Blue Slouchy Hat

The universe is apparently against me getting my blanket project done.  It is now too large to take about with me and so it's going even slower.  It also means that I had no project to work on at lunch for a few days and that is a tragedy of epic proportions. I get all kinds of antsy without yarn to play with.  I really don't like just sitting, it drives me bonkers.  With no yarn to play with all I could do was jot out ideas in my pocket notebook and that doesn't stay entertaining for very long.  To solve that problem I finally remembered to grab some Vanna's Choice that was leftover from my contest projects (still no word on them, for those of you who might be interested) and tossed it in my giant purse of holding.  Then, at lunch, I was able to start playing.  I got pretty far with it too, except for one thing.  I had no idea what I was making.

I know that sounds kind of odd.  I mean, if you're making something you generally know what that something is or will be or, at least, what you'd like it to be.  That doesn't always work out for me.  All I knew is that it wasn't going to be a scarf, I'm getting bored with those, and that I don't have enough leftover Vanna's to make a blanket or something else large.  I started working in the round and after a few rounds I decided that it would probably turn out as a bag or a hat.  This is not the first time I've made a "hat bag"  or a "bag hat" depending on how you look at it.  I once wanted to make a floppy cotton hat but I got a little carried away and now it's my large drawstring hobo-ish bag.  I use it all the time for zoo trips.  It holds a lot; my usual purse stuff plus bottles of water and lunch for two people.  I could probably fit more food in it but my zoo membership only lets me take one person in with me freebies so I've never tried.  Granted, I generally eat enough for two normal people, so that should probably be factored in there somewhere.  Anyway, the "blue thing", as it was initially christened, looked like it was going to be a cute little bag until I put it on my head and discovered it also makes a super cute hat, so that's the way it went.

This was something of a first for me.  I make hats out of the randomness in my head all the time but I very seldom write them out.  And by very seldom I mean never.   The reason for this is the free form nature of hat construction.  When I start making a hat it's like someone just wound me up and let me go.  I'll be a good 3 inches into the thing and realize that I should have written it down and by then I've usually forgotten what I've done.  I did try writing a hat out once, but the pattern kept changing and I'd have to cross out huge sections or I would get so excited about the hat that I would suddenly be 10 rows away from my last notes with no way to figure out what I had done short of ripping it all out.  You can guess how many times the queen of lazy has done that!  Well, there's a first time for everything and I did start out wanting this to be a pattern to share, especially in the continuing absence of my blanket pattern, so I did my best to write out what I was doing.

The end result looked rather more, um...virginal...than I had expected, though I do quite like it.  I think it might be because of the serene face on the foam head.  Maybe I should have used  the mummified one.  I had no choice but to use a foam head, though.  I didn't have any helpers with thumbs around and any pics I took of the hat on me turned out badly.  Evidently it's rather challenging to get a good head shot with arms/hands/cameras in the way. Who knew?

Please keep in mind that this pattern has not been tested.  I was making the prototype at the same time as writing out the pattern.  There could very well be problems with it and if you find any please don't hesitate to let me know.

Blue Slouchy Hat

The opening on the hat measures 19 inches around and fits comfortably around a 22 inch head

Materials
1 ball of Vanna's Choice
L hook

5 clusters = 4inches

Cluster pattern
The cluster is made from 3 dcs which are partially made and then finished together.  They are made as follows.
Yo, pull up a stitch.  You now have 3 loops of yarn on your hook.  Yo, pull through the first two loops.  Instead of doing another yo for the remaining two loops (like you would to finish out the dc), yo and pull up a second stich where you made the first one.  You now have 4 loops on your hook.  Yo and pull through 2 loops.  3 loops remain on your hook.  Then yo and pull up your third st.  You now have 5 loops on your hook.  Yo and pull through two of them.  You should have 4 loops remaining.  Then yo and pull through all of those 4 remaining loops.  Follow up each cluster with a ch 1.  I will refer to the whole thing (3dc cluster plus the ch 1) as a cluster but you will sometimes have instruction to work in the ch 1.  Make sure you don't forget the ch 1, it will throw your counts off!

