Weave or Knit a Scarf? - Results Similar but Not the Same

November 08, 2011
 Read on if your pulse quickens at the photograph below.
Knitted and Woven scarves

I love fiber and found myself very intrigued by this experiment of mine. 

Can you tell which scarf was knitted and which one was woven?  There's a clue on the left edge of the colorful one on the right.  That's the tell-tale sign of the cast-off of a knitted item.

They're a lot alike though aren't they?  However I found there are some differences:  time required to create them, thickness of scarf and pattern of stitches on both sides of scarf.

I knit way more than I weave.  In fact the blue green woven one on the left is the only thing I've done on my Ashford Knitter's Loom so far.  However, it won't be my last.  Don't let the name of the loom fool you - it's a true rigid heddle loom so you can go on and use it for all kinds of rigid heddle woven patterns.  It's portable and designed to use with fancy yarns as well as finer ones.

Woven scarf close up

When I saw Churchmouse's Linen Stitch scarf pattern that uses luscious and colorful Koigu yarn and how it so closely resembled a woven scarf I decided to order the kit.  I thought it would be interesting to see how long it took since I'm a knitter and of course it would be even more portable than the loom.  I've wanted to use the Koigu yarns for some time, but knowing any project I started with it would take awhile due to its fineness I've waited.  Although I'm in love with the result and the yarn... 

Knitted Koigu scarf

I should've timed it to know for sure, but I wove the scarf on the left in less than 8 hours.  In fact it might've been less than 6 and it was my first one!  The knitted one took FOREVER in comparison!  So long that when I realized I'd made a pattern mistake about 7 rows in I decided to make it a design feature and do the same thing on the other edge rather than do the frog (rip-it!) stitch.

Although the fineness of the yarn in the knitted one is finer than the woven one, the knitted one is thicker - about 1.5 to 2 times thicker.  The fringe shows you the difference in the yarn sizes.

Woven and knitted scarf

The woven one looks the same on both sides which is nice in a scarf.  The knitted one is different on both sides, but I think with my clever mistake both sides are interesting!

Scarf knitted with koigu

"We're all proud of making little mistakes. It gives us the feeling we don't make any big ones."  ~Andy Rooney