Star Gather Crocheted Scarf

This is the Star gather stitch.  This instructable is not for an exact item, it is for the stitch pattern that is so distinctive and beautiful looking. 

When I was carrying my first child, I had a friend that made a baby blanket out of this pattern for me.  She showed me how to do it and I have loved it ever since.   I made some twin sized blankets with this pattern and they are sooooo warm!

 This star gather stitch is a yarn eater for sure, but the end result is worth it.  Warm, thick and durable, but soft and very fancy looking.  It is not a hard stitch to master but it looks like it was made by a master craftsman.  And that craftsman will be ...YOU!  You are going to love making heirloom grade pieces for your friends or family!

I am starting out on a base that is already made.  I used a half double crochet stitch for this one. Any odd number of stitches will do.  Then I finished up with a row of HDC in the same alternating color. This was for a scarf to match a crocheted hat.  In part 6 I will show you how to do this stitch in the round for the hat.

Now to start!
1a  Pull a loop through the top of one end of your base, tighten it  and chain 3.

1b  pull up a loop equal to about the width of 2 base chains. This will be the average length of each pull up loop in pattern.

1c  Yarn over hook, and draw up another loop in top of chain... 3 loops on hook

1d  Yarn over hook (YO from now on), and draw up a loop from the base of the chain 3. (The same stitch you began in)   ... 5 loops on hook

1e  skip one base stitch and YO and pull up one loop in next stitch.... 7 loops on hook. Now YO and draw a loop through ALL 7 loops.

2a I am a couple stitches ahead here, because I realized I forgot to clarify an important part....  See the part I am holding?  This is the part of the yarn that was hanging in back when I had the 7 loops on my hook. .. the feed yarn.

If I don't hold onto this bit when I pull up through the 7 loops, I will loose it. And I need to use it in this next step!!

2b 2c   See where I put the hook?  Right through the part I was holding on to.  Draw a loop up through here.  You have just made a holding stitch for all those 7 loops you were holding. And made the first loop of the next 7.  You also made the middle of the star stitch!  I know it doesn't look like it now, but bear with me.

2d 2e YO and put your hook back into the holding stitch you just made. Draw out your loop. 3 loops on hook.

3a 3b YO and go again to the base, into the stitch you used last.  Pull up a loop. 5 loops on hook.  Skip one base stitch, YO and draw up a loop. 7 loops on hook.

3c  Remember to hold onto your feed yarn as you draw up a loop through all 7 loops.  (See 2a again) Put your hook through this part you are holding and draw up a loop. You have made your second holding stitch and have your first loop on hook. Second star stitch nearly done. (bottom half only)

3d  Repeat the above steps, making your 7 loops and holding stitchs to the end of your base.

Correct Stitch ... You should have an upward pointing triangle each time you make your holding stitch.

Wrong!  ... If your triangle points down, you gathered only one leg!  Or only 5 loops!

4a As you finish each row, take time for a quick look back along your line.  See the bend in the line?  I wasn't paying attention and made a gather stitch when I only had 5 loops on hook.  This makes 2 stitches in the space of one!

4b   This is the way the bottom of your star stitch should look.  Each star will end up with 6 arms. Two slanting down, two out to the sides and two slanting up.

4c  4d  4e  Okay... the end of your base.  Go into the last stitch, (which should be the top of your turning chain for the base) and complete your last 7 loop holding stitch.  Chain 1 WITHOUT pulling out the loop.  YO and make a regular double crochet in the same base stitch you finished the row in. 
This is the side or end of your row and should not be slanted like the legs.  This is why you don't pull out your cross loop. You want to maintain straight sides!

5a Chain 3 and turn

5b 5c   YO and go back into top of ch3 for another loop. 3 loops on hook.  DO NOT pull these loops out for this first stitch.  The end here on this row is only part of the star pattern.  (The rest of the loops for this star are normal pulled out loops, just like the first row.)
 For loops 4/5 and 6/7 you are going to go back into the holding loops you made on the last row.    The center of the star stitch is the only stitch you will use on each row.  The loose loops are used only as the arms of the star.

