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The Story:
I dreadlocked my hair about a year ago, and since then I’m always wearing something on my head to keep the locks back, away from my face, out of my knitting, crocheting, and everything else. I’ve become pretty reliant on a few staple hair accessories, but one Saturday, when preparing to play with some yarn, I realized I couldn’t find ANY of them. What’s a girl to do?
Well, that weekend I just happened to be obsessed with crochet, and one stitch pattern in particular. So, I pulled a ball of yarn from my stash, grabbed a hook, and whipped up a quick kerchief. Designing in crochet always allows me to be spontaneous—that’s what I love about it. If I work a couple rows in a stitch pattern, and it ends up not being what I like, I just rip it out, slip my hook back into the one stitch that remains, and continue along like nothing ever happened.
In the first version of this kerchief, I joined the band into a ring, but continued working back and forth—joining to the other end of the round at each end. I’ll do anything to avoid a seam. But, after I worked the lace portion, I went back to working the single crochet through-the-back-loop trim around the lace edge, and I just didn’t like it with the join. So, I ripped it out and began again working it flat—so much easier.
The pattern is written so any yarn can be used, at practically any gauge. The two yarns I choose—Sundance and Soft Linen— each have different gauges and both work into beautiful kerchiefs. And as you can see in the photos, this kerchief works great to keep un-dreadlocked hair back too.
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The Yarns:
Sundance
50% cotton, 50% microfiber
Sundance is composed of cotton and microfiber. It’s machine washable so it’s great for accessories that get a lot of use. It works up quickly without splitting and its round, multi-strand structure makes it great for stitch definition. The tiny size of the microfibers makes it easy for them to bend and add drape to garments. Blending microfiber with cotton also makes for a lighter yarn that holds its shaped better than a yarn that’s 100% cotton.
Sundance knits up at 5 sts per inch and is available in 22 lively Spring-inspired colors.
Soft Linen
35% linen, 35% wool, 30% baby alpaca
Soft Linen is a smooth DK weight yarn that lends itself well to crochet. A mix of cool crisp linen blended with wool for elasticity and alpaca for softness and drape also makes it a great transitional yarn. Projects knitted in Soft Linen will take you through many seasons.
Soft Linen knits up at 5½ sts per inch and is available in 15 sophisticated colors.
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more photos
The Pattern:
Here is the free downloadable Lacy Crochet Kerchief pattern.
If you have difficulty downloading or printing the PDF pattern above, try these:
page 1, page 2
The Stitches:
The ribbing on the band and trim of this kerchief is created by working single crochet stitches through the back loop. The unworked front loop of each stitch forms a decorative horizontal line along the row. By working through the back loop on every row, it creates a rib.
Learn more about working a single crochet through the back loop.
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