Lacy ‘Doily’ Scarf

Updated: Dec 17, 2020

Some of you may have seen the lacy scarf that I’m busy working on on my Facebook page or my Instagram feed. I basically used a doily pattern and turned it into a scarf. It’s quite an easy trick and I thought I’d share it with you.

I also went on a bit of a hunt for some lovely doily patterns to help inspire you (there are tons and tons on Ravelry though, so please do have a look for yourself!). This is less of a tutorial than it is a guide, as I’m not going to show you how to use a particular doily and I’m not going to do a step by step either. I’m using a doily from Robyn Chachula’s book Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia and since it has a copyright I don’t want to infringe on it by using that pattern and quite frankly I don’t have enough time to crochet an entire scarf for a tutorial. (You can visit her blog here.)

I hope you’ll understand.

Right, so what should you look for in a doily that you want to convert into a scarf?

look for a lacy motif, i.e. something with lots of gaps as it will ruffle nicely
look for a doily with at least five rounds, any less and your scarf will not have enough ruffle
start with an easy pattern, one that is easily memorised, so that you don’t get confused during any of the rows – making a mistake will mean a lot of undoing since you will be crocheting the length of the scarf, not the width

Lastly, have enough yarn, I can’t give you an estimate as to how much you will need and it obviously also depends on the type of doily and the weight of the yarn. I’m using a DK yarn for the scarf I’m making but I think four ply or fingering would look fabulous too. So far I’ve used about 100gm of DK yarn and I’ve still got one row and a bit to go. I suggest that you have at least 200-300 gm of DK yarn set aside.

So, how do you adapt a doily to turn it into a scarf? It really is quite simple. Look at the first round of stitches, after the chain or magic ring and count them, then halve that number. For example, if the first round of the doily consists of 12 stitches, the number you will be working with is 6.

To begin your scarf you will need to chain a multiple of 6. I suggest you use a measuring tape and make at least 1.5 meters worth of chain, if not more. You need to keep in mind that the scarf will ruffle so the second row will cause the chain to twist and shorten. Once you have completed the chain you need to check what type of stitch is required for the first round of the doily. Chain the appropriate number of chains to correspond with the stitch, i.e. one CH for SC, 2 for HDC, 3 for DC.

Now begin the first row of your scarf by following the directions for the doily placing two stitches into each chain space. So, if the first round of the doily asks for 12 SC, you need to place 2 SC into each of the first 6CH. If it’s a bit more complicated, like 1DC 3CH 1DC repeated, you will still place the 2 DC into the same CH space.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Simply follow the pattern for the doily round by round and turn your work at the end of each row.

I would love to see what you come up with (I’m already thinking about cuffs and ruffle collars 🙂 ) so please send me a mail (stephanie@radiate.co.za) with your finished creations or post them on my Facebook page or on Istagram with the hashtag #loveabagfullofcrochet, and don’t forget to tag me too @stephaniedavies.