Violet Flame Woven Scarf

The Violet Flame scarf was created as a gift to a friend embarking on a particular spiritual path.

Over the course of several years I acquired several ounces of silk hankies in the orange/yellow color way. Last year I came across just the right violet silk roving to go with it.

I spun all of the silk on my Ashford Traveler (circa 1980-something). The roving spun up beautifully in a fingering weight. The hankies spun up a little lumpy bumpy as would be expected from this fiber preparation, but all in all the yarn was of a fairly similar weight to the violet yarn.

Spinning all fiber resulted in 455 yds of the orange/yellow (29 wraps per inch) and 138 yards of the violet yarn (27 wraps per inch).

I set up the loom with a dummy warp of cotton yarn, then tied the silk yarn to it. I did not want to waste too much precious handspun. Warped half of the scarf in the orange/yellow and half in the violet, at 15 ends per inch. The scarf was woven on 4 harnesses in a reverse twill using the yellow/orange silk as the weft, trying to stay with 15 picks per inch while weaving (use a light touch with the beater).

After knotting, I washed the scarf in hot water with dish soap. Then I rinsed it in cold water with a dash of vinegar, as there was some bleeding of the color. Rinsed well in cold water then pressed on silk setting under a cloth.

I then blocked the scarf until it was dry.

For the last step, I combed and ironed the fringe so that I could trim it evenly.

To begin, I set up the loom with a dummy warp of cotton yarn, and then tied the silk yarn to it. I did not want to waste too much precious handspun. I wove the scarf on four harnesses in a reverse twill.

The finished width equaled 6 ¼ inches; finished length was 72 ½ inches.

Once off the loom, I finished the violet flame scarf by knotting the ends in several rows (using that old 60’s macramé).

Can’t wait to gift this violet flame scarf to my friend.

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Guest Contributor: SpinWhiz

Mulino, OR

Spinwhiz first learned to weave in high school (a very long time ago). Since that time she has taken up a number of other fiber arts, including spinning and knitting. Her local spinning guild, the Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild is a constant source of inspiration.

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