Note:  Start each cluster round with ch2, it counts as the first stitch in the cluster pattern, and end each round by joining your last ch 1 to the top of the cluster.  Do not turn on cluster rounds.  On the sc rounds, do not count the ch 1 as a stitch.

Fits a 22 inch head comfortably.

Main Pattern


Ch6 and join into a ring

Cluster Rounds
Round 1:  Make 8 clusters (don't forget the ch 1's), join.
Round 2:  Working in the top of each cluster and each ch 1 make 15 clusters.  Omit working the final ch 1 on the previous round, join.
Round 3:  Again working in the top of each cluster and each ch 1 make 28 clusters.  Omit the last cluster and it's ch 1 on the previous round.  Join.
**Round 4-14: Make one cluster in the top of each cluster around.  The cluster count stays at 28 for all 10 rounds.
** Try your hat on during rounds 4-14.  You can leave out rows if the shape suits you before you hit Round 14.

Sc rounds
Round 15:  Sc around in each cluster and ch 1.  Join, ch 1, turn.  (56 sc)
Round 16:  (Dec 1 sc, sc 3) around ending on a dec.  Join, ch1, turn. (45 sts)
Round 17:  (Sc 9, dec 1) around and end on 1 sc.  Join, ch 1, turn.  (41 sts)
Round 18:  Sc around, join, and break off.  (41 sc)

Naturally, no project is finished without some manner of assistance.

Family enthusiasm for a project always makes the day more interesting.

Om nom nom

I feel like I own you guys an apology because my crochet work has really slowed down again.  I've been having a love affair with food, you see, and I've been spending my evenings in a haze of food comas which is extraordinarily pleasant if not terribly productive.  I love food.  Eating it, making it, sharing it, doesn't matter.  Food is probably the best thing ever.  I can and will try just about anything once and it takes a lot to put me off a food.  For instance, I know full well what goes into things like sausage and bologna and I eat them anyway and I positively LOVE offal.  It isn't unusual for me to plan dinner while eating lunch and the food is always my first concern whenever I have a party or go out.  Food must be good and in large supply, that's the rule.  It's also the reason why I don't understand women spending thousands of dollars on wedding dresses.  They could just as easily gotten a less expensive dress and put that money towards a better caterer, as is right and proper. 

My  random ingredient bibimbap.  It's bean sprouts, Japanese sweet potato, green onions, egg, and rice.

The more immediate issue is that, for the last week or two, I've been going absolutely bonkers for Korean food.  When I start learning a new culture's food I tend to go a little nuts with it.  Like when I started learning Thai food I thought it would be a great idea to raise a Kaffir lime tree so I would have fresh leaves.  That didn't work out, and I only made a dish or two before I moved on to something else.  It's been different with Korean food.  I've not cooked anything besides Korean food since my current binge started two weeks ago.  I woke up one day and decided I needed to learn to make dukbokki.  Dukbokki is a dish made with rice cakes.  Not the nasty American coasters that we're all used to; this rice cake is tube shaped and chewy and yummy.  Never having made Korean food before, I started hunting for recipes online and that is where I found more than I bargained for.  At first I was only comparing dukbokki recipes to see what I really needed for them, then I found Maangchi.  This woman is fantastic and her website is awesome.  Her videos are insanely helpful and she has all kinds of links to show you what you should be looking for when you go shopping.  Anything Korean that I make and rave about is probably from her recipes unless I make a note otherwise.

