Clown Knitting

From KnitWiki

Traditional Clown Troupes have many items that they cannot purchase and must make themselves. To this end many use knitting to created durable and useful items. Each of these items is used as a prop in clown routines.

The Long Scarf

This is a time honored prop use by many clowns over the years. The knit versions are the most durable. Some have been made from long strips of fabric sewn together. They tend to fall apart at the seams.

A long scarf can be from ten feet to as long as the knitter is willing to make it. The length depends of the type of routine they are to be used for. A stage scarf is usually shorter than a scarf used in a Circus setting. Some clowns use a ten to thirty foot scarf as part of their costume. These shorter long scarves are especially effective in close up settings, such as going room to room in a hospital doing Humor Therapy.

The simplest long scarves use a ten to twenty stitch cast on and use worsted to super bulky yarns. They are typically made with a garter stitch from brightly colored yarns. Variegated acrylic yarns are very popular for this type of long scarf. This gives the scarf brilliant color with no seams.

When making a long scarf strength is very important. To this end most clowns do not piece together long scarves from smaller sections. Typically on a simple long scarf a figure eight cast on is used and two knitters knit from either end. Since this garment is not worn like normal garments the difference in knitters stitch styles are relatively unimportant. This can be compensated for by changing needle side to a larger size for tight knitters and down a needle size for very loose knitters.

In my Clown Brigade we have made one long scarf and are working on a second. It is our tradition to name our long scarves over 100 feet long for singers. Our first is a braided garter stash scarf with a thirty stitch cast on. This is The Judy Scarf. named by CarlaK for Judy Garland. The Judy is made from Red Heart Mexicana

Our second long scarf is to be knit from icord that we are making on Bond Embellish Knitters. The Bond machines had to be slightly altered to handle the yarn. It will take 200 hundred skeins of Pattons Autumn colored variegated worsted weight yarn. The scarf was named The Marley Scarf for Bob Marley by DDancer. The Marley will have a six stitch cast on.

[edit] About the author of this article

I am a Professional Clown and long time knitter. I am the Chief Clown of The Steel City Clown Brigade, a ministry of The Salvation Army. My Blog is: Zeeppo’s Knitting Blog