Elemental Scarf

Way back in September, a friend suggested making a scarf to represent the four elements: earth, air, fire, water. I instantly fell in love with the idea and came up with a pattern to go along with the representative colors. Spirit was included as the fifth element tying everything together. After some writing, experimenting, testing, blocking, and photographing, I'm finally ready to share my typed up pattern for the Elemental Scarf!

The pattern is written in sections which are approxiamately the same length and width. Dimensions will vary somewhat with your crochet style and blocking/stretching technique. You can arrange the sections however you please or repeat a section as you would like. Colors are my personal representations of the elements, so change them to whatever fits well with you. As always, feel free to ask questions and leave comments.

Abbreviations
ch - chain
sc - single crochet
hdc - half double crochet
dc - doule crochet
fpdc - front post double crochet
bpdc - back post double crochet
tch - turning chain
cluster - group of stitches closed at all once together
shell - group of stitches worked into same space or stitch

Materials:
Hook, I/9 5.5mm (or hook recommended for yarn)
Approximately 100 yards each color of worsted weight yarn
Yarn needle recommended for sewing in ends
 

Earth:
green, solid stitches
1: ch 16, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc across (15 sc)
2: turn, ch 1, 15 hdc
3: turn, ch 1, 15 dc
4: turn, ch 1, 15 sc
5-36: Repeat rows 2-4, ending with row 3
36 rows = 12 sets

Air:
white, clusters & shells
1: ch 3, dc across (15 dc)
2: ch 5, cluster in first 3 dc, *ch 2, cluster next 3 dc.* Repeat * to * to end; ch 2, dc in last sc (5 clusters + 2 dc ends)
3: ch 3, *3dc shell in top of cluster, repeat from * across. dc in 3rd ch of previous tch.
4-23: Repeat rows 2&3
Final row: ch 3, dc across
24 rows = 11 pairs + dc rows

Fire:
red, post stitches
1-3: ch 3, dc across (15 dc)
4: ch 3, 3 bpdc, 7 fpdc, 3 bpdc, dc in tch
5: ch 3, 4 fpdc, 5 bpdc, 4 fpdc,  dc in tch
6: 5 bpdc, 3 fpdc, 5 bpdc, dc in tch
7: 6 fpdc, 1 bpdc, 6 fpdc, dc in tch
8-21: repeat rows 1-7.
22-24: ch 3, dc across (15 dc)
24 rows = 3 sets + final 3 rows

Water:
blue, ribbed & wavy
1: 15 sc
2: hdc, hdc, sc, sc, hdc, dc, dc, hdc, sc, sc, hdc, dc, dc, hdc, hdc - all front loop only
3-35: repeat row 2
36: 15 sc
36 rows = 12 sets + sc rows

Spirit:
purple border
Single crochet around evenly. Following this general guidline for help placing stitches into the sides of rows: 1 sc into sc row, 3 sc in 2 hdc rows, 2 sc in dc row

Reading Charts

Have you ever gotten a pattern that came with a chart? Maybe the pattern was only a chart. The first time I saw one of these, I thought, "And how am I supposed to crochet from this?" Since then, I've learned some of the symbols and gotten a chance to practice reading charts that had written versions as well. If you've never used a chart before, I highly recommend that approach. To get you started, I present to you this lovely graphic of symbols thanks to the Craft Yarn Council. There's actually all kinds of useful information on their website, for both knit and crochet.

There's a downloadable pdf available on their website.

And for fun, I wanted to share with you this video put together by The Crochet Crowd.

 

Crochet Crowd Symbols Quiz

Reading a chart can sometimes be frustrating. Sometimes they aren't done very well, or you really need a note of clarification on which direction to go when. If there's a curve to the work, it can take some practice to know where to put your stitch. Working in rows is much easier to understand; the stitches tend to line up. Like always, be sure to read any special stitches, tips, or extra directions given with the pattern.

In this chart, the clusters of dc go into the chain space (except for the center dc and the first and last stitches of a row). via Lion Brand's Reading Charts page

via Smart Knitting-Crocheting (Pattern 4) The dc clusters go in the chain space. The sc goes in the stitch directly below it.

Maybe one of these days I'll make a pattern that'll be well suited to charting. There's computer programs to help make them, but until I'm making them regularly, I think I'll wait on that.
Happy chart reading!