I used her recipe for dukbokki and promptly lost my mind.  It was so good I immediately picked another recipe and it was just as good.  Things have been spiraling out of control ever since.  I'm pretty sure at this point that I'm going to cook my way through her whole site.  Well, maybe not the kimchi.  I've never been terribly fond of it, which is weird because I love all other forms of pickled cabbage that I've had.  More impressively, I've even been eating things that I hate.  No, really, I have.  I've been gobbling down large quantities of food that I have always despised.  Korean food is so good that I've been eating zucchini, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and even Korean chili paste whenever they're called for.  All those foods have been on the poison list for time out of mind(I call foods that I hate poisonous, I'm not sure why.  It's just something I do) and I am the biggest wimp ever when it comes to spicy food.  I mean, I have a hard time with salsa that's hotter than mild.  There are some brands that I can eat the 'medium' rating on, but not many.  I even have a hard time with the spicy Japanese mayonnaise used for sushi.  The Korean chili paste (it's called gochujang, if you're curious) is a lot hotter than the spicy mayo and for whatever reason I just can't get enough of it.  I actually managed to go through something like half of a 500 gram package of the stuff in less than 2 weeks and I think I'm going to have to buy more soon.  And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's easy to eat food slathered in gochujang because I'm a wimp and can do it, because that isn't it at all.  Gochujang hurts.  It hurts a lot.  Dukbokki is covered in the stuff  and I've been eating it something like every other day.  It burns with exquisitely delicious pain.  We're talking tears streaming down my face spicy (for a wimp, remember), but I can't stop eating it.  I've been eating so much dukbokki that I think I'm starting to get used to the spice level which is terrifying.

 I'm even branching out my kitchenware because of this epic food.  I've always hated not having a gas range and I've finally decided that I need a single burner butane stove.  Butane because it's safe to use indoors and propane isn't.  With said stove I can use things like the Korean BBQ grill pan.  Amazing little buggers, those.  They're cast iron and shaped in such a way that the grease runs off into a collecting area.  I know what you're thinking, and you'd be wrong.  I can't just use a George Foreman grill.  Unlike a George Foreman, you can get the grill pan hot enough to brown the meat correctly and it doesn't smash all the yummy juices out of the meat.  I also love fun new kitchen toys.  I won't lie, that was a big deciding factor in getting the butane stove.  Well, that and emergency use.  It's hard to cook during a power outage if all you have is an electric stove and a microwave.

The part I've been enjoying most, besides eating amazing new foods, is finding out what to do with some of the bizarre things you can find at Asian markets.  I've always wanted to know what I could do with dried squid or what the different sizes of dried anchovy are for.  Sadly, I still haven't found a recipe to use with pork uterus.  I've been burning with curiosity ever since I saw those packages in the meat fridge.  Most other meats I've either had or are similar enough to things I've had that I can guess, but not pork uterus.  Even the internet doesn't have an actual recipe.  The best I've been able to find is vague directions to stuff them with pork, leeks, spices, and fish sauce then boil the resulting 'sausage'.  Now that I've totally killed your appetite, I believe I shall go have a delightful dinner.  All this talk of food, yes, even the uterus, has made me hungry!

Plotting and Planning

Ye gods, I must have written and rewritten this post 100 times!  Hyperbole of course, I can't have actually done it more than 5-10 times, but it does feel like I've scrapped everything many times more.  Nothing so far has seemed to feel right.  I guess the simplest thing to do is "begin at the beginning and go on till (I) come to the end; then stop".  So, here goes.

We've long since established how much I love Halloween so we're taking that as given.  But, since there are people who read my blog that I don't actually know personally and because those of you who do know me know that I'm nuts but may not know the method behind the madness, I feel like I should give you all a bit of explanation as to why I'm talking about Halloween in February.  For reference, if you haven't already seen them, go checkout my posts from October 2011.  One of the things that will be immediately obvious is that my decorations take a lot of work.  I didn't get to finish everything I wanted to do last year and that was largely due to bad planning on my part.  It still looked damn good, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't able to include all the ideas I had.  I see that as a problem, and a rather large one at that.  Better planning is what's needed, as anyone who has ever planned a big event or party will tell you.  I mean, look at how long it takes to plan a wedding!  People do that for years and it's not like the wedding stuff gets reused for the same thing each year thereafter.  Fact: the more you get taken care of early on, the more relaxed you'll be about the whole thing and everything turns out a lot better that way.