5d  Now you can see the star pattern as it is completed by the second row.  The second row not only completes the first row, it is also the bottom of its own star stitch.  Don't forget to check your row... I see a mistake in the last stitch in this picture!!

6 This stitch can work well 'in the round' too. Here is a hat I made to go with the scarf I have been showing you on.

6a  I am going to show you how you would work this stitch in the round.  You can start from the crown, once you have established the diameter you want for the sides, or you can start from the base, once you have completed a base row.  All you need is an even number of stitches.

If you start from the base....  Pull a loop through any base stitch and tighten it. Chain one and pull up this loop,

6b 6c 6d  YO and back into the same base stitch to pull up another loop. 3 loops on hook.  Skip one base stitch and YO pull up a loop in next stitch.   You should have 5 loops on hook. (Yes I know there are 6 here... don't ask me how I did that! LOL)  Hold onto your feed yarn and make your holding loop, by puling a loop through all 5 loops and then finishing the holding loop by pulling a loop through the part you are holding. (see 2a again). Re-cap.... you start in the round by making only the 2 legs, so when you come around, you will be making the cross connecting piece (3 loop) last.

7a   (You have a good imagination... right?) Okay then, you have gone all the way around and returned to where you started.  You have one empty stitch remaining.  It is NOT time to bridge over to the first stitch.  Look at the situation... there are no legs connecting the two sides of the one stitch gap. 
Looked at another way, there should be 2 legs coming out of each base stitch, and there is only one leg in each of those 2 stitches. 

7b  So go ahead and make your last star stitch using these 2 base stitches. 

7c  7d  YO and pull out loop from holding stitch. 3 loops on hook.  Now go into the first holding stitch at the beginning of the row, and slip stitch the 3 loops onto this.

7e 7f  Pull up loop, YO and pull up loop in same holding stitch, and you are on your first leg of your second round!  Do each round exactly like the first.  When you don't wish to continue , just make a tight slip stitch into the holding stitch at the beginning of that row, and don't pull up a stitch for the next row.  If you are using more than one color, like I am, you can cut and tie off.

8 Mistakes... This is why you look at each row before you start the next.  I am making a 6 foot scarf and this mistake in the next lowest row is about a foot from the end.  Meaning I have to take  out at least 10 feet of stitches to fix it..... or do I?

8a This was caused by making my holding loop when i only had 5 loops on my hook.  Thus increasing by half a star stitch. 

8b What if I decrease over the mistake instead?

9a 9b  I start off as usual, making my first leg... my second leg...

9c and a THIRD leg!  9 loops on hook!

9d 9e I just make my usual holding stitch and ....look! All straight again!  But will it hurt the overall design?

10a  Can you see where I made the mistake?
10b Here is a closer look
10c.  Can you see it now?

End trouble    Watch your ends.  If you make a longer loop instead of a chain 1 or skip the chain 1 and go to the next row, you will find your ends showing an increase or a decrease.  Try it out on a swatch, say ten stitches long.  Make four or five rows and see how you end each one.  Alternate rows should match directly over each other. 

I hope you liked this pattern!  As I said, it looks complicated but it is so easy to learn and your friends or family will think you are a crocheting genius!

I have a video of this pattern up on You Tube! Part one is the Scarf, Part two is/will be the hat, and somewhere in-between will be the variations. All three will be in right and left hand versions.  Thank you for viewing this instructable!

Part One:  http://youtu.be/kgF0U0AXysI

Here, at long last is a video to show you how to do this.
It is my first ever video and I spent more time in trying to find out how to get this video on here, than I spent on the video itself! LOL
All I have managed to do is find out how not to do it!  Oh well...  I will get it eventually.
So much fun learning new things!
So copy and paste the url below and it will take you to the video.
I didn't make a video on all the steps, just the actual stitch itself.  If you still have questions, I will be glad to answer or show.
I hope this helps and....
                               good crocheting everyone!