc. This is not how you will complete this stitch.

The next image shows the hook inserted in the horizontal loop. Continue hdc through these horizontal loops, and you will create the ribbing, it’s that easy!

You won’t really start to see the ribbing effect until after a few rows, and it tends to look strange on a short piece (like the swatch below). So don’t give up on it too soon! It really is a simple and beautiful stitch, especially for a scarf.


Making the Scarf 

Once you have the hang of the ribbed half double crochet stitch, making a scarf is a lot of fun. The scarf is worked up lengthwise, so the length of the starting chain determines the length of your scarf, and the number of rows determines the scarf’s width. I’ll walk you through how to figure out how long your starting chain should be.

**If you don’t want to calculate and don’t care about the exact length of your scarf, just make a chain wide enough that you can hold it in both hands and stretch your arms wide. Then, add 10-20 more stitches, and start crocheting your scarf!

Yarn
You can use any size yarn, but I recommend not using special fuzzy yarns because they will hide the ribbing – this stitch looks best with a standard yarn. I’ve used cotton, wool, acrylic, and more, and all have worked well, just not fuzzy yarns.

Hook
I recommend a hook that is a size smaller than you would typically use with your yarn – the ribbing turns out best when the stitches aren’t too loose.

First step: Crochet a swatch

The best way to calculate how many stitches you will need is to start by crocheting a swatch. To create a swatch, chain 15 stitches. Complete 5 rows of the half double crochet ribbed stitch.

Measure the 10 stitches in the middle of the swatch and write this measurement down. You will use it to calculate the number of stitches needed to complete the scarf.

The swatch I created measures about 2.75 in. for each 10 stitches.

Determine the length of the chain

Now we need to use our swatch measurement to determine how many chains to make to get the desired scarf length. Between 6-8 feet (183-244 cm) is usually a good length. I’ll shoot for 6 feet for this example. First, I’ll convert that to inches. There are 12 inches in a foot, so my 6 foot scarf will be 72 inches.

So how many 10-stitch segments does it take to reach 72 inches? Here’s a simple formula:

Scarf Length / Swatch Measurement = X

Plugging in my numbers I get:

72 in. / 2.75 in. = approx. 26

So I will need 26 10-stitch segments to complete the scarf. In other words, I will need 260 stitches.

The width

Just keep adding rows until you like the width of your scarf. Not sure what width a scarf should be? Between 5 – 7 inches (12-18 cm) is usually a good standard size.

And you’re done! No finishing off needed.

I love using this stitch for scarves, but it’s also beautiful for blankets. I’m sure there are other applications as well, play around with it and let me know what you come up with! Also, if anything is unclear, feel free to ask for some help or clarification. Thanks for reading 🙂

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I would love to have a tutorial for a ribbed scarfp

Great idea and so well explained. I needed a good idea to crochet a scarf for a family member. This is it. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your perseverance. You must have spent hours doing this…and I love it! It is soft and beautiful and with the instructions you included was very easy to follow.
Again, thank you.

no pinterest icon to pin it to my pinterest page:(

Acupuncture is not like this, in fact it suffers from the
opposite impact since mot individuals who haven’t attempted are really skeptical.

Hi is there a video tutorial of how you’ve done this stitch. I’m very new to crochet.. I started this pattern tonight (only a few stitches into my second row) and have been putting my hook in the middle of the v (on the top) and up through the back. Ivery just read back and it sounds like I might have got it wrong 😐

How did you finish off the edges?

You didn’t mention what size crochet hook or how much yarn you used

I always do my stitches that way, Never noticed the ribbing until now.

That looks really cool!

Por favor, pode mandar por email o modelo ou gráfico do cachicol colorido. Desde já agradeço pela atenção.

Do you know how many stitches I need to make the chain

How do i show you what i made??
Loved the way it worked up so quickly

This is perfect looking thanks! I’ve been searching for this type of scarf with the textured ribbing. My friend sent me a photo of a scarf she wanted and it was cable knitted ugh. I will make this instead. Thanks again.

Is very beautiful but I’m going to say one thing I could never do anything like that is very lovely I will be proud to say I would love to be doing something like that it’s just too difficult for me

Hi! I’m done with the scarf i really love it!! Vut im not sure how to finish… I mean the last row if i do just HDC like the very first for it to be equal, it wont look the same because if the chain on the firts row… I want it to be as perfectly reflected as possible top or bottom! So how can i do the last row to finish this?
Thanks 😊😊

I’d like you to know that I could not figure this out until I was lucky enough to find your video. Thank you ever so much.

Made this to go with a hat for my 26 year old grandson’s birthday. Black and grey stripes. My ends didn’t come out as smooth as yours so I hid them with a cross border. Thanks, always fun to learn new stitches.

Same here Cookieee. I’ve followed instructions here and on YouTube, including how to do the ends, but the ends just don’t look right. May I ask what kind of border you did to hide them?

i must be stupid but i still don’t get it….I cannot figure out where to pick up the thread

Would i be able to adapt this in the round for a mans hat? This is great!

Thanks for posting this, love how it looks. Using it for Christmas gifts 2016!

I looked at a similar scarf and with thicker yarn (wool blend) I started mine with a chain of 200, hdc with a 1 chain turn on the ends. Hope this helps.

How many chains do I make, what size hook and what kind of yarn was used?

I used a I hook and chained 60 inches to start but you can make your chain how ever long you want. I make a regular hdc in the last stitch of each row to finish it. I watch a youtube video and liked the way it looked. Hope I helped.

I can’t seem to get the turns right

I need to know.