Scarf versatility: The convertible crochet scarf and infinity scarf

The convertible crochet scarf came to be because I couldn’t make up my mind whether to make a scarf or a cowl. This scarf is both! You can wear this scarf long or like an infinity scarf by fastening buttons to puff stitch flower buttonholes. Made with Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball yarn, the scarf has lacy, drapey cable-like tall crochet stitches. The chunky puff stitch flowers in Lion Brand Hometown USA offer a nice texture contrast to the rest of the scarf. Wrap it around twice and button the flowers and you have a cozy cowl.

Convertible crochet scarf yarn

I used Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball for this convertible crochet scarf. What a fun yarn to work with! I love the gradual color changes and its soft squishiness. It drapes like a dream and each skein has enough yarn for a shawl! I used about half a skein of the color Soothing Blue for this project. The puff stitch flowers use Lion Brand Hometown USA in Milwaukee Midnight for extra chunkiness and softness.

You could use just about any yarn & hook combination that will produce some loose drape. But if your yarn is a good deal smaller, you might want to add some stitches to make it wide enough. You can add beginning chains in multiples of four. Similarly, if you were using a bigger yarn, you could take away four or eight stitches from the starting chain.

Puff stitch flowers on the convertible crochet scarf

How fantastic are puff stitch flowers?! Seriously, I think they are some of the cutest things you can make in crochet and they work up so quickly. The way some people use puff stitch flowers astounds me! Others have made cute bags, blankets, cushions, and scarves made from puff stitch flowers. My lacy trellis scarf uses puff stitch flowers to decorate it and my Seahawks hat does too! In this pattern, I use puff stitch flowers as buttonholes to create the circle of an infinity scarf.

The puff stitch flowers on this convertible scarf might be a little on the heavy side. The next time I crochet this scarf, I might find a slightly smaller yarn for the puff stitch flowers. Honestly, I was just loving the color and chunkiness of the Hometown USA so much. I do love the contrast between the two yarns and the weight of the flowers on the scarf, but I realize that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. You could also make this scarf without the flowers if you wanted.

Puff stitch flower instructions

To make a puff stitch flower, you can follow a couple of different methods of making them, but if you want to use them as buttonholes, you’ll want to make one where the inner circle can’t stretch out. You’ll also want to be sure that a button will fit through the center hole. Here is how I made mine:

Make a magic circle.

Row 1: Make 6 sc in magic circle. Join with a slip stitch to first sc.

Row 2: Chain 3. Make a puff stitch in the first sc. Chain 3 and slip stitch into the same sc. (Slip stitch into next sc and chain 3. Make a puff stitch in sc and chain 3. Slip stitch into same sc) 5 times. Finish off and weave in ends.

Tips for making the convertible crochet scarf

Making crochet tall stitches

This pattern uses tall crochet stitches. I think it takes a little bit of practice to make the stitches evenly. Tamara Kelly at Moogly has a great discussion (and a guide to tall stitch names). I have a few tips for making these stitches effectively and beautifully.

Tips for making your tall stitches

First, make sure your yarn overs stay as close together as possible. If they spread out, the tall stitches get kind of weird. By weird I mean that the loops will sort of sag off the post. This is not at all what you want. If you keep the yarn over loops close together near the end of the hook, the loops will stay small as you work them off your hook and they will lie nicely on the post. Note: This is an overly complicated description of tall stitches. If you read this and think, “oh, tall stitches sound to hard,” then you should go back and unread this paragraph. Tall stitches are the same as a double or treble crochet stitch, you just start with more yarn overs and work off loops (two at a time) more times. Easy peasy.

Second, you’ll want to keep your original loop (the one you have when you complete the previous stitch) as small and as close to the end of the hook as possible. If you let the loop creep down the hook too far, the tops of your stitches will grow huge. While this pattern allows for some give—you’re going to be reeling it back in with your row of single crochet—you don’t want it to grow too much or you’ll end up with uneven rows.

