Sometimes you see a beautiful skein of hand-dyed sock yarn that you just have to have, and it knits up looking like rainbow pony barfed on it. The colors pool into blobs instead of blending nicely in the sock. But in weaving, having the colors pool in a scarf creates an effect similar to that of a warp dyed for ikat without all the mess of dying it yourself. With a rigid heddle loom like the Cricket looms I teach with, you can direct warp that skein of yarn in less then an hour and have a scarf with a few hours of weaving. I made this colorful scarf with a 50 gram skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn and some red 8/2 tencel (laceweight). It’s just plain weave, but far from a plain scarf.
I made this as part of the Rigid Heddle Study Group that I lead at The Weaver’s Guild of Greater Cincinnati. Next month we are going to continue our study of hand-dyed knitting yarns and help each other with this technique. This scarf itself is destined for our guild sale on November 8, 9 and 10 as a donation to the sale from the Rigid Heddle Study Group. If you are interested in weaving, starting with a rigid heddle loom is a good way to begin. You can get started with small amounts of knitting yarns, a relatively small investment in a little loom that is portable and a minimal amount of equipment. Although they are simple looms, you can create quite complex looking textiles that anyone would be happy to have. If you are interested in learning to weave, check out my classes at Silk Road Textiles or look for some to be posted on the WGGC website that will begin after the first of the year. If you want this scarf, go to the guild sale, hire me to teach you how to weave it, or I can take a commission if the price is right.
