Scarves During a Pandemic

Finally for this phase of the pandemic, scarves are really the true story.  In March, I wove a silk merino scarf in colors that weren't really my thing.  This yarn was 50-50 merino and silk blend.  I used it in the warp and weft, weaving an extended point twill design.

  

Coral-Green Merino Silk

Coral-Green Merino Silk - detail

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When we went into self-isolation, I thought it was finally time to start using the good yarn.  I had been promising myself for about five or six years to do that.  I was headed to the silk yarn I have but on the way got a bit diverted by tencel yarns.  I really thought it might be a safer choice on the way to using silk.  

Over the years, I had bought several (read many) skeins of Just Our Yarns 10/2 tencel yarns.  They had fabulous colors and encouraged a mix and match approach to weaving with them.  Sadly, the company is no longer in business, but there were those skeins in the yarn bin.  

I approached the first scarf in tencel with a bit of trepidation.  I hadn't woven with it before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  After a little research and discussion with other weavers, I sett the warp at 36 epi.  I chose a fuchsia yarn for the warp and blue for the weft.  These yarns are all variegated, so there is lots of variation in the yarn colors.  The warp was threaded in a fancy point twill and the tie-up was a 2-2-1-1-1-1 twill (as all of these scarves use). 

I found that the scarf almost wove itself - so effortlessly.  I was amazed.    

Fuchsia Blue

Fuchsia Blue - detail

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I was so happy with the results of the previous scarf and how easily it wove, I decided to weave another one.  The second scarf used a green variegated warp and a rust var. weft.  It was threaded as an extended point twill.   

Green-Orange

Green-Orange - detail

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Things were moving so smoothly, I kept weaving scarves.  The next one was a different green variegated warp with a fuchsia variegated weft.  

Green Fuchsia

Green Fuchsia - detail

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I kept going - it was May and I located the blue 10/2 tencel yarn I had.  This scarf had both a blue warp and weft of slightly different colorways.  It was threaded as a point twill.  

Blues

Blues - detail

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It was getting to be summer and a friend asked me if I ever wove scarves without fringe.  No, I hadn't because it was harder to get a good edge.  but this did get me thinking about doubleweave hems - a good way to have a nice clean edge without the extra bulk of a folded over hem.  For me details about that adventure, check out a previous blog post:  https://foothillweaving.blogspot.com/2020/09/scarves-with-doubleweave-hems.html .

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I wove two scarves with doubleweave hems.  This second attempt had twill hem as well as a twill design for the scarf itself.  For this scarf, I used the leftover yarn from the previous scarves as the warp.  I alternated two colors until I ran out of one or the other and added a new color when that left off.  Since there were similar colors in all of the yarns, they all went together.  The threading was a straight draw on eight shafts and the tie-up was a 2-2-1-1-1-1 twill.  Although it only needed eight shafts, in order to create the twill doubleweave hem, I needed 16 treadles, so I wove this on my dobby loom.  

Blue-Fuchsia w/ Doubleweave hem 

Blue-Fuchsia  - detail

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Having gotten really comfortable with 10/2 tencel, I decided it was time to weave a scarf with silk.  I chose a pink variegated 20/2 silk for the warp and purple 20/2 from Redfish Dye Works for the weft.  I used an advancing point twill on eight shafts for the threading and a different one for the treadling.  After consulting sources and weaving friends, I sett the warp at 30 epi. 

 

Pink Silk Drawdown

Pink Silk - Detail

Pink Silk

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The next scarf was in tencel.  I chose an orange-green variegated for the warp and green-blue for the weft.  The threading and treadling was the same as the silk scarf above.  

Green-Orange

Green-Orange - detail

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The last scarf came off the loom this past week.  It was woven with two color ways of blue 10/2 tencel.  The threading was an extended point twill and the treadling an advancing point twill.

Blue-Maroon

Blue-Maroon - detail

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I've enjoyed delving into the use of tencel and a little exploration with silk.  I am sure there will be more scarves like these in the future.  I had been weaving scarves exclusively with wool and wool blends.  Here are a few examples of wool scarves. The orange is a blend of sock yarns.  It was threaded as an extended point twill with the 2-2-1-1-1-1 tie-up.  In addition to teh twisted fringe, I added some beads.

Fire 1

Fire 1 - detail

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These two scarves were woven using yarn that was dyed by Vice Yarn while it was in a knitting blank.  The yarn is then unknitted and wound in a cake skein.  The yarn is crimped from the process which gives the finished scarf an interesting texture.  These two scarves were threaded as undulating twills.  

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I'm sure we will be in self-isolation for many more months, so I'm looking forward to more exploration and more scarves.