So you want to make your Hogwarts scarf yourself? Congrats - it's easy, it's (reasonably) fast, and it means fewer scarves for me to make. ^.~ I'm going to go into increasing detail as these instructions progress - basic design first, color matching, then a sample pattern and adaptations. There's also a link to a printer-friendly pattern further down.

The Design
Hogwarts scarves have nineteen stripes: ten dark stripes and nine light ones, and they begin and end in a dark stripe. Each end has eleven bunches of fringe: six dark and five light, again with dark fringe on both edges.

(Note - I realize the pattern used to say twenty-one stripes. There's a simple, if slightly embarrassing, reason for that: I first counted stripes while Sorcerer's Stone was in theatres. I couldn't pause the movie, obviously, and while I was fairly sure that twenty-one was the magic number, I wasn't positive. I have since checked both the Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets DVDs and, well, I was wrong and have modified the pattern to reflect the correct number of stripes. Sorry, everybody, and if it's any consolation - my scarves are wrong too. :p)

I tend to like big scarves, and if you watch closely in the movies, Hogwarts scarves are big. For adults, I usually aim for 65-70" long and 7-8" wide. That means each stripe is a little over three inches long. Kids' scarves, of course, should be smaller, depending on their age. I've found that a stripe width-to-height ratio of 2:1 to 2.5:1 looks about right.

The scarves are knit in stockinette stitch as tubes. It's not as scary as it sounds - it means each scarf takes twice as much time and yarn to make, but it's also twice as warm, has no 'wrong' side, and doesn't curl the way a single piece of stockinette knitting will. Knitting in the round is very much the same as straight-needle knitting. There are two things you'll need to be careful about: that you pull the cast-on row closed tightly when joining, and that the row isn't twisted around the needle (otherwise you'll have to rip back to the beginning and start over). You'll also want to be sure that you cast on twice the number of stitches as your final width dictates. When finished, the tube is flattened, and each end is closed with fringe.

The Colors
One of the first considerations in Hogwarts scarfmaking, of course, is the house you're knitting. Each house has a pair of colors that represent it and are used in all the house's clothing. They are:

Gryffindor scarlet and gold

Slytherin dark green and silver

Ravenclaw (books) blue and bronze

Ravenclaw (films) medium blue and silver

Hufflepuff black and yellow

The color samples here are from the yarns I use. You can match your own yarn colors to the movies (just curl up with the DVD and go heavy on the pause button ^.^) or to your own tastes.

If you're having a hard time matching colors in yarn shops and craft stores, I definitely recommend checking online. My favorite online store is Patternworks; I've been ordering from them for almost a year and have had nothing but fantastic service on every order. Can't decide on a brand of yarn? I like Unger Utopia (100% acrylic and soft), Plymouth Encore Worsted (a 25% wool/75% acrylic blend that's woolly-feeling but machine washable), and Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (100% wool that's still soft enough to wear near necks). I've also known a lot of people who got good results using Red Heart - I'm just a bit of an anti-acrylic yarn snob. ;)

FYI - Patternworks doesn't presently carry all the shades I'm about to recommend for Hogwarts scarves. If you can't find a color listed on their site, try Yarnware. I've ordered from them, and they seem pretty decent. My only caveat is that you should call their customer service line a few days after ordering to see if anything's backordered; you may need to ask them to ship non-backordered yarns separately.

Color recommendations?

There's another shade of grey in both Encore and Nature Spun that works just fine, despite being a bit darker. These two light greys were just introduced and look to be a near-perfect match to the silver in the movies. Also, Encore in cranberry (#0174) is a reasonable alternative to pomegranate for Gryffindor red - easier to find, but with a slight bluish hue.

Again, those are just my recommendations (aka the ones I like best ^.~). If you don't like a certain shade, pick a different one. (I mean, really, what do I know about your preferences?)

And technically, the yarn used in Hogwarts scarves should be DK or sport weight to produce smaller, finer stitches. However, those yarns can be harder to find and take longer to knit; consequently, even I (anal costuming girl O.O) usually use worsted weight yarn for scarves.

The Pattern - printer-friendly version
The following is the basic pattern I've developed for the scarves I've made. It's flexible - you can and should adapt it to fit your materials and desires. This pattern will yield a scarf that's about 7 inches wide and 65-70 inches long.

Materials:
12-16" circular needle - I use US6 for Nature Spun, and US8 for Encore and Utopia, but pick your size based on gauge
equal amounts of light- and dark-colored yarn (I've found that 2-100g/200yd balls of each color is sufficient)
large-ish crochet hook (for pulling fringe through ends - I usually use a J or K hook)
circular marker (to mark the beginning/end of each round)
tapestry needle or small crochet hook (to weave ends in)

Gauge:
5 st/1" and 6 rows/1" (or thereabouts)

Knitting:
Cast on 70 stitches in the darker color (scarlet for Gryffindor, green for Slytherin, blue for Ravenclaw, black for Hufflepuff). Before joining the ring, slip the marker onto the needle. Knit in the round for 22 rows.
After the 22 rows, tie the lighter color yarn (gold for Gryffindor, grey for Slytherin and film Ravenclaw, bronze for book Ravenclaw, yellow for Hufflepuff) around the dark yarn on the wrong (bumpy, inside) side of the tube, leaving a 2-inch tail of light yarn; trim the dark yarn to have the same length tail. Now, knit 22 rows in the lighter yarn.
Follow this pattern (22 rows - switch color - 22 rows - switch color - etc.) until you have knitted ten dark and nine light stripes. Cast off.

Finishing:
Weave the yarn tails from cast-on and cast-off into the scarf. Wash the scarf according to your yarn's instructions; dry it flat on the floor/table on top of towels. Be sure to align all the color changes along one side fold of the scarf (they're less noticable that way). Block the scarf by stretching it widthwise until the entire thing is the same width.
When the scarf is dry, it's time to add the fringe. I've found that the US hardcover of Sorcerer's Stone is a good size to measure fringe with - if you don't have a copy, use a piece of cardboard 7.5 inches wide. Just wrap the yarn around the book widthwise (y'know, the short way), then cut the wound yarn at the edge of the book/cardboard so it forms several individual pieces of yarn.
To make one tassel, take 7 pieces of yarn and fold them in half together. Push the crochet hook through both thicknesses of scarf in the first row of knitting at one end, loop the folded ends of the yarn around the hook, and pull the yarn loops halfway through the scarf. Remove the hook, pass the cut yarn ends through the loop, and tighten the tassel. There are five light and six dark tassels evenly spaced on each end of the scarf; I usually do the middle light tassel first, then the dark end tassels, and eye the rest.
Now, put on your scarf and show off!

Extras:
I've had a few people ask me to embroider initials onto their scarves. I usually duplicate stitch the letters in light yarn on the bottom right corner of one of the dark stripes at the end, sewing only through one thickness, before fringing and after washing.

More info on...
Casting on
Knit stitch
Circular knitting
Casting off
Duplicate stitch

Feedback
If I've missed anything, been vague, been confusing, or otherwise screwed up, feel free to email me at scarfpattern(at)atypically.net.

Copyright
This pattern is copyright © 2003 Lauren Kent. It is an original work and may be used for non-commercial purposes only.

last modified 07.08.04 - changed page formatting slightly