Woman Knits Record Scarf

Winter might be on its way this week...but Karen Dengate should be cosy.

She has just knitted a world-beating scarf!

It's an amazing 520ft long,which is about the same as forty family saloon cars in a line,or almost twice the length of two football pitches!

Karen,aged 42,from Kent,has spent hundreds of finger-numbing hours knitting the woolly wrap,which she started two years ago this month.

The mum-of-three has been plain-and-pearling away to produce the multi-coloured marvel in time for the Millennium.

She's been going at a rate of a foot every hour-and-a-half and worked on it about three times a week.

Now she has sent details off to the Guinness Book Of Records to sew up the title of longest solo effort for making a scarf.

"I have been knitting since I was a child and often make clothes for members of the family.

"I decided to try for a record when we got a copy of the Guinness book and saw that the only scarf entry was for one made by several people.

"It seemed silly there was not a record for a solo effort,so I decided to give it a go."

She carefully knitted the scarf in segments before sewing them together.

"I did start doing it all in one go as I sat in front of the television with my husband Aaron,but after the first hundred feet or so,it really started to get heavy.

"I decided it would be a lot easier to knit and measure if I did it a couple of feet at a time and stitched them together."

The scarf,which is stored in a bundle in the corner of the sitting room,was made with wool donated by people who heard about Karen's efforts.

"I had enough wool for about the first 200 feet,but it was getting quite expensive so I asked for people to give me any wool they didn't want.

"I was amazed at how generous some people have been and I still have plenty left.

"I think I am going to keep going until I get fed up or until my fingers won't let me continue,which ever comes first!"

A spokeswoman for the Guinness Book Of Records said the only scarf record was for a group effort in 1988,which stretched more than 20 miles.

"We do not have a solo entry so we would be very interested to hear from this woman once she has finished.It sounds very impressive and could get an entry in the future."