Pattern 3 of 12 · Beginner · To Wear

The Long Way Round

A ribbed scarf worked end to end

Design illustration. Colours and drape will vary with your yarn — this is a rendering of the design, not a photograph of a finished piece.

The full pattern is free to read right here. The printable PDF — with the stitch chart, the schematic and a one-page quick reference card — comes as part of the twelve-pattern collection.

See the collection

Machine-verified. Every stitch count here is checked by script against its own instruction, across every size. This design has not yet been test-crocheted — if you make it, we'd genuinely like to hear how it went. What this means

About this pattern

This scarf is worked the long way — one enormous foundation chain along its whole length, then just eleven rows back and forth. It sounds backwards, and it is the reason the ribbing runs in unbroken lines from end to end.

The new trick is small and its effect is large. By working into only the back loop of each stitch instead of both, you leave the front loop sitting on the surface as a raised ridge. Do it every row and those ridges become ribbing: stretchier, softer, and far more interesting to look at than plain fabric.

What this pattern teaches you

The double crochet (dc) — the tall, fast workhorse stitch
Back loop only (BLO) and the ribbing it creates
Working long rows without losing your place
Managing a very long foundation chain

Skills you'll own by the end

chschdcdcBLOgaugelong rowsfasten offweave in ends

Before you start: Patterns 1 and 2. You should be comfortable keeping a straight edge over a couple of dozen rows before taking on 192 stitches.

Materials

Yarn	Worsted weight (Category 4) acrylic, wool, or a wool blend. Roughly 380 m / 415 yd — usually two 100 g balls. Wool blends give the warmest result; acrylic is cheaper and machine washable, which matters for a scarf.
Hook	5.5 mm (US I-9)
Notions	Tapestry needle, scissors, tape measure
Strongly recommended	Eight or more stitch markers — see the note on the foundation chain below

Gauge

12 dc × 7 rows = 10 cm / 4 in in back-loop-only double crochet

Gauge decides how long your scarf turns out, and a small difference multiplied across 192 stitches becomes a large one. If your swatch runs tight you will finish with a scarf closer to 140 cm than 160 cm — still perfectly wearable, but worth knowing before you buy yarn.

Finished measurements

160 cm × 15.5 cm (63 in × 6 in)

The scarf is worked along its length: the foundation chain runs the full 160 cm.

Abbreviations

This pattern uses US crochet terms.

ch	chain
dc	double crochet
BLO	back loop only
st(s)	stitch(es)
rep	repeat
yo	yarn over

Special stitches

Double crochet (dc)

One movement longer than the half double, and it produces a stitch roughly twice the height of a single crochet.

Yarn over. Insert the hook into the stitch and pull up a loop — three loops on the hook. Yarn over and pull through two — two loops left. Yarn over and pull through the last two.

The difference from a half double is that final step being split into two. Pulling through two, then two, is what gives the stitch its long clean post.

Back loop only (BLO)

Look at the top of any stitch and you will see the V of two loops you have been working under all along. The loop further from you — on the far side of the V — is the back loop.

Working BLO simply means inserting your hook under that one strand instead of both. The front loop is left free, and it stands up as a visible horizontal ridge on the surface. Eleven rows of that gives you eleven ridges running the length of the scarf.

It also makes the fabric stretchier, because fewer strands are locking each stitch in place. That is exactly what you want in something worn around a neck.

For BLO, the hook goes under the **far** strand of the V only — not both, as shown here.

Instructions

The scarf

Worked flat along its length. Rows 2–11 are worked in back loops only; Row 1 is worked into the foundation chain in the ordinary way.

Foundation: Make a slip knot, then ch 194. Place a stitch marker every 20 chains as you go. Recounting 194 chains is miserable; recounting the last 20 is nothing.

194 ch

✓ Checkpoint — after Foundation

Lay the chain out without stretching it. It should measure around 165–170 cm — slightly longer than the finished scarf, because Row 1 will pull it in a little. Do not twist it when you start Row 1: keep the whole chain flat with all the V shapes facing you.

Row 1: Dc in the 3rd ch from hook, then dc in each ch across. Turn. This is the longest row you have worked. It is also the hardest one — every row after this is worked into real stitches, which is far easier than a chain.

192 dc

✓ Checkpoint — after Row 1

Do not count all 192. Instead measure: the row should be about 160 cm. If it is within a few centimetres, carry on. A miscount of one or two stitches in a scarf this long will never be visible, and unpicking a 192-stitch row to fix it would be a poor trade.

Rows 2–11: Ch 2 (does not count as a st), dc in BLO of each st across. Turn. Ten rows. Each one adds a ridge and about 1.4 cm of width.

192 dc

✓ Checkpoint — after Rows 2–11

After Row 2 you should see your first raised ridge running the whole length. If you cannot see one, check that you are working under a single strand rather than two. At Row 11 the scarf should measure roughly 15.5 cm across. Add or subtract rows freely here — it is your scarf, and each row is 1.4 cm.

Stitch chart

A chart for a 192-stitch row would be unreadable at this size, so this one shows the working edge and tells you the rest. That is normal practice in published patterns: charts show the repeat, not every stitch.

The first four rows at the starting edge. The tall posts are double crochets; the chart shows the first 14 stitches of each 192-stitch row.

Finishing

Fasten off and weave in both tails along the short ends, following the direction of the ridges so the tail disappears into one.

Blocking makes a real difference to this one. Dampen the scarf, lay it flat, and gently ease it to the finished measurements — do not stretch the ribbing flat, or you will lose the texture you just spent five hours making. Let it dry fully before moving it.

If you would like fringe, cut lengths of yarn about 30 cm long, fold each in half, and use your hook to pull the folded loop through a stitch at the end of the scarf, then pass the ends through the loop and pull snug. Six to eight per end looks balanced.

If something has gone wrong

My foundation chain twisted before I finished Row 1.

It happens to everyone with a chain this long. If you catch it in the first few stitches, pull them out and re-lay the chain flat. If you are 50 stitches in, the twist is now permanent — and honestly, a single gentle twist in a scarf this long is nearly invisible once it is worn.

I ran out of chain before the end of Row 1.

You chained fewer than 194, or worked two stitches into one chain somewhere. Simply work fewer stitches: a scarf of 185 stitches is 6 cm shorter and nobody will ever know. Note the count you actually have and use it for the rest.

I have chains left over at the end of Row 1.

The opposite — you either over-chained or skipped a chain. Leave the extras, fasten them off at the end, and trim. Again, this changes nothing about the finished scarf.

My ribbing is not showing up.

You are probably working under both loops out of habit. The ridge only appears when the front loop is left free. Check the right side of the work after two rows — the ridges should be unmistakable.

The scarf is curving into a banana shape.

Your stitch count is drifting up at one end and down at the other. Measure the width at both ends: if they differ, you have gained or lost stitches. It will still wear fine, but measure each row's width from here rather than counting.

Caring for your finished piece

Wool or wool blend: hand wash cool, press the water out with a towel rather than wringing, and dry flat. Acrylic: machine wash cool, dry flat — do not tumble dry, which flattens acrylic ribbing permanently. Either way, dry flat rather than hanging, or the scarf will stretch under its own weight.

What's next

Pattern 4 of 12

Chunky Ear Warmer

Pattern 4 is the fastest project in the collection — bulky yarn, a big hook, and finished in an evening. It also teaches you to sew two pieces of crochet together, which is the skill that turns flat rectangles into things with shape. Everything from Pattern 9 onward depends on it.