The beaches around the Churchill Barriers in Orkney are among my favorite places on earth. With sunken ships and so much history, a day spent on these beaches looking for hermit crabs and groatie buckies (cowrie shells) is my all-time perfect family moment.

This scarf combines the beautiful structure of the Churchill barrier, with a plaid pattern and my interpretation of the shells.

 

Materials:

Double Knit Yarn

4mm Crochet Hook

Empty Toilet Roll Holder

Yarn Needle

 

Stitches Used

 

CH – Chain

 

DC – Double Crochet(Single Crochet in US)

 

TR – Triple Crochet(Double Crochet in US)

 

FDC – Foundationless Double Crochet(Foundationless Single Crochet in US)

 

The foundationless double crochet stitch gives your work additional stretch, so that you don’t have that really hard line from a chain start. I haven’t explained it here because there are lots of resources online for learning this stitch, but here is a link to a you-tube video to help.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0sl7AQVOug

 

Cowrie Shell Stitch – TR, [Yarn over, Insert hook behind post of TR, Yarn over and pull through loop] x 5, Yarn over and pull through all loops on hook(11 loops total), CH 2 to complete stitch)

Scarf:

**From Row 2, the start is always CH 3; this doesn’t count as a stitch and will be covered up later

Row 1: 34 FDC

Row 2: CH 3, turn, TR in same stitch, TR in next 3 FDCs [CH 2, SKIP 2 FDCs, TR in next 10 FDCs] x 2, CH 2, SKIP 2 FDCs, TR in next  4 FDCs

Row 3: CH 3, turn, TR in same stitch [CH 2, SKIP 2, TR in next TR] x 11

Row 4: Ch 3, turn, TR in next 3 TR [Ch 2, Skip 2 TR, TR in next 10 TR] x2, CH 2, SKIP 2 TR, TR in next 4 TR

Rows 5-8: Repeat Row 4

Row 9: Repeat Row 3

Repeat the set of [Row 3, [Row 4] x4, Row 3] until scarf is desired length

Last Row: Repeat Row 4; Finish off

Outside Edging:

Join at top right corner(either end of the scarf)

Edging: CH 3, Cowrie Shell Stitch in same stitch [TR in next 2 stitches, Cowrie Shell Stitch in next stitch] x11, TR in next 2  stitches, Cowrie Shell in last stitch

DC in length of side(How many DC needed for each space can range from 1-3 per space; just make sure the edge is straight and there’s no waving/bowing) until you reach the next corner

Repeat edging on bottom edge

DC the other side, finish off

Weave in all ends

Tassels:

 **Wrap yarn around the an empty toilet roll holder length-wise several times, cut yarn on one side to form the tassel strands

Take 3-4 strands and fold them in half, insert hook in top stitch of Cowrie Shell, place middle of folded strands into the hook and pull through

Grab all strand ends and pull through to fasten

Repeat for all Cowrie Shells

I’m happy for anyone to sell scarfs made with my pattern, or repost a link to my pattern on their blog or webpage, please don’t sell the actual pattern as that’s not very nice 🙂