I have a craft fair coming up in a couple of weeks so I am churning out scrunchies as fast as my little fingers can work. I think they will be a good seller as they have a low price point and are very popular right now. But, as with anything that I make in mass quantity, I get rather bored of making them over and over again. When I start playing with colour, it tends to revive my interest. (Anyone else addicted to the colour change yarns like Mandala or Unforgettable and find that you crochet faster when you are coming up to a change?!?). So I decided to expand on my multi-coloured scrunchie pattern with the Short Stripe Scrunchie. It is fun to see how different colour combinations work up, and with so many velvet yarns on the market right now, there are so many choices. I also designed this pattern so that I would have minimal ends to weave in even with all the colour changes, because as we all know, weaving in the ends is the worst part of any project!

Materials

• Bernat Velvet Yarn in 2 colours
• Hair elastic
• 5.25 mm crochet hook
• Tapestry needle

Stitches

chain

sc – single crochet

slip stitch

Pattern

With Colour A, Chain 8

Row 1: Working in 2nd chain from hook, sc and then sc in each chain across (7). Chain 1 and turn.

Row 2: Sc across, changing to colour B in last stitch (7). Chain 1 and turn.

Row 3: Sc across (7). Chain 1 and turn.

Row 4: Sc across, changing to colour A in last stitch (7). Chain 1 and turn.

Continue in pattern, changing colour every 2 rows for a total of 52 rows.

A note on colour change: because the colour is changed every other row you do not need to carry the yarn through the work and you do not need to cut the yarn after each colour change. Simply pick it up from where you left if off before. You will see the yarn that you pick up, but when you close the scrunchie around the elastic you will put this on the inside so you do not see it on the finished piece.

Place hair elastic around the corner at the end of the 52nd row across from your working yarn. You will slip stitch the scrunchie closed around the hair elastic. For a nice finish to the piece, slip stitch into each row with the corresponding colour. So starting with colour B, slip stitch Row 52 together around the elastic, then slip stitch Row 51. Then change to colour A to close rows 50 and 49. As you change colour, make sure that the other colour working yarn is to the inside of the scrunchie with the hair elastic so you do not see it in the finished piece. After closing all 52 rows, cut yarn leaving a tail long enough to sew the 2 ends of the scrunchie closed to make a continuous tube. Weave in ends.