On Wednesday January 22nd 2006, the first long scarf of the Steel City Clown Brigade was begun. She was started from the frogged remains of a sweater gone wrong. The hope was to have something to show for the Knit and Crochet Festival in February.
This gave us many problems. There are several rules for the construction of a long scarf that would be worthy as a show piece for a Clown Troop. First it should be at least 100 feet long. Secondly it cannot be knit in sections. To do this would make it too weak to be used as a performing prop.
Generally a Clown Group would knit a long scarf from either end. Even with two people knitting on it getting a long scarf done in such a short time would be hard. I decided that the only way would be if a scarf could be made with as many people knitting on it as possible.
The design would be a braided scarf starting with thirty stitches cast on. This design would allow for us to six people to knit on the scarf at one time. To give the scarf added stability every 42 inches all three sections would be braided together and stitched back into a single piece for several rows. The braid would loose approximately six inches of length every section. Still, this would be made up for with the multiple people that could knit on it at once. And the braid itself gives the scarf a very unique look.
The scarf was started by myself and Sergeant Jimbo at the Barnes and Nobles in the Waterfront in Homestead Pennsylvania.
So it began.