I've learned over the last couple of years that advance planning is the better route to go.  In years past I've gotten stuck needing things that I couldn't find and didn't have time to locate.  For instance, had I wanted to order plastic skeletons from a Chinese wholesaler I would have had to do so in January which doesn't really help you if you find out about it in August.  Then there's the fact that most of what I want to do has to be built.  Making one thing wouldn't be a problem, but I tend to go a bit overboard by making a lot and most of what I make doesn't work right on the first try.  Simply put, making things takes time and generally more than you had planned for.  With all of those things to consider, it makes sense to start planning early, odd logic though it may be.

Now that you know some of the reasoning behind it, I'm going to tell you a bit about what I want to do.  Once you see what I've got as a goal, it should be pretty obvious why I'm kicking off things now.

I've decided that I need to do rotating themes to help keep my party interesting and satisfy my need for a variety of different types of decorations.  I could just throw everything together, but that would be a disconnected mess and it would do nothing to improve my party.  I've chosen three themes that have some overlapping elements and by picking the ones I have I'll be about to manage a few extra themes, should the mood take me to do so.  The themes that I've picked are Mad Scientist Lab (which is the one I'm using for this year), Enchanted Forest, and Haunted House.  My 'bonus' themes can include Haunted Forest (Haunted House + Enchanted Forest) and Zombie Apocalypse (Mad Scientist Lab + Haunted House).

Making my theme choice now has done a few things that are unusually handy.  When I'm conflicted about any given prop I can now decide about it based on how many of my themes it would work for.  Something that can be used in all three will get preference over something that can only be used in one.  Since each theme will undoubtedly have a few things that are specific only to it (I can't see using test tubes for anything but the lab set up, for instance) I'll still have to get stuff that doesn't fit more than one theme.  However, storage of stuff should be far simpler because I can store the multi-use props in one place and just have a box or two that are theme specific.  Similarly, I should have a huge opportunity to save money on props.  By deciding on what I want to do now I've opened the opportunity jump on sales and clearance items.  I have a whole year to watch for sales and, because I know what my goals are for each theme, I won't have to wonder what might be useful next year when I hit the post-Halloween sales.  Very beneficial, don't you think?

As I mentioned earlier, this year's Halloween theme will be the Mad Scientist Lab.  I picked it for this year because I should be able to outfit it pretty cheaply.  The nice thing about actually being a scientist is that I have tons of text books and things that can be grabbed for prop use.  Instead of making chemistry book props, I can actually use my real books!  Plus I already have things like goggles and lab coats.  Oh, and my microscope and dissecting kit.  But, I'm going to need more than a few books and tools if this year is going to be anything like as impressive as I would like.  My current vision entails the dining room being the main lab bench, my living room will have to be some manner of research office, and the bathroom will be the 'decontamination' area as it already has a shower that I can hi-jack for a safety shower.  The various hallways I can just make eerie with lighting and signage, possibly a bit of webbing to give it the air of disuse.

To manage all that I'm going to have to make a bunch of stuff.  A large part of it is going to involve signs; 'high voltage', 'danger! biohazard!', and so on.  Those should be pretty easy, if prolific.  All I think I'll need is cardboard, spray paint, and stencils.  It's the rest of the stuff I want to do that's going to me complicated.  I'm going to need specimens, chemicals, experiments, failed experiments, equipment, and lighting plus I'm going to have to make a whole new menu.  I've been wanting to do that anyway.  Each year less and less food gets consumed.  It's time for a shake up!

