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Crochet and Braid T-shirt Scarf

by | Crochet, DIY

I wasn’t going to post again until the New Year, but I’m so excited about this project, I have to show it now.  NOW.  I have some problems with delayed gratification, can you tell? (Although, I did wrap my own Kindle Fire and waited until Christmas to open it, to everyone’s amusement.)

Ok, so I saw some pretty nifty braided scarves on Pinterest and Google.  Follow me on Pinterest to see my inspirations!  I decided to mash up the braided scarf idea with the upcycled t-shirt idea, and this is what I got.

crochet braid t-shirt scarf

I didn’t cut up old t-shirts though, mostly because I only have a couple of them hanging around, and they’re not of a size to produce enough fabric for this scarf.  So I went to Hobby Lobby (for the FIRST TIME!) and almost swooned at the sight of the craft heaven that it is.

One Dog Woof: Crochet Braid T-shirt Scarf

In a nutshell, this scarf consists of a cuff made from crochet, and a whole bunch of knit jersey fabric braided and tied into the crochet cuff.  I’m thinking about selling this on Etsy!  (Did I mention? I’m starting an Etsy shop – another New Years resolution that I’ll talk about later.)  Update: I have not been making these for sale because it takes more fabric and time than I have available.

If you’d like one, let me know and you can support my Etsy endeavors! 🙂  Or, check out the instructions below and try your hand at making one yourself!  

One Dog Woof: Crochet Braid T-shirt Scarf

 

One Dog Woof: Crochet Braid T-shirt Scarf

 

One Dog Woof: Crochet Braid T-shirt Scarf

 

Supplies:

2 yds jersey knit fabric

yarn in coordinating color

thread in matching color

scissors, embroidery needle, crochet hook (I think I used size K)

3 hair bands (3 hair bands?!  I know, I’ll get to it)

 

Instructions:

1. Make a crochet cuff, which is really just a crocheted rectangle folded up and joined together.  My pattern was CH 13, *turn, HDC 12 starting with the second chain, CH 1, then start from the * until you get a cuff large enough to be folded.  To join, fold the rectangle up, and join your first row with your last row with a row of HDC 12, then fasten off.  Did that make sense?  I’m terrible at patterns.  I’m also terrible at gauges, so good thing this project doesn’t require any size accuracy!

For the braids:

2. Cut up your fabric into (24) 2 inch strips.  I tried using 1 inch strips but the “t-shirt yarn” was thin and weak looking.

Since I had 2 yds of fabric, my strips were 72 inches long, but I needed twice that, so I sewed two strips together, to make 12 strips total.  If you had 4 yds of fabric, you could cut some ginormous strips and save yourself the sewing.  Then this would become the No Sew Braided Scarf instead of the Minimal Sewing Braided Scarf.

3. To make the “yarn” from the strips, pull the fabric strips so that the edges curled in, which means no need to hem!  SCORE! and yay! for the jersey fabric.

Now I had a whole mess of jersey yarn spaghetti, which obviously, J wanted to play with.  I forgot to get a picture of the tangle that he created when he pulled the whole mess onto the floor and wallowed in it.  These pictures are of my t-shirt noodles, after he had gone to bed.  I felt like the asian noodle master on the Kung Fu Panda dvd.

 

4. Thread the 12 noodles into 12 holes at the bottom of your crochet cuff so that the seam, or the middle, of the noodle is hidden by the cuff.  This means you should have 6 feet of noodle on either side.  Now you have a weird 12 pronged dodeca-pus squid monster.

 

6. It’s time to BRAID!  Pick 3 noodles (that’s 2 from each side of the first crochet hole and 1 from the second) to braid.  At this point, save your sanity and roll the noodles up and tie with the hair bands.  Otherwise, you’ll be messing with 6 foot open ends, knots up to your eyeballs, and no amount of liquor is going to make you want to continue.

 

7. Lock down the crochet cuff somewhere so you get enough tension to braid the noodles.  I did this in my guest room, so I just tucked the cuff in between the mattress and the boxspring.  Ha! I knew the dead weight of the Tempurpedic was good for something!

8. Now there’s nothing left to do but braid.  And braid and braid and braid.  Twelve noodles halved gives you 24 strips, which means you’ll end up with 8 braids.  At 6 feet per braid, that’s 48 feet of braiding.  Maybe open a bottle of wine at this point…

9. As the braid progresses, release more of the material from the hair band.  Towards the end, lose the hair bands altogether, then knot the braid at the end to fasten.

10. Braid, sip wine, braid some more. Chug wine.  Keep braiding.  Before you know it, you’ll be done, and you’ll have kicked that bottle and be feeling good!

To wear, wrap the braids around your neck once and secure in the cuff.

Here’s me taking pictures of myself after Drew told me I had plenty nuff pictures already.  After dozens of shots pointing in all the wrong directions, these were the only 2 that turned out, sort of.

One Dog Woof: Crochet Braid T-shirt Scarf

 

One Dog Woof: Crochet Braid T-shirt Scarf

Ok!  NOW I can sit down and seriously think about my resolutions for 2012!

 

 

[Update] : I got myself a sticker!

 

Visit thecsiproject.com

54 Comments

  1. blesid

    LOVE< LOVE< LOVE this scarf. You should totally sell these on etsy. I'm still laughing over the chug wine comment... great job!!!

  2. Julie

    This is fantastic! I can’t wait to try my hand at it. Thanks for sharing the tutorial.

  3. Alison

    Cute and very creative!

  4. Kaysi

    I LOVE this!!!

  5. Desiree @ The 36th AVENUE

    Chiwei,
    I’ll be featuring you tomorrow.
    Thank You SO Much for visiting my link party!

