Easy Crochet Lace Scarf Pattern – Spice Road

Follow the ancient spice roads across land and sea, to the rich, earthy colors of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric. Indulge your senses in the textures and vibrance of an open air spice market. Spice Road is an easy, crochet scarf pattern that leads you on a journey through color and texture, accented by airy, lace insets. Will you come along with me?

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A unique yarn

In a conference goodie bag a while ago, I got a free skein of It’s a Wrap Rainbow yarn from Red Heart. This is a truly unique yarn in that it is actually 4 separate strands that are not twisted together. It’s a cotton / acrylic blend and works up phenomenally soft and drapey.

Let the yarn do the work

With It’s a Wrap Rainbow, the color changes are all done for you. At each transition, only one of the 4 strands changes to the new color. This creates a lovely ombre effect where each color flows smoothly into the next.

A unique construction

I wanted to put an edging on this scarf, but the changing colors presented a problem. If I got to the end of the scarf and then did an edging, the starting edge would be in a totally different color than the edging row. This would feel too jarring, and ruin the effect of the smooth color transitions.

The only way around this was to start with the edging. I worked the edging first, then rotated the work and started the scarf from the other side of the foundation chain. This way the edging rows match the starting and ending colors, and the flow is not interrupted.

Working into the 3rd loop

The textured sections of this scarf are created by alternating between working normal half double crochet stitches, and working half double crochet stitches into the third loop. The third loop is in the front and just below the front and back loops that we normally work into.

For a more detailed look at working into the third loop of hdc, see this tutorial

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Spice Road

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Materials

• 1 ball of Red Heart It’s a Wrap Rainbow Yarn – #9351 Rainbow (55% acrylic, 45% cotton, 623 yds / 150 g per ball)
• Size 7 / 4.5mm crochet hook or size needed to obtain gauge.
• Tapestry Needle

Project Level

Easy: Basic stitches in a repeating pattern. Working in 3rd loop of half double crochet.

Size

14 inches x 58 inches. Size can be adjusted.

Gauge

Exact gauge isn’t critical. Use pattern as gauge swatch – after row 7, your work should measure about 14 inches x 3.5 inches.

Abbreviations used

(Pattern is written in US terms)
ch = chain
sc = single crochet
hdc = half double crochet
dc = double crochet
sp = space
ch sp = chain space
st(s) = stitch(es)
sl st = slip stitch
sk = skip
RS = right side
WS = wrong side

Recommended Resources

• Working Into the 3rd Loop of Half Double Crochet

Instructions

Foundation chain: With A, Ch 64 (multiple of 4)

The edging is worked first, on one side of the foundation chain, then the scarf is worked on the other side. A chain along the side edge makes a smooth transition between the two.

To adjust width, start with more or fewer chains, as long as it is a multiple of 4.

Bottom Edge (RS): Sc in 2nd ch from hook, [sc in next ch, sk next ch, 5 dc (shell) in next ch, sk next ch] across to last 2 chs, sc in each of last 2 chs. (15 shells)

Transition: Ch 1, rotate to work in bottom of foundation chain, sl st in first ch.

Texture section:

Row 1 (RS): Working across bottom of foundation chain, ch 1, hdc in each ch across (63 hdc).

Row 2: Ch 1, turn, hdc in first st, [hdc in third loop of next st, hdc in next st] across. (63 hdc)

Rows 3-9: Repeat row 2.

Lace section:

Ch 3 at the beginning of a row counts as a dc throughout.

Row 10 (WS): Ch 1, turn, sc in first st, [sc in next st, ch 5, sk next 3 sts] 15 times, sc in each of last 2 sts. (15 ch-5 sps)

Row 11: Ch 3, turn, sk next st, 5 dc in next ch-5 sp, [ch 2, sk next st, sc in next ch-5 sp, ch 2, sk next st, 5 dc in next ch-5 sp] across to last 2 sts, sk next st, dc in last st.

Row 12: Ch 1, turn, sc in first dc, sc in next dc, ch 5, sk next 3 dc, [sc in next dc, ch 5, sk next (ch-2 sp, sc, and ch-2 sp), sc in next dc, ch 5, sk next 3 dc] across to last 2 dc, sc in each of last 2 dc. [15 ch-5 sps]

Row 13: Ch 1, turn, hdc in first st, [hdc in next st, 3 hdc in next ch-5 sp] across to last 2 sts, hdc in each of last 2 sts. (63 hdc)

Texture section:

Rows 14-21: Ch 1, turn, hdc in first st, [hdc in third loop of next st, hdc in next st] across. (63 hdc)

Remainder of scarf:

Rows 22-165: Repeat rows 10-21 twelve more times.

To adjust length, work more or fewer repeats.

Row 166: Ch 1, turn, hdc in first st, [hdc in third loop of next st, hdc in next st] across. (63 hdc)

Row 167 (top edging): Ch 1, turn, sc in first st, [sk next st, 5 dc in next st (shell), sk next st, sc in next st] across. (15 shells)

Fasten off, weave in ends.

I hope you enjoy making the Spice Road lace scarf pattern. A downloadable pdf of this pattern is also available on Ravelry, for a small fee. The fee for the pdf format is to offset the advertising revenue lost when you print or download the pattern rather than viewing it online.

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