The White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) is a magnificent species of fish, one of the largest in North America. Protected in Canada, they have been known to grow up to 20 feet long and can live for more than a century. Unlike most fish, white sturgeons don’t have scales; instead they have lines of armour-like bony plates called scutes (pronounced “scoots”). On young fish these scutes are extremely sharp, so much so that anybody handling sturgeon must wear special protective gloves to prevent slice injuries. The older the sturgeon, the more the scutes are worn down by repeated rubbing against rocks and river bottoms.

When I was crocheting this scarf I couldn’t decide whether to block the points out sharply like those of a young sturgeon, or to let them stretch into a less pointed structure like those of an older, larger fish. Try stretching your Scute Scarf along its length to see what I mean, and watch the points look blunter (and less dangerous) the more you stretch your scarf.

Materials:

• one skein of K F I Luxury Collection Luxury Silk Sport (colourway used in sample is 108), which comes in 100g skeins of 265m/289yds
• 4.0mm crochet hook
• removable stitch marker
• scissors and sewing needle

The instructions for this pattern are written out, but there is also a hand drawn chart included for the more visual Crocheter.