the boyfriend basketweave scarf

I discovered a yarn store convenient to me on White Bridge Road called Haus of Yarn. They had a great selection but, unfortunately, most of what they carry is significantly more expensive than what I usually buy. On a side note, as with any big purchase, buying luxury yarn is borderline tortuous for me. I feel extreme pressure (brought on by myself) to make the right decision… the perfect choice. Because if I’m going to invest so much in a single item, it has to be worth it. Buying my camera was awful. Same with my car and my laptop. Absolute agony.

So after an hour or so of making laps and picking up the same three or four yarns and carrying them around… followed by putting it up and carrying the next one for a lap or two… I settled on Misti Alpaca chunky weight yarn. I don’t know the color but I think it’s Ember Melange. It looks chocolate-y brown in some light and deep maroon, purple in other. I love this yarn for its squishy texture. It’s worthy of burying your face in it—except that makeup smears on lovely eggplant alpaca (over which you’ve conducted a one-gal debate tournament in your head) doesn’t really work.

I’m using this yarn to make the “Boyfriend Basketweave Scarf” featured in the Chicks with Sticks book. To do this pattern, the only stitches you need to know are double crochet and half-double. You’re using these basics to do front post stitches and back post stitches. This is basically coming down into the post of the stitch (from the front or the back, respectively)from the previous row, instead of the top loop. You’re alternating three stitches from the front, three from the back, etc. and it creates a basketweave texture. How anyone figured out how to do this, I’ll never know. But then, I say that every time I do a new pattern.

The end result is a really simple piece, double thickness of the stitch—because each row overlaps the previous one by 50%-- in a fairly masculine color and texture. If someone else were to attempt this pattern, my only tip would be to establish a habit of consistently ending on either a back row or a front row every time you put the piece down, so you always know how to start again when you come back. There is a pattern of how to start and end each row and how to alternate and failing to be consistent will result in an uneven weave, one row usually appearing too long.

***I lightened the color on the photo so you could actually see some of the texture. This thing seems to suck all the light from the room.