Ever since I made my daughter’s scarf last year, I’ve been thinking about making another one. It was such a quick project to make. When I saw this yarn at Target, I thought it would be super cute to make a toddler drop-stitch scarf and then sew the ends together to make a cowl. She also happened to have an outfit that would match this particular yarn perfectly thanks to one of her Aunties.
I first came across a drop-stitch pattern when I was a beginning knitter. It looked so interesting, but I was nervous. I had steered away from anything that made me count or add stitch markers up until that point, but this pattern had neither. If you’re unfamiliar with the drop-stitch technique, here’s a quick tutorial:
Act as if you are going to make a stitch (needle towards the back of the yarn if you’re knitting or in the front for purling.) Instead of wrapping the yarn around the needle once, wrap it around 3 times. Depending on how short or long you want the drop-stitch to appear you can wrap it around less (2 times) or more (4 times). Knit the entire row that way. You will end up with what looks like a lot of extra stitches, but don’t fear. On your next row, knit the first stitch and carefully pull off the extra wrapped yarn from that first stitch. Continue down the row, knitting one stitch at a time and pulling the drop-stitches off the needle. You can also Google “drop-stitch scarf technique” and watch some YouTube videos on this.
For this project, we’ll be knitting the entire scarf in seed-stitch. This means you knit one/purl one down the first row, then knit the purls and purl the knits down the second row. If you cast on an odd number of stitches, you can knit one/purl one on both sides. Fancy, right? I love how this stitch makes tiny “X”s, just a reminder of how much a love my daughter. 🙂
I bought this fun yarn at Target, but you can use any chunky acrylic/wool mix that catches your eye.
How to Make a Toddler Drop-Stitch Scarf (and Cowl)
You will need:
One skein chunky acrylic wool blend (This is what I used—so cute!)
Size 9 knitting needles (or check the yarn you’re using for the size you’ll need)
Yarn needle to sew in ends
Scissors
Cast on 15 stitches. (You can cast on more or less depending on how wide you want to scarf to be.)
Begin knitting in seed stitch and continue for 4 rows.
On the fourth row, knit and purl with the drop stitch technique. I wound the yarn around three times for this scarf.
Continue to knit in seed stitch for four rows, drop-stitch for one, until you’ve reached the desired length of scarf. Since this is a toddler scarf, this is a very quick project.
Bind off the last row seed-stitch-wise, and sew in the yarn. At this point, I thought it would be cute to make the scarf into a cowl, so I sewed the ends together.
It matches this outfit perfectly. Love it!
I had some leftover yarn so I made myself a cowl as well (and used the sparkly cream yarn for the other half.) I knit my scarf using a rib stitch instead of seed stitch. 🙂
I also knit my daughter some leg warmers for those days when we go out on walk and it’s cold outside. Here’s that pattern! It’s super easy too.
Hope you all have a lovely {and creative} day!
