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Tuesday 2 July 2019

How Long Should a Knitted Scarf Be?

I have had customers ask me how long a knitted scarf should be when they are buying one for someone.  It's also a valid question if you're making a scarf for yourself or for someone else.

Usually the minimum length for a knitted scarf is 60 inches or 5 feet long.  6 feet/72 inches is medium, and anything over that is large.

The general rule a lot of people follow is that your scarf length should be the same as your height.  So someone 5'4 would have a 5 foot scarf.  A taller person needs a longer scarf.

There are some other things to consider.

1.  Preferences

You don't have to wear a 5 foot long scarf if you like longer ones.  The scarf police will not get you if you decide that although you're tall you like a short scarf.  Some people have strong opinions about short vs long,  narrow vs wide, or tasselled vs plain.  You might want to scope out your gift target on what they prefer.

If you're buying it for someone else, spy on what they may already own and see what they usually wear.  Short or long?  Bright colors or dark?  Find one that your gift target already owns, and measure it.  Remember that a summer scarf will usually be shorter and lighter than a winter scarf, so find something from the right season.

If you're doing one for yourself, take a look at what you already wear and copy the length of something you like.  Or check out some knitting patterns and see what the average length is for a scarf where you like the style.


2. .  How Will it Be Worn?

Pay attention to how the person you are buying for wears their scarf.  If you want to wear a scarf in a loop style, you need enough length to be able to loop it and have some ends left to put through the loop.  Here 60 inches will usually do it, 72 is better in my opinion.  The one below is 71 inches.



If they are a person who just wants a scarf to drape around the neck without winding or looping, it's going to be the minimum 60 inches.

If you want it to wrap a few times around the neck it needs to be a longer scarf,  7 foot or longer.  This one is 104 inches long (about 8.5 feet long), and 10 inches wide, so it can be worn lots of different ways.  


Long scarves tend to be more dramatic.  In the past couple of years there has been a trend toward over sized scarves that make a fashion statement.  They are also warmer.

I have a very wide, quite long scarf that I made which I use when shovelling snow in -25 Celsius or -13 Fahrenheit.  It's great for extremely cold weather where I need my face covered.

If the scarf is a gift, pick something that they'll find useful for their lifestyle.

Store bought scarves can be very limiting in terms of length, width, color or style.  A hand knitted scarf can be made to suit someone's individual taste, and help express who they are.








4 comments:

  1. Very helpful, thank you. I am knitting a scarf by simply using a large skein of wool and was worried it wouldnt be long enough. Looks like it just meets the 60 inch mark. Much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very helpful, thank you. I am knitting a scarf by simply using a large skein of wool and was worried it wouldnt be long enough. Looks like it just meets the 60 inch mark. Much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very helpful, thank you. I am knitting a scarf by simply using a large skein of wool and was worried it wouldnt be long enough. Looks like it just meets the 60 inch mark. Much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very helpful, thank you. I am knitting a scarf by simply using a large skein of wool and was worried it wouldnt be long enough. Looks like it just meets the 60 inch mark. Much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete

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