A beard and a smile

Today has been a fantastic and productive day. I was able to complete the final braids and weave them into the scarf to form a beard. Each of the braids are made up various wools or fabric and crocheted or stitched together then weaved. I have used 5 balls of various wools from double knit to felted wool.

Full beard with braiding

The length of the scarf with the addition of the braiding means that it is able to be wrapped around a persons face, around the neck and then dangle around chest length (braid to knee length). Andrew agreed to be my model and we tested the beard:

Andrew wearing the beard 

As you can see it is a successful piece which our wonderful designer Kate is happy with. Even though it took me 3 weeks to complete, I feel this is a very big achievement for me. Originally I was really worried I wouldn't be able to do much on this project but as soon as I found I could crochet one handed I think I've found my niche area. I did find I had my favourite wools and braid forms such as double knit wool with a loose tension 8mm  and the ones which were tricky to work with such as the felting wool which frayed constantly. For the next beard a darker colour could be used to make the beard and then a lighter wool for the third one. All of the beards can have the woven braids and fabric. This way all of them link together, however have an individual base.