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The longtime William Chrisman High School math and drama teacher is anxiously awaiting word from Guinness to learn if his 3,523-foot-long knitted scarf will make him an official Guin ness World Record holder for the longest, continuous scarf created by a single person.
The current record is 571 feet and is held by a woman, Ettinger said, noting there was no record holder when he first started knitting the scarf in August 1996.
"As you can see," he said, "I am well beyond that."
If Ettinger's feat is accepted as a world record, he will join two former William Chrisman teachers already in Guinness book of records ‚ Dennis Stewart and Pete Allard.
The record the jointly set about three years ago involved climbing the highest peak in each of the 48 Continental states in 30 days, Ettinger said.
Up until a day earlier this month when the royal blue scarf was stretched out alongside Missouri 78 on the Lake City flats and measured with a police laser gun, Ettinger didn't know its length.
But he did know that 158 skeins of yarn went into the 75-pound scarf, which took a little more than four years to complete.
"I was completely surprised at its length," he said of the scarf. He stopped knitting in October so he could measure it and send the results to Guinness.
An early winter, though, prevented that from happening, he said, because he didn't want to lay out his scarf in bad weather.
Witnessing the measurement were two Independence police officers who provided the laser gun; three students from The Envoy, the Chrisman school newspaper; and others.
So that Guinness would know the scarf was one continuous string, Ettinger tied bits of yarn together from one skein to another.
"I left the knot visible," he explained, "so they would know that it is one continuous string and that one person did it."
Ettinger's original goal was to make a mile-long scarf (5,280 feet). But he changed his mind, calling that "a little too ambitious."
Wanting to complete the project in three years, Ettinger estimated he would have to knit three feet per day.
"That was way to much," he said. "I couldn't do that."
With a mile-long scarf now out of the question, Ettinger decided a 1,000-foot scarf was the perfect length.
However, when he got to 1,000 feet, he decided to go for a quarter of mile, because "it was a little over 1,000 feet."
After reaching the quarter-mile mark, Ettinger decided to keep on knitting and "see what happens."
Knitting has been part of Ettinger's life since he fell off his bicycle as a fifth grader and fractured his skull.
It was during the six weeks he was bed-ridden at home following the accident that his grandmother taught him how to knit.
"She taught me the basic stitches and brought me a Christmas stocking to make for my brother who had been born earlier that year," he said, recalling the picture pattern on the stocking was very complicated.
"From that point on," he said, "I taught myself everything else."
Ettinger says he never dreamed he would be trying to become a Guinness World Record holder.
But when two of his friends challenged him, he couldn't resist.
The challenge, he says, didn't involve the longest, continuous scarf, but the largest crocheted American flag.
After meeting the Guinness World Record holder for this achievement in New York City, Ettinger's friends challenged him to make a larger flag.
Telling them he didn't want to do something someone else had already done, Ettinger discovered there was no record for the world's longest scarf.
Remembering he had once knitted a 20-foot-long scarf as a costume prop, Ettinger accepted the challenge, believing it was something he could do.
Ettinger says he feels great about his accomplishment, because there was no world record when he began.
"So even though this one lady came in while I was working on the scarf, I still think I have the original on it," he said, "and it should be there for a long time."
To reach Frank Haight Jr., send e-mail to fhaight@examiner.net or call him at 350-6363.
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"I wanted to do something unique that no one else had done," said Ettinger, who has been knitting since he was 10.
And the retired Independence educator accomplished what he set out to do.
His 75-pound scarf, made from one continuous thread, has been accepted for inclusion in an upcoming edition of the "Guinness Book of World Records" for the world's longest continuous scarf done by one person.
Ettinger, who taught in the Independence School District 31 years before retiring at the end of the 2000-01 school year, says he is proud of his achievement that involved "an awful lot of work."
"It was five years of work for one line in the Guinness Book, but it was a lot of fun and I accomplished the goal I set for myself," said Ettinger, who taught math and drama at William Chrisman High School for 25 years.
Getting his name in the "Guinness Book of World Records" never entered his mind, he says, until challenged by a friend to do so.
Ettinger began knitting. Five years and 158 skeins of yarn later, he stopped knitting last October so he could measure the scarf and send the results to Guinness.
"I was completely surprised at its length," he said, after the scarf was stretched out last spring alongside Missouri 78 on the Lake City flats and measured with a police laser gun.
Witnessing the measurement were two Independence police officers and three William Chrisman students, who helped their teacher lay out the long ribbon of yarn and then pick it up.
Amazed at its length, Ettinger says he felt "pretty sure" he had the record after learning the previous record holder was an English woman whose scarf measured 571 feet.
That information brought a smile.
"I laughed at myself and knew I had won," he said, adding: "Mine was seven times larger."
After submitting the verification materials to Guinness in June, Ettinger began the long wait. Three months passed, and still no word from Guinness.
Unable to wait any longer, Ettinger e-mailed Guinness the first of September. And on Sept. 12 he received an e-mail saying his achievement had been accepted and that an official Guinness world record certificate would be forthcoming.
Ettinger isn't sure when his name will be entered in the "Guinness Book of World Records," but he says he hopes it will be included in the 2002 edition.
Is his record safe?
"I don't know who would be crazy enough to spend the time to break my record," he said.
But if they do, he says, he might consider challenging the record.
Of course, he says, "If someone breaks my record, it would depend on how much more I would have to add if I decided to challenge the new record."
Realistically, though, "This is the first and probably the last record for Guinness that I will set."
To reach Frank Haight Jr., e-mail fhaight@examiner.net or call him at 350-6363.