We’re delving into light, tone, and texture here! By combining rustic Linen Quill and refined Spun Silk, our Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf creates fields of subtly shifting color, a quiet meditation on the thrill of fiber.

Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf | Purl Soho

We created this beautiful scarf on Schacht Spindle Co’s Cricket Loom, a simple tabletop loom the size of a briefcase but a lot more fun! The set-up is easy enough that you can really play around with how wefts and warps intersect, sinking your teeth into color studies, texture investigations, and fiber reveries.

Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf | Purl Soho

To get started on this Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf, view the needed materials below. Warp your loom with a section of each yarn, then watch the alternating weft fibers create a world of beauty! – Jake

Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf | Purl Soho

Materials

Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf | Purl Soho

To weave your own Shiny + Matte Wrap, you will need…

Structure

Balanced Plain Weave

Warp

Warp Length: 100 inches long (Includes 25-inches of loom waste)

Warp Ends: 144 ends

Width in Reed: 12 inches

Ends Per Inch (E.P.I.): 12 E.P.I. on the loom, 13 E.P.I. after blocking

Picks Per Inch (P.P.I.): 12 P.P.I. on the loom, 13 P.P.I. after blocking

Size

Finished Dimensions, On the Loom: 12 inches wide x 75 inches long

Finished Dimensions, Blocked: 11 1/4 inches wide x 70 inches long

Notes

Using the Cricket Loom

Cricket Looms come with a very user-friendly instructional booklet that walks you through every step of the weaving process, from assembling the loom to tying the fringe. For even more guidance, check out our Cricket Loom Tips.

Getting the Right Tension

For this particular project, making sure the warp tension is even between the two kinds of yarn can be tricky. I recommend setting the entire warp at a higher tension than you normally would with an all-wool warp and also taking the time to smooth out the warp while winding it onto the back beam. If you’ve never warped a loom with yarns that are so different from each other, you may want to try a practice swatch first!

Pattern

Warp the Loom

Set up the warping peg 100 inches from the back of the loom. Note that, at this point, the back of the loom is clamped to the far edge of the table and so is the side farther away from the warping peg.

With a 12-dent reed in place and using Yarn A (Linen Quill), begin threading the reed by pulling the first loop of yarn through the 9th slat from the right end of the reed.

Working from right to left, pull Yarn A through an additional 39 slats. You will have threaded a total of 40 slats, giving you 80 warp ends.

Tie the end of Yarn A to the back apron rod.

With Yarn B (Spun Silk), tie the yarn to the back apron bar and pull Yarn B through the next 32 slats, giving you 64 warp ends.

Cut Yarn B and tie it to the back apron rod. You should have 144 warp ends total.

Finish the warp according to the Cricket Loom instructions, transferring one strand from each slot to the hole to the right.

Tie on the warp to the front apron bar. When tying on the warp, be careful to get even tension across the entire warp (see Notes, above).

Weave

Wind one shuttle full of Yarn A and the other shuttle full of Yarn B.

With scrap yarn, or using Yarn A held double, weave a couple of inches until the warp threads are evenly spread out. Then, using a bulky, squishy yarn or roving, weave 3 rows. This helps absorb any slightly uneven tension in the warp.

Beginning with the reed in the up position, pass the shuttle with Yarn A through the shed from left to right, leaving a 36-inch tail (which you will use at the end for finishing). Weave an additional 9 rows with Yarn A, making sure you beat each row with enough force to get the weft threads very tightly packed to create a secure selvedge edge. The 10 rows of Yarn A should measure 3/8 of an inch.

Then, with Yarn B, weave for 3 inches, now just lightly beating the weft down for a balanced plain weave.

With Yarn A, weave for 19 inches.

With Yarn B, weave for 43 inches.

With Yarn A, weave for 10 inches.

Continuing with Yarn A, weave 10 more rows of selvedge, again beating each row quite firmly.

Leave a 36-inch tail for finishing.

Finish

For a complete how-to on this step, visit our Finishing with Hemstitch Tutorial.

Making sure your warp is not under tension, make the Hemstitch around groups of 4 warp ends across the width of the scarf.

Cut the fringe 1/2 inch from the end of the weaving.

Weave in the hemstitch tails and gently hand wash your finished scarf in cold water, laying it flat to dry.

Woven Shiny + Matte Scarf | Purl Soho