Use your sc rows to impose order in your convertible crochet scarf

Use your rows of single crochet stitches to keep your tall stitches in line. What I mean is that if your tall stitches get a little large or loose, your single crochet stitches can impose a little order on them. Don’t crochet your single crochet rows too tightly, but don’t let them get too loosey goosey either. You want a single crochet row to have about the same tension/stitch size as row one.

Some notes on squishiness

This scarf has some incredible squishiness to it. Part of what makes the squish is the yarn. The other part of its squish is due to the two different sizes of tall stitches in the same row. Each row is the height of a triple treble crochet. The taller quadruple treble crochet stitches in the same row give the scarf extra dimension by bowing a little in a row too short for their height. Bowing stitches, usually something we strive to avoid in crochet, in this case makes all the squishy difference.

Convertible crochet scarf pattern

Pattern notes and special stitches

This pattern uses U.S. crochet terms.

Triple Treble Crochet (tr-tr): Yarn over 4 times, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (yarn over and work off 2 loops) 5 times.

Quadruple Treble Crochet (q-tr): Yarn over 5 times, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop (yarn over and work off 2 loops) 6 times.

Hooks used: For the scarf, I used an H hook and for the puff stitch flowers, I used a J hook. Use whatever hook works best with your yarn to give you the drape and squish you want. My finished scarf (not including the puff stitch flowers) measures 54 inches long and 7.5 inches wide. I ended up making 57 rows total.

For this pattern, you could stop when you had enough for a single-wrap cowl (after about 25 rows on mine). Or you could make a regular scarf without buttons by continuing for as long as you want it to be.

Pattern instructions

Chain 29

Row 1: 1 sc in 2nd chain from hook. Sc in each chain across. (28 sc)

Row 2: Chain 6, turn (counts as 1 tr-tr). Skip first sc, tr-tr in next sc. Skip 2 sc, 1 qtr in next 2 sc. Qtr in 1st skipped sc, qtr in 2nd skipped sc. *Skip next 2 empty sc, 1 qtr in next 2 sc, 1 qtr in first skipped sc, 1 qtr in next skipped sc. Repeat from * 5 more times. 1 tr-tr in last 2 sc. (4 tr-tr, 24 qtr)

Row 3: chain 1, turn. Sc in each stitch across. (28 sc)

Row 4: Repeat row 2.

Row 5: Repeat row 3.

Repeat for desired length ending on a row 3. In Shawl in a Ball with an H hook, I would have stopped the cowl around row 25. The infinity scarf has (x) rows. If I was just making a scarf, I would have made it a little longer. All of this will depend on the yarn and hook you choose.

Assembly instructions

Once you have finished both the scarf and the puff stitch flowers, you are ready to assemble them! Get a needle and thread in a color that matches the puff stitch flower. If you used something along the lines of Hometown USA, your thread will sink right into your flower and not show at all. Additionally, the squishiness of the Shawl in a Ball yarn hides the stitches on the other side quite nicely.

Place the flowers how you want them across the bottom of the scarf. I put them at the very edge of the scarf and sewed them on. After sewing them to the scarf, I sewed them to each other for added stability and so they wouldn’t flop around. I found it way easier to sew the flowers on and then place the buttons based on where the flowers ended up.

Make sure you choose buttons that will fit through the center of your flowers. I found some basic black plastic buttons in my button box. It looks like they were cut from an old shirt. Well, they have a new life now! Choose whatever buttons you think would look good in the middle of your puff stitch flowers or hanging loose at the end of your scarf.

Your convertible crochet scarf

If you make a convertible crochet scarf or a nonconvertible scarf or cowl, let me know about it in the comments or tag me on social media! I would love to hear how it goes and see how your scarf turns out! The versatility of the convertible scarf and of the pattern itself lends itself to very different outcomes. I want to see them all!!

I’d love to hear what your experience is with tall stitches. Do you have any additional tips and tricks for making them? What have you used them for in the past? I know I’ve found that the yarn I choose affects how the stitches behave. For example, when making my Hydrangea Brooch, I used tall stitches in the leaf. In that project, the cotton crochet thread made it a lot easier to achieve uniform tall stitches. Tell us all about your experience in the comments.