Feel Good Scarf

Earlier this summer, a couple of our Fiber CSA members and I decided to form a team and participate in the World’s Longest Scarf project — a fundraiser hatched by Keep the Fleece to benefit Heifer International. 

I’m a newbie knitter but I love the idea of raising money for Heifer and I thought hey! it’s a scarf — just 9 inches wide…how difficult could that be?  Well, after I don’t know how many (wa-a-ay too many) attempts at casting on for a gauge swatch, I finally managed to determine the number of stitches needed for those 9 inches.  The lovely yarn I’d started with was a fuzzy mess of fiber after the abuse I’d put it through.  Reluctantly, I cut it from the skein…I cut it from the skein…OMG, I cut it from the skein!  Do knitters do this all the time and I’m feeling sick about it because it’s my first time?  This spinner does not cut pieces from the skein…I felt very strange, very not good.  I tossed it in the trash basket…too much time had been wasted on this casting on business.  I celebrated the casting on success briefly and then reality set in…I’d now have to cast on again!   A few deep breaths, a few sips of the vino…40 stitches cast on.  And I have to say, there were hardly any lumps or hanging loops this time!  Now, if I can just remember what I did for the next time.

One thing I learned during all this…there are many ways to cast on and every knitter has a favorite “all around useful method.”  I know this because every call I made for help yielded another method of casting on!  I won’t even go into all the “specialty” cast ons I was told about.  I don’t have a favorite.  At this point, getting the right number of stitches onto a needle is a miracle and any way that works is fine with me!  

Our CSA Scarf Team's piece before I packed it up for its trip across country. The black folder is the "Journal" that goes along for the ride. And don't you love those cute needles -- they're from Peace Fleece. I bought them from Nina at Ruit Farm dot com.

SO…After struggling to get started, knits and purls were a piece of cake and loads of  fun!  I put some rows on, rounded up a couple of very generous sponsors for even more rows and then sent the scarf on its way to visit with the other team members…

I’ve now heard from one of our CSA shareholders that the scarf has arrived in CA and she’s begun knitting on it.  She’ll pass it along to another CSA shareholder — also in CA — and then it’ll come back here.  After it’s been blocked, I’ll send it off to be joined to the many other scarves being sent in by other teams.  The World’s Longest Scarf will be unveiled at the NY State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck on October 17th.  I’m really looking forward to seeing it all put together!  And I hope that it’ll raise lots & lots of $$… and awareness.  Heifer will use this  money to help people all over the world begin fiber flocks of their own and provide them with support until they learn the ropes.

Contributing to this feels good…