Scarf

(note: all pictures will be at the bottom of the posts…Family members – you have fair warning right now – do not read any further – it will ruin your surprise!)

I found the idea for this scarf here.  Of course Martha used a bulky yarn that cannot be found at any normal craft store (I went to Hobby Lobby) but I found that this work with just a normal bulky yarn (I used a homespun yarn) and just add more strands to each group.  (a 6 oz skein will make 2 scarfs!!). 

What I did for each scarf was cut 24 pieces that were 140” in length (to produce an approx 84 in scarf).  Group the pieces into 4 groups of 6 pieces. Tie two bunches together with a square knot (leaving about 6 inches of fringe at the top) .  Do the same thing with the other two bunches.

Now Martha said to pin both knots to a piece of foam board…I tried that and my pins kept coming out.  What I did was pin them to the rug on my living room floor.  They stayed in place and I had plenty of room to keep moving back and keep the scarf stretched out.

Once you got your knots pinned down side by side knot the two inner bunches together, leaving about 1 in from the existing knots.  Then knot the two left bunches together, and then the two right bunches together.  Then repeat starting with the two inner bunches.  Keep doing this until you have about 6 inches of fringe at the end (note – I found that my bunches did get uneven so I did it until my shortest one had about 6 inches left and then cut the rest).

Note – I found that since your bunches are so incredibly long, especially at the beginning, that it helped a lot to gather a big section of the bottom of the bunch and tie a slip knot.  That way it decreased the amount you were having to tie and made things go a lot faster.  Then you can undo your slip knot and move it down as needed.

It took me about 45 minutes to make one scarf. I think these would look adorable in chenille yarn, suede yarn, or velvet yarn.  Someone even mentioned on the comments on the Martha Stewart site that it would be cool to do it with strips of fleece.  I think that would be really cool!

OH – and Seth did help some with this gift. I let him use his tape measure and let it out for 140 inches (he had to find the 140 inches mark on the tape measurer) so we could know how long to cut each piece of yarn…he was so proud to be able to do this to help Mommy!  If you have older kids they could easily do this project themselves!!

This picture really does not do the scarf justice.  It really did turn out a lot cuter than it looks in the picture.