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Thursday 21 January 2010

The Queen Victoria Crochet Scarf Pattern

One of the Original Scarves made by Queen Victoria.
The Queen's Scarf of Honour
One of eight scarves Queen Victoria crocheted for presentation to members of her forces fighting in South Africa. This is the scarf awarded to Private R.R. Thompson on display at the Canadian War Museum.
In the last year of her long life, Queen Victoria crocheted eight scarves for presentation to members of her forces fighting in South Africa. Four were earmarked for members of colonial units, with one each going to "the most distinguished private soldier" serving in the forces of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The other four went to members of the British regular army. The Canadian scarf was awarded to Private R.R. Thompson for his actions in going to the aid of wounded comrades at Paardeberg on 18 and 27 February 1900.
With the passage of time, awareness of the scarf faded from Canadian memory. In 1964 Bombardier Kenneth Richardson, of the Royal Canadian Artillery, located the scarf with Thompson's family in Ireland. It was returned to Canada by Thompson's nephew in 1965, and has been on display at the Canadian War Museum ever since.
For further information click here.
182-8291_IMG This is my version of the scarf – albeit minus the tassels and in my mind a more appealing colour. I decided to create and document this pattern as it doesn’t seem to be documented elsewhere on the internet and could be a valuable educational resource for encouraging children to learn crochet :-)
Skill Level: Easy
Materials: 100g DK or worsted weight wool, 6mm crochet hook and darning needle.
Measurements: 8.25” x 54” approx.
Pattern:
ch 27 sts + 2
Row 1:  work three dc into 5th ch from hook, *sk 3 ch, work a dc three times into next ch*, ** rep to end.
Row 2: ch 3, *work 3 dc under next sp between triple dc cluster*, rep to end
Repeat row 2 until 82 rows are complete.
If adding tassels then on the original Queen Victoria crochet scarf they were 4” in length.
To Finish: darn all ends in.
This pattern is offered and made available for personal use only. If you wish to reproduce this in any way please contact me or make sure that reference is made to the original author’s blog http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/ Thank you
Crochet Conversion Chart US/UK
International Yarn Weight Conversion Chart
I hope you enjoy using this pattern and if you are looking for other free patterns please visit Crochet Pattern Central
For other exclusive patterns and my handmade creations please click here.

10 comments:

Cindy said...

This is absolutely fantastic! Where on earth did you come across this information? I think this would encourage young people to try crocheting like "Queen Victoria".

The Sunroom said...

Hi Barbara,

I'm always researching crochet facts, history etc and just couldn't believe the pattern hadn't been documented before. Perhaps it has been but I can't find reference to it anywhere.

Best Wishes

Unknown said...

Wow, great post. Thanks for the effort and the information. I'm very much a fan of your blog.

Snowcatcher said...

What a wonderful and informative post. Thanks for sharing this!

Teena said...

how special!!

Anonymous said...

I just finished a scarf just like the origonal. It was fast and easy and I really like the historical connection. Please keep posting your patterns.

Thanks!

John

Maria said...

How amazing...I just went to the Canadian War Museum this morning and took a picture or the actual Canadian awarded scarf.
You can see a picture on my Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimimia/4753181070/

Thanks for taking an interest in crochet history and for posting the pattern.

Yarnaholic said...

I was amazed to see this pattern and this story about Queen Victoria! I've been making afghans and scarves from this pattern for over 5 years! I love Queen Victoria and anything Victorian!! Thanks for posting this!

Danny said...

As a huge fan of anything Victoriana, and an avid crocheter, I am thrilled to find this post. Thank you so much for providing it. I will be wrapping myself in a reproduction very soon.

Matt said...

I made this scarf for my sister. Thank you for posting it.

I saw baby blanket in a craft shop. Whoever made it used a wool of rainbow colours. It made a very funky blanket.

I'm going to make it in a pastel.

- At least we know this pattern will never date!