My biggest dilemma was deciding what to do to the outside of my house.  Most people won't get to see inside so outside has to look good too.  Let me tell you, this took a ton of brainstorming and use of my references.  Yes, I have references for decoration making.  Mostly old movies like Frankenstein, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and similar.  Nothing I though of was feasible.  It isn't exactly easy to make a one story brick house look like a mansion or abandoned asylum or something.  When I started thinking things like "well, if I could just cover the wall with stone"  I knew I had gone the wrong way.  Major construction projects just for Halloween effect is a little too out there, for now.  Maybe if I win the lottery, lol.  Then, suddenly, I had a brilliant idea dropped right in my lap!  I went to see The Woman in Black with friends for one of their birthdays.  (It's a great movie, by the way, I recommend it.  None of the meat grinder nonsense that's gotten so popular, this one actually uses cinematography and surprise to make it creepy.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it gets nominated for an Oscar for cinematography next year, they did that good a job.)  Anyway, shortly into the film they show a great shot of this neglected mansion which has a very overgrown look.  The building has vines all over it.  Vines!  They're the perfect solution!  I'll even be able to use them for my Forest theme!  So the grand plan outdoors is to make my house look creepy and overgrown in such a way that I can get it all up and down in a short period of time.  Since vines have a great ability to destroy brick, I can't just plant them around the foundations which means I'm going to have to use a combination of created vines with the natural ones that I can harvest off my trellis.

Are you excited yet?  I know I am.  What makes me even happier is that I can share all these ideas well in advance so that you guys can take them and use them in whatever form is the most helpful for you.  Sharing everything in October is wonderfully thematic, but not really useful if it takes a couple weeks to make something.  I've done the brunt of the planning already so that I can be on the lookout for bits and pieces (and sales!) for construction.  I don't want to detract from the yarn crafts by going too all out with this so I'm going to try very hard not to bombard you with massive amounts of Halloween stuff.  There will be periodic updates when I get something worked out so that it doesn't all come out at once.  Once decorating season hits my posts will probably turn to the ultimate assembly of the theme, but until then I'm going to try to keep the end product off the radar.  I need something for the grand finale, after all!

Lucky Clover Scarf

One pattern a week seems to be the best I'm able to do at the moment.  That's a bit slower than 'normal' but it does help keep the quality up.  I hate using filler patterns even if they do have some good ideas.  I keep getting distracted by books and food so my crafting has slowed down a bit.  The purple blanket is still going, but it's my 'I'm lazy and don't want to do housework' project so it's been going in fits and starts.  Plus I've been on a food kick.  That tends to happen after I've been sick, I start eating everything I can get my hands on to the exclusion of all else.  It would be less of an issue if I hadn't started learning to make new food at the same time.  All of my comfort foods are some form of Asian, which is probably odd for a little white girl of Polish/German descent but that's how it is, and I've been learning how to make some really awesome Korean food.  So far I've tried making pa jun and dukbokki (scallion pancakes and spicy rice cake 'stew').  The next on the list is bibimbap (a rice dish where you cook all the bits separately then mush them together in your bowl) and I may try bulgogi (marinated beef) again.  My beef dishes tend to suck; the meat is always too watery and the texture goes from pan fried to boiled in a heartbeat.  What's worse is that it doesn't seem to matter if I dry the meat off first.  I think I need to get my meat from a better store than Walmart.  Maybe I can find a butcher, I bet it would help.  Once I get those recipes down the crafting will probably kick up again, that's what normally happens. 

On top of those distractions, I have planning in full swing for a certain October party.  Nothing keeps me going quite like Halloween plans.  Sometime in the next week or so I'll start posting little bits about the various plans that I have and then the related crafting projects that go along with it.  What should be interesting is that a lot of my ideas aren't necessarily Halloween specific.  There's a fair number of ideas that I'm working on which could be used really easily for kid's birthday parties or other randomly themed parties, if you're into that kind of thing.  Nor are all my ideas going down the blood and guts path that many of them did last year, not that that helps you if you've got a kid who wants a zombie party.

