Full confession: I don’t think I’ve ever watched an entire football game. When football is on TV at our house and I feel a need to be in the room, I’m usually weaving on a rigid-heddle loom, knitting, or finishing projects. My husband, a football fan, often tells me to look up and watch a play, and I do, but I don’t actually see it. I’ve been to many games without really knowing who is playing, and if you asked me the next day who won, I wouldn’t remember. What I could tell you is this: the color of the hat on the person in front of me, how cute the two young kids sitting next to us were, and how fun it was to watch the photographers on the sidelines.
Every year, I get a little anxious about Super Bowl Sunday, knowing that I’m supposed to want to go to a party. If I knew there was going to be other weavers or knitters there, I would gladly go, bring my project, and hang out with them in the background, perhaps looking up to watch the commercials and the halftime show. It would be nice to have a crafting session with snacks and drinks! After every year’s “big” game, we learn how many millions of people tuned in, but what we don’t hear is how many people actually watched it. I’d like to know how many people that day fringed a scarf, knitted a sweater, crocheted a football or wove a few pin-loom squares. Those are numbers I’m more interested in—and I want to be counted.
Anne Merrow wove her Team Colors scarf using 3 colors of 2-ply Victorian Wool from Halcyon Yarn. Photo by Susan E. Horton.
With this dichotomy in mind, I dreamed up the Team Colors Rigid-Heddle Scarf Weave-Along for fans and non-fans. I imagined people weaving while they watched football or other sports. We based the weave-along on sports teams’ colors and encouraged people to weave a scarf for either themselves or a fan in their life using one of four patterns developed by Elisabeth Hill. Anne Merrow, group editor director for yarn and fiber at Interweave, used one of the patterns that Elisabeth designed to weave her own scarf in colors not related to any sport (read: not a sports fan at all). I wove one of the scarves for my husband using Elisabeth’s pattern but in the colors of his favorite team.
I wove my husband’s scarf using Jagger Spun’s Mousam Falls Superwash wool and hemmed it for a clean, sophisticated look. Photo by Susan E. Horton
This year, we are staying home for the Super Bowl. I’m making a few snacks for the family, but beyond that, I’m going to hang out in the background, glance up for the commercials and halftime show—but, mostly, I’m going to be finishing a scarf, maybe even another Team Colors scarf, this time in the palette of my son’s favorite basketball team. As you may or not know, the NBA finals will be here soon!
Weave well,
Susan