Leigh Radford's Shibori Felted Scarf

Now this is good: a Shibori felted scarf, designed by Leigh Radford.

Lots of color and texture. Easy to make: just knitting and purling, plus casting on and casting off. Then, using either bottle caps or ping-pong balls, or you can pop for the little wooden balls sold for Shibori, you make lumps in the fabric and then rubber band or tie a piece of cotton yarn around the base of each lump. Here's a close-up of the wooden balls. To scale. Not on purpose, but that's the way it turned out. You can either vary the size that you use, and thus, vary the effect, or make all the surface elements similar by using the same size of ball throughout the scarf. After you get the set-up done, the scarf goes into the washing machine in a lingerie bag. Hot water, agitation, felting.

End result is a very Japanese piece of fabric. Felted, with surface texture at each spot where you placed a bottle cap or ball. And affordable.

I'm using a skein of Lamb's Pride worsted left over from my experimentation with felted flowers for the In the Sculpture Garden felted bag. Price tag of $6.75 for a worsted wool with mohair blended in. I'm going to see if I can eke out a scarf from one skein.

Here's the level of detail and beauty that Leigh Radford applies to her designs. The pattern is on heavy white bond paper, with the edge sewn instead of stapled.
The quote on the front of the pattern: "an essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail - dr. edwin land."

And because I'm all about trying to keep this project simple, I'm discarding the idea of a blog devoted to Knitting for Compassion. I'll stick with this venue. Visit as you see fit. And go see Once. Lovely and sweet, billed as re-invention of the musical, and I love musicals.