I am a crocheter but I think knitting is so cool. I have tried, but it’s too hard for me. Crochet was also tough for me to learn, so I’d like to try knitting again sometime, but now it’s only a month until Christmas and I wanted to make a scarf for someone who is a big Harry Potter fan.
I thought over what kind of look I wanted, and I just love the look of knitted items with the neat & tidy ‘V’-shaped stitches. I knew there is a crochet stitch which looks similar, so I searched and found the Tunisian Knit Stitch.
Guys. Or gals. This is just my opinion, but DO NOT DO IT. It’s terrible. I’ve been crocheting for quite a few years now and have made all kinds of things, and never once threw my work out of sheer frustration before…until this.
Why so bad? THREE big reasons:
1 – It curls upward. Aggressively. Regardless of keeping the tension loose. Just no.
2 – You have to keep the whole row of loops on your hook, much like knitting. So if I have to do that, I’ll just learn to knit, for crying out loud, and
3 – It makes a weird back side with thick, horizontal rows sticking out. So much no.
I was about to give up but searched once more, then I found it, the stitch I was looking for: the Waistcoat Stitch.
It’s just right. No curling, no tons of loops on the hook, and nice, smooth V’s on both sides. So hopefully I have saved you the trouble I went through if you’re wanting to try a knit-style stitch in crochet. And, it’s easy!
If I haven’t mentioned it before, while I am a proud Hufflepuff, the person I wanted to make the scarf for is a Gryffindor, so I decided to make a red & gold scarf like in the movies, but not the color block one from the first 2 movies…the one Hermione wears that is red with 2 gold stripes throughout. I just think it’s a prettier look.
An important thing to know about the Waistcoat Stitch is it uses a LOT of yarn because the stitches aren’t tall…they are even shorter than single crochets. And they are dense. One regular size skein of red won’t be enough. So make sure to have plenty of yarn in the main color. I said I’d never make a blanket again because it took so long…well, this scarf was like making a little blanket.
I also recommend keeping the tension loose so that you don’t have to struggle inserting your hook for every stitch. Just give an extra tug with your hook after the yarn over.
Of course you can choose whichever house colors you like (it works out for me that the yellow & black Hufflepuff colors are also Iowa colors, so maybe I’ll make one of those too. Ironically, Gryffindor is Iowa State colors).
You can make your scarf whatever size you like…mine was 24 stitches wide (so that means to start, do a slip knot then chain 25). I did 8 sections of red which were 26 rows long each, with 7 stripe rows in between (which are 3 yellow, 3 red, then 3 yellow). That’s 5,946 total stitches (not including the many rows I frogged)! With the tassels, it measures 80 inches.
The tassels take a fair bit of yarn as well. I did 9 tassels for each end. Each tassel is (12) 7.5” strands, which are looped around so they are 24 strands thick. They are a bit tricky to tie on (we Muggles have to do it without magic, unlike Mrs. Weasley), but they look really nice once they are, and they don’t need any trimming.
Will you be gifting someone a Hogwarts-style scarf this Christmas? Which house will it be? I think it would make even a Slytherin smile.