Right, getting on with things, I have a fun little pattern going today.  It took me a while to figure out exactly what I wanted to do; I got to do a lot of ripping.  Then, once I had my motif, I had to figure out what to do with it.  Naturally I went with the loathed piecework.  I swear, for something I hate so very much, it's too damn useful.  It's been pretty warm in my corner of the world and that has me thinking spring.  Green and spring.  Happily, there's a holiday that goes nicely with that.  I have no specific feelings about St. Patrick's day, which is unusual for me since I tend to be really opinionated.  For instance, I despise Valentine's day with every fiber of my being.  I have an intense dislike of cutesy stuff being shoved down my throat 24/7 and the implication that it's ok to be a jerk 90% of the time so long as you buy something fancy to show your love on one day a year pisses me off.  I don't need a specific day to show people I care, I try to do that all the time.  Granted, I don't always succeed, but I do try.

Once I started thinking St. Patty's day, I had a second brain wave.  I was getting bored with blocky things, so why not go lacy on this one?  What's more, there is a method called Irish crochet that looks awesome and is light and delicate.  Now, Irish crochet it typically done with teensy little steel hooks and crochet thread and I'm not a terribly patient person.  My solution was to make an Irish crochet inspired pattern.  That way I could still use normal yarns and hooks and it wouldn't take a million years to make a scarf.  Coming up with the pattern took a bit of doing; I had to try several iterations before I got something that looked nice.  Then I had to figure out how to connect the motifs.  Join as you go wasn't an option.  There's something about that joining process which bollocksed up the shaping.  Consequently, I got to sit on the couch staring at my cute little clover for quite some time.  Then it hit me.  4 leaf clovers are supposed to be lucky and St. Patrick's day has always had the whole 'pot of gold' association with it.  Coins were the answer!  Hence the devil piecework.  Sewing the thing together takes more time than making all its bits.




Lucky Clover Scarf

Materials:
Red Heart SuperSaver (I used some leftover DuPont Sayelle for the yellow, but Red Heart should work just fine for the coins)
J hook
I hook

Clover Pattern make 11
Using green and the J hook ch2,
Round 1:  8 sc in the first ch.  Join.  Do not turn.
Round 2:  (ch6, sk 1sc, sc) four times.  Join and turn.
Round 3:  (7sc in ch6 space, ch1) in each ch6 space.  Join but don't turn
Round 4:  (ch2, sk 2, dc, ch2, dc, c2, dc, c2, dc, ch2, sk1, slst) in each of the four loops of sc.

Coin Pattern make 40  leave tails for sewing.  Half of them need to be extra long for the way they're joined later.
With yellow and the I hook, ch 2.
Round 1:  6 sc in the first chain.
Round 2:  2 sc in each st, join with sl st.  (12 sc)

Long tail vs Short tail

Prepare the coins for sewing as shown

Starting point

Pull through

Step 1

Pull through

Step 2

 Assembly
Note:  For best results read over the whole process before you give it a go.  The way some of the coin joins are done is not typical.  I've designed this so that you get the most secure join possible but you're going to want to make sure you end weave as securely as possible or your scarf may fall apart in the wash.


Weave in ends of all the clover motifs.  Pick a side to be 'front' on the coins.  For shorter tail coins:  Using the tail on the coin, sew the coin to the 2 sts over a second dc on the clover as shown.  Weave the end in using the most secure method you know.
For longer tail coins, sew the coin to a clover as for the short tail coin.  Then, instead of end weaving, use the needle to move the yarn tail to the other side of the coin as shown.  Then sew the coin to a short tail coin on a different clover.  Weave in ends.

Starting point

Step 1

Pull through and step 2

Step 2 continued

Pull through and step 3.  For short tails, weave in your end at this point.  For long tails, continue below.

