Two romantic 19th-century crochet stitches from contrasting traditions have gracefully joined forces to warm up 21st-century necks.

As the laciest of the lacy stitches, love knots (aka lovers knot, Solomon’s knot) are ideal for warm climates. Victorian-era crocheters used the finest cotton and silk threads to make fancy love knot edgings, opera bags, and baby bonnets.

The star stitch is a northern European favorite for crocheting thick warm coats and baby blankets in wool yarns. Even the delicate lacy stars of the earliest patterns were crocheted in lace weight wools, not cotton thread.

I’ve used four basic crochet stitches, from slip stitch to double crochet, to smooth the way for these two unique stitches to work well together in a scarf. You’ll pick up crocheting speed and never get bored.

Pattern includes scarf customizing tips. The story of this special stitch pattern is blogged here.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Both star stitches and love knots are iconic Intermediate skill level stitches. I teach separate three-hour classes on each of these stitch types. For this pattern I’ve selected the less challenging versions of them, and include some tips, hows, and whys that have helped my students.

You’ll have the opportunity to learn these skills:

• How to crochet a classic two-row star stitch.
• How to insert a two-row band of simple love knot mesh that has a selvage, and why.
• How to customize this new stitch pattern for different scarf sizes and so that you can use it for many other projects.

Yarn substitution advice: I recommend that you use wool yarn, or a wool-like blend, so that the love knots don’t go limp. A single ply type like I’ve used here shows off these stitch textures especially well. Choose a #3 Light Weight yarn with a recommended crochet hook size range of US G/7 {4.50 mm} to US I/9 {5.5 mm}. These yarns may also be called Light Worsted.