Double Weft Scarf

Through a series of soft and misty purple tones, our Double Weft Scarf brings to mind billowy banks of fog rolling in from the sea on an early morning. Its natural beauty really does evoke such thoughts, the peace and promise of a new day.

Worked on Schacht Spindle Co’s little tabletop Cricket Loom, these gentle color transitions come from the simple technique of working a “double weft.” For each row of weaving you pass the main color, then a contrast color, through the same shed, creating this wonderfully heathered texture.

To make a scarf that feels as good as it looks, we used our super soft and supple Season Alpaca in Heirloom White for the warp and one strand of the weft. And for the changing tones of the other weft strand, we used four colors of our Linen Quill, a rustic blend of fine highland wool, alpaca, and linen.

To weave up your own Double Weft Scarf, simply choose your favorite palette. We’ve chosen four colorways: the one shown here, Haze, plus blue Gale, earthy Bark, and rosy Clay. Each one conjures the moments in nature that make us all wax a bit poetic!

Designed for Purl Soho by Carrie Laing.

Materials

To weave your own Double Weft Scarf, you will need…

• Main Color: 3 skeins of Purl Soho’s Season Alpaca, 100% baby alpaca yarn
• Contrast Colors: 4 skeins of Purl Soho’s Linen Quill yarn, 50% fine highland wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% Linen

Here are four palettes for inspiration…

Haze

(shown above, we used this palette for our sample)

• Main Color: Season Alpaca in Heirloom White
• Contrast Color 1: Linen Quill in Lavender Opal
• Contrast Color 2: Linen Quill in Crocus Bud
• Contrast Color 3: Linen Quill in Purple Smoke
• Contrast Color 4: Linen Quill in Trout Brown

Gale

• Main Color: Season Alpaca in Heirloom White
• Contrast Color 1: Linen Quill in Vintage Celadon
• Contrast Color 2: Linen Quill in True Turquoise
• Contrast Color 3: Linen Quill in Mountain Bluebird
• Contrast Color 4: Linen Quill in High Tide

Bark

• Main Color: Season Alpaca in Heirloom White
• Contrast Color 1: Linen Quill in Rose Granite
• Contrast Color 2: Linen Quill in Peach Stone
• Contrast Color 3: Linen Quill in Fresh Nutmeg
• Contrast Color 4: Linen Quill in Twig Brown

Clay

• Main Color: Season Alpaca in Heirloom White
• Contrast Color 1: Linen Quill in Peony Pink
• Contrast Color 2: Linen Quill in Lychee Pink
• Contrast Color 3: Linen Quill in Rosewood Pink
• Contrast Color 4: Linen Quill in Chestnut Red

You’ll also need…

• Schacht Spindle Co’s 15-inch Cricket Loom (and the 8-dent, 15-inch Reed that comes with it)

Structure

Plain Weave With Supplemental Weft

Warp

Warp Length: 100 inches (includes 26 inches of loom waste)

Warp Ends: 110

Width in Reed: 13.5 inches

Ends Per Inch (E.P.I): 8

Picks Per Inch (P.P.I): 18

Size

Finished Dimensions, unblocked: 125/8 inches wide x 74 inches long, not including fringe

Finished Dimensions, blocked: 12 inches wide x 74 inches long, not including fringe

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.

Weaving The Weft

When you weave this scarf, you will pass two separate weft yarns through the same shed. To do this…

First put the reed in the up position and pass the Main Color through the shed and beat, then return the reed to the up position and pass the Contrast Color through the same shed and beat.

Next put the reed in the down position and pass the Main Color through the shed and beat, then return the reed to the down position and pass the Contrast Color through the shed and beat.

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 an 8-dent reed in place and using the Main Color (MC), begin threading the heddle by pulling the first loop of yarn through the 3rd slat from the right end of the reed.

Working from right to left, thread the next 54 slats. Cut yarn and tie it to the back of the apron bar. [55 slats total and 110 warp ends]

Weave

Wind one shuttle with the MC and a second shuttle with Contrast Color 1 (CC1).

With scrap yarn, or using the Weft Yarn doubled, weave a couple of inches until the warp threads are evenly spread out.

Leaving a 36-inch tail at the beginning, weave 1 inch of plain weave, using just the MC.

Now following the instructions for Weaving The Weft (see Notes, above)…

Weave 9 inches using MC and CC1.

Weave 9 inches using MC and CC2.

Weave 9 inches using MC and CC3.

Weave 18 inches using MC and CC4.

Weave 9 inches using MC and CC3.

Weave 9 inches using MC and CC2.

Weave 9 inches using MC and CC1.

Weave 1 inch of plain weave, using just the MC.

Leave a 36-inch tail of weft yarn for finishing.

Finish

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

Use the 36-inch tails to finish each end of the scarf with a hemstitch.

Make the hemstitch around groups of 6 warp ends across the width of the scarf, except for twice, make it around groups of 7 ends.

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.

SaveSave

SaveSave