  6. Aimee - ItsOverflowing.com

    WOW! I’m TOTALLY impressed!!! Would you come by tomorrow night and link this up at my party, I’d LOVE to have any of your projects…LOVE your style!!! I’m excited to be your newest follower and would love to have you return the “love”!

    XO, Aimee

  7. Amanda

    This is AWESOME! LOVE the gray. Visiting from the 36th avenue! I made a braided cowl {using yarn} this weekend. Stop by my neck of the woods to check it out!
    ~Amanda
    http://www.redbarncandlecompany.com

  8. Steffy

    I really love your scarf!!! I’m trying it in the next few days… the I’m posting on my blog. Come and see me! Congrats for your cute blog! Steffy

  9. chiwei

    Thank you for all the wonderful comments! I think I’m gaining an obsession for jersey knit scarves, and I hope to share some more ideas soon 🙂

  10. Linda :)

    Love it! I’m wondering if it can be done using a sweater cuff or hem for those of us who don’t crochet….because I love the extra uniqueness it adds! I think I will have to give it a try 🙂

    blessings!
    Linda

    http://www.creativecommotion.blogspot.com

  11. Kathy@ Gone North

    Just plain AWESOME!!!!
    Will totally be copying this one…
    Thanks for sharing & Yes… you should sell these on Etsy….

  12. beachgirl109

    I am a HUGE Etsy fan! If you open a shop please let us know! I’ll be one of your first customers! Love this scarf but not sure I want to tackle it myself…although I will tackle the wine chugging!

  13. Screaming Sardine

    Gorgeous! I love this and it’ll be something I’ll be trying soon. Thanks so much for the tutorial.

    Pinning on pinterest. 🙂

    Cheers,
    Tracy Screaming Sardine

  14. Mary

    Love it ~ what a great job, so cute!
    Love your blog!
    New Follower!

    Cheers to 2012!

    Mary

  15. morgan823

    Love, love, love this! You should definitely sell on etsy. I’d love one!

  16. Valerie@Occasionally Crafty

    Gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing your talent- what a great take on the scarf.

    I’ll be featuring this for Feature Friday on my blog tomorrow- hope you’ll stop by and check it out!

    Valerie-www.occasionallycrafty.blogspot.com

  17. Claire

    This looks amazing-I’m your newest follower-stop by for a visit!

  18. ChRiS

    love this scarf……i would be interested in least 2 prolly!!!

  19. Jen

    Sooooooooo gorgeous! What a fab idea! I’d be thrilled if you came to share this at the Head to Head Showdown, going live tonight at 10 at http://www.icantstopcrafting.blogspot.com ~Jen

  20. Kristina

    So cute love it great job so pretty 🙂 Love the gray

  21. Liz

    Aren’t you the cutest thing! I love your scarf. You did a great job!

    Happy New Year!
    ~Liz

  22. Teddie Seeley

    I absolutely love this scarf, you would have no problem selling this.

  23. Aimee - ItsOverflowing.com

    SUPER CUTE, You know I totally love this! You make me want to be totally hip like you!!! I’m SO GLAD you linked up at Overflowing with Creativity!!!

    XO, Aimee

  24. Vanina

    great scarf! love it. 🙂

  25. Tonia @ TheGunnySack.com

    Fantastic scarf! I love how you added the crocheted part to it! It looks adorable on you! Thanks for sharing!

  26. Ginger

    Thank YOU so much for linking up to last week’s {wow me} wednesday link party. You were one of the top viewed links from last week. I’ll be featuring you tomorrow night at this week’s party. Hope to see YOU again this week.

    Ginger @ gingersnapcrafts.com

  27. heidil

    Luv them my friend!!! Very talented… i can drink the wine while you make them LOL

  28. Ashley

    Very neat! Great job. =)

  29. Hartyboys

    That is really really beautiful. I can’t wait to give it a go. Thank you for sharing your tutorial

  30. adigallegos

    Love love love it!!!

  31. Anonymous

    Really great scarf, I have searched for lots of tshirts scarves, and made several already, but this is the classiest one I have seen so far, I can hardly wait to make it. thanks so much for sharing the instructions. Lucy

  32. jd

    A friend sent me a link to your braided scarf because she thought my daughter would like it. well, yeah!! it’s fantastic. and, i love the idea of recycling/upcycling. i’ve written a blog article featuring your design that will publish on my blog on february 22, 2012. i wish you a lot of success on your etsy.com site. keep coming up with designs like this one and you’ll be a star in no time! please feel free to email me when you have other designs you’d like to share.
    jd
    http://crochet.craftgossip.com

  33. pollkat

    I absolutely LOVE the scarf. I went to Esty but didn’t see any for sale. What would a deep purple one cost? Thanks so much. You are so talented. Love looking at all the things you can make.

  34. Chiwei @ One Dog Woof

    Hi, I haven’t actually been making them to sell because it takes so much fabric, and that specific type is hard to find in my area. So sorry! If I do start production of this, I will announce it and let you know!

  35. Heather-Lou

    Would it look good using super bulky yarn instead of the t-shirt fabric? Because I’m simply awful at cutting strait lines!

  36. ChiWei

    Heather, I think using super bulky yarn would be awesome sauce! Or double up on the strands!

  37. Heather-Lou

    Great thanks!! Now to find the time to do this…LOL. Thanks again!

  38. google mail

    Very creative and beautiful. I like your post. Thansk instruction in your post! It really useful with me to make one scarf.
    gmail sign in

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  40. American indian jackets

    Your scarf is looking beautiful, thank you so much for sharing this post with us. This will be helpful who want to make scarf.

  41. Elizabeth

    They are different but I’m a good way. I’m on my third so I’ve ironed out the quirks. I’ll be giving two away as presents. I’m using that huge blanket yarn for the third. Gracias!

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