Conceived as a tool to help teach the chainless foundation single crochet stitch at my local yarn store, this scarf is crocheted almost entirely from this coveted stitch (the only exception being a few rows of edging). This foundation stitch will allow you to omit the starting chain row from any crochet pattern you wish, with results that are much more elegant and true to gauge than if a traditional chain row was used. To make this scarf, seven strands of chainless foundation stitches are crocheted with soft, bulky-weight yarn, giving you plenty of practice to master this fun stitch. The strands are then braided together with a special multi-strand technique that can be applied to braids with any odd number of strands. The resulting scarf is luscious!

This pattern is available as a Ravelry download in your choice of US or UK crochet terminology, and includes beautifully illustrated step-by-step stitch tutorials hand-drawn by artist Miranda Currie.

After mastering the chainless foundation single crochet stitch, you can also extend the chainless foundation method to nearly any crochet stitch, including half-double, double, and treble crochet, as well as pattern stitches such as waves and griddle stitch, and this pattern provides instructions for each of these. You’ll never have to make a chain row again!

Plus, after mastering the multi-strand braiding technique with your first scarf, you may be inspired to extend this technique to easily braid other odd numbers of strands together, for scarves with different gauges or stitch patterns, or even a chainless foundation single crochet throw rug or bath mat!