The Scout Scrunchie
A step-by-step guide to knitting the fluffy Scout Scrunchie
Ever gotten halfway through a project and thought “Hang on, am I even doing this right?” We have 🙋♀️
That’s why we’ve created these step-by-step guides to walk you through the knitting process.
Even if you've never knitted before, we'll take you from zero to knitting hero in no time 🦸♀️
When it comes to knitting, practice makes perfect
Before we start the pattern, we suggest you spend some time learning the basic techniques you’ll need to complete your masterpiece 🤓
The Scout Scrunchie is a quick little thing to knit up and she'll add softness and texture to your winter do. She's made in a stockinette stitch which we make by knitting all the stitches in one row and purling all the stitches in the next row. You'll want to be confident with both these stitches - the knit and the purl stitch - before we start. You'll also want to get a hang of tying a slip knot and casting on your stitches which is the first step in any knitting project.
You can use the yarn that came in your kit to practice with. Once you've got these mastered you'll fly through your beanie.
🧶 A note on your yarn. Our Chunky Mohair yarn is super soft and luxe. She's also a lot thinner than our Chunky Merino so she can be a little trickier to work with if you're a beginner. As you practice just make sure you count your stitches every few rows to make sure you haven't accidentally added or dropped a stitch.
Total beginner? 👩🏫
For a more comprehensive lesson on the basics of knitting visit our Learn How To Knit page.
🥣 Test your tension
While we're practising and before you start your project, you'll want to make sure your tension (how tightly or loosely your knitting is) is juuuust right. We do this by knitting a “tension swatch”. It's a bit like goldilocks, if the tension is too tight, your piece will be too small, and if it's too loose it may not hold its shape and might be too big.
Gauge: Your 10x10cm knitted swatch should be 12 stitches wide and 14 rows high when knitted in stockinette stitch on your 10mm needles.
To test this, jump on your needles and cast on 18 stitches, then knit in stockinette stitch for 18 rows. Then measure a 10x10cm square and count your stitches and rows within that space to make sure you're knitting at the correct tension.
If you've got more stitches or rows than the instructions say you should have, your knitting is a little too tight, and if you've got less your knitting is too loose. Adjust your tension by holding the yarn a little more tightly/loosely as you knit.
Onto the scrunchie!
⚡️What you'll need
Your kit comes with everything you'll need to make your masterpiece. In your kit you'll find;
- 10mm needles
- 1 x ball of Cardigang Chunky Mohair Yarn
- 2 x hair ties
- A darning needle
- Made by me tag
You also want to have a pair of scissors handy.
✌️ You'll have enough yarn in your kit to make 2 scrunchies. Yippee!
🧶 Let's knit our way to cosy-town!
Time to get click-clacking and whip up your scrunchie.
Remember learning a new skill can be a little challenging at first, and you’re bound to find yourself making some mistakes along the way. But as with learning anything, your brain and your hands slowly start to get the hang of it, muscle memory is created, and soon the thing you found tricky/daunting/scary is like second nature! 💪
If you need a reminder of the techniques, just head back up the page and watch the videos again.
STEP 1
To make our scrunchie we'll knit one long, flat rectangle. Once that's done we get to work with our darning needle to sew the scrunchie together around our hair tie.
So to start, we're going to cast on our stitches using our 10mm needles.
💭 A note on your needles. Your needles are connected by a tube which makes them what we call 'circular needles'. For our purposes, we're going to use them as if they are straight needles. So we'll knit our work back and forth from your left needle to your right.
Hot tip: your piece will 'grow' as you knit so don't be alarmed if it looks like you're knitting a baby's scrunchie to start with!
STEP 2
You're going to knit 14 rows of stockinette stitch.
You'll remember from your practice that we make a stockinette stitch pattern by knitting one row, and then purling the next. Let's get to work! 💪
STEP 3
Yes legend, you're flying through 🕺 It's time to cast off your stitches!
When you've got just one stitch left on your right needle, simply cut your yarn from the ball (leaving about 20cm) and thread it back through your last stitch to secure it.
SEWING TOGETHER
Now it’s time to get to work with the darning needle to sew your masterpiece together.
Thread your darning needle with around 20cm of yarn and we're going to first sew the sides (the short edges) together to create a circle.
📹 Watch How To Sew A Vertical Invisible Seam
You'll work this seam through the “bars” of stockinette stitch on each side.
💭 If you're anything like us you might find seaming a bit of a pain and hard to make super neat. It's a common beginner challenge! The main principle with seaming is no matter what seaming method you use, be sure you are entering into the same place on each stitch along the seam. This consistency makes it harder to see the seam.
Once you've got your loop, you'll pop your hair tie around your knitting. Then fold your cast on and cast off edges over the hair tie to touch and you're going to sew these edges together.
📹 Watch How To Sew Cast Off Edges Together
D.O.N.E! You've finished your beanie, well done! Epic work 🤩 If this was your first-ever knitting project or one of many, we hope you had a blast click-clacking and making your masterpiece 💥❤️
Looking for something a little more personal?
Sign up for a one-on-one knitting or crochet session with the Cardigang Hotline ☎️. These sessions are designed to help give you the skills you need to create a masterpiece. Whether you're just starting out, or you've got a specific question or problem (dropped a stitch, no stress!), we're here to get you out of a bind.