Step 1

Pull through

Make sure your coins are both face up before doing step 2

Pull through, step 3

Pull through, step 4.  Weave in ends

Chain Link Scarf

After that doozy of an illusion scarf I'm going to be doing simple things for a bit.  Mostly because there is no way I can keep posting patterns regularly if they're all that complicated.  That doesn't mean I'm going to stop making complicated patterns, just that it may be a while before I get another one up.  I have a hard enough time getting posts up on a regular basis as it is so I figure I should start practicing, at least, that's what mom always tells me about stuff like that.  I swear that was her favorite line when I was growing up. Any time I tried to get out of anything by saying I wasn't good at it I was told "then you must need more practice" and it was added to my list of chores.  The upside is that now I can do a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise been able to do.   We'll have to see how that works out on the blog posting end of things.

The pattern I have for you today is actually a prototype of an idea that I had.  I've been wanting to play with interlocking parts, eventually for making a blanket, but I figured starting small would be a good plan (for once.  Look, I'm learnding!)  Then an opportunity for experimenting presented itself; I got sick.  When I'm sick I spend the vast majority of the day passed out on my couch but I'm usually up for an hour or so between naps.  During those bits of consciousness having crochet as a hobby is exceedingly convenient.  Crochet fits all of my sick day activity requirements; I don't have to move to do it, I don't have to think about it, and if I fall asleep in the middle it doesn't matter.  Of course, remembering what I did becomes a bit of a challenge as fevers tend to make me forgetful.  I'm going to assume that this particular scarf doesn't take all that long to make since I made it over 2 days where I wasn't exactly coherent.  Presumably that means someone who isn't half dead could manage it in an evening.  It didn't turn out quite how I was expecting, but it's still reasonably interesting.


Chain Link Scarf

Materials
Vanna's Choice in 3 colors, 70 yards each for the link colors and 55 yards for the edging.
J hook

Gauge
Each link should measure about 4 inches across when laid flat.  The blue yarn gauged smaller for me and I had to work it a little looser than the white.

Chain Link Pattern, blue and white
Make 9 in each color, 18 total, alternating as you go.  All links after the first are made by joining the starting chain through the previous link.  Make sure you thread the chain through the same way each time or the linking pattern won't look right.

ch 24, join in a ring making sure not to twist the chain.
Round 1:  Ch 1, 2sc in next st.  Work (sc, 2sc) around ending on a 2sc.  Skip the ch 1 and join to the first sc.
Round 2: Ch 1, sc in same space as joining, sc in next space.  (2sc, sc, sc) around.  Join, break off, and weave in ends. (46 sts)

Edging, purple
Important note:  Before you join a link pair make sure that you lay them flat to make sure you get them evenly spaced.  It won't seem to matter on the first side, but it does.  If you don't line up the links beforehand, they may not line up on the second side and it will either look funny or require you to add or remove stitches to make everything line up.

Round 1:  Join yarn to an end link.  Ch2, 2dc in the joining space.  Sc in the next 10 sts then line the links up and sc through the first and second link.  Sc 10 across the second link, then line up the second and third link and sc through both.  Continue in this manner until you reach the last link.  Sc 10 then 3 dc in the 11th st.  Repeat this once then return to the 10 sc, join links pattern.  When you return to the first link sc 10, 3 dc in the 11th st, sc 10 and join to the top of the ch 2.
Round 2: Ch 1 and sc around the entire piece making 2 sc in each second (center) dc.  Join, break off, and weave in ends.

You'll need to block the scarf if you don't want it to curl and even that doesn't always help that much.  I'm not sure why it likes to curl up as much as it does but it sure seems to like it!  The link pattern lays flat on it's own, or it did when I made the first few, but for some reason they like to roll.  It does look interesting when it curls up so I may well come back to this pattern with an alternative edging technique to show off the neat twists it can do.  I've got a blanket pattern I need to finish first, though, and a few more ideas to tweak out.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see!