Scrappy Scarf

Over on my Years of Scarves discussion group on Ravelry, my friends have been telling me I need to give them enough lead time to make themed scarves before the event date. So here you go. You have an entire year to collect the materials to make this baby. That's what I do.

Your assignment: As you knit and crochet your way through 2014, save all of your yarn scarps. Anything 6" to a small ball. Don't worry about coordinating colors, textures, weight (thickness).

At the end of every year I create a scrappy scarf to celebrate what I've made that year, either knit or crocheted, by jumbling all the yarn ends and odd balls together and then tying them together end-to-end.

The complete process is explained in the instructions on Ravelry, here.

I did four of these last year. This wasn't because I was fine tuning the pattern. I kept selling them before I managed to take photos to include with the instructions. (The first scarf was part of the Chase the Chill bombing). A gift shop owner saw me wearing  the next and bought it right off my neck. The third was in the gallery at the Family YMCA of Easton, Phillipsburg and Vicinity, for an exhibit of Chase the Chill scarves being bombed that year, and photos of past years. That one didn't make it to the end of the show.

The first year I made a scrappy scarf, at 32 stitches, it was too wide.  But I still like them really, really long. They need to be for visual balance with all the ends dangling.

My final bits of advice: Don't sweat the small stuff. And find some child slave-labor to tie all the ends together. Plug in a movie. They’ll be fine.