Moments of unexpected beauty often happen at the intersections, where one path crosses another: work and play, old and new, head and heart… Or in the case of our Fiber Balance Scarf: color and texture, style and craft, warp and weft!

Fiber Balance Scarf | Purl Soho

This simply woven scarf brings two of our favorite yarns into beautiful balance: The warp is hand-dyed Posy, and the weft is two different colors of perfectly tousled Tussock mohair-silk.

Fiber Balance Scarf | Purl Soho

And it all comes together in a plain weave, whipped up on Schacht Spindle Co’s totally awesome tabletop Cricket Loom.

Fiber Balance Scarf | Purl Soho

We’ve used this incredible fibers to create the sunshine-y Pollen palette shown here, as well as five other gorgeous color combos (see below)… All in balance with each other and the colors we love!

Fiber Balance Scarf | Purl Soho

Designed for Purl Soho by Carrie Laing.

MATERIALS

Fiber Balance Scarf | Purl Soho

To weave your own Fiber Balance Scarf, you will need…

  • Warp Yarn: 4 skeins of Purl Soho’s Posy, 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere, and 10% nylon (Please Note: This project originally used the 100-gram version of Posy and has been updated to reflect the new 50-gram skein weights of Posy!)
  • Weft Yarn A: 2 skeins of Purl Soho’s Tussock, 60% super fine kid mohair and 40% silk
  • Weft Yarn B: 2 skeins of Tussock

You will also need…..

COLORS

For our sample we used the Pollen palette of the Fiber Balance Scarf, shown above. It includes…

Warp Yarn: Posy in Sour Gooseberry; Weft Yarn A: Tussock in Lightning Yellow; Weft Yarn B: Tussock in Yellow Mimosa

Choose also from the following color combos…

SNAPDRAGON

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Warp Yarn: Posy in Pink Papaya; Weft Yarn A: Tussock in Pink Joy; Weft Yarn B: Tussock in Squash Blossom

PENNY

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Warp Yarn: Posy in Maple Wood; Weft Yarn A: Tussock in Orange Pekoe; Weft Yarn B: Tussock in Wild Guava

MULBERRY

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Warp Yarn: Posy in Black Cherry; Weft Yarn A: Tussock in Ripe Boysenberry; Weft Yarn B: Tussock in Anjou Pear

HARBOR

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Warp Yarn: Posy in Teal Twilight; Weft Yarn A: Tussock in Balsam Green; Weft Yarn B: Tussock in Bright Verdigris

EMBER

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Warp Yarn: Posy in Weathervane Gray; Weft Yarn A: Tussock in Gray Quartz; Weft Yarn B: Tussock in Silver Needle

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.

STRUCTURE

Plain Weave

WARP

Warp Length: 96 inches (includes 12 inches of loom waste on both ends)

Warp Ends: 150

Width in Reed: 14.75 inches

Ends Per Inch (E.P.I): 10, on the loom

Picks Per Inch (P.P.I): 16, on the loom

SIZE

Unblocked Dimensions: 13½ inches wide x 70 inches long, not including fringe
Blocked Dimensions: 14 inches wide x 70½ inches long, not including fringe, (74½ inches long with fringe)

PATTERN

WARP THE LOOM

Set up the warping peg 96 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.

Tie the Warp Yarn onto the back apron bar.

With a 10-dent reed in place and using the Warp Yarn, begin threading the heddle by pulling the first loop of yarn through the second slat from the right end of the reed.

Working from right to left, thread the next 74 slats, so there are 75 slats threaded in total.

Cut the Warp Yarn and tie it to the back apron rod.

Finish the warp according to the Cricket Loom instructions, transferring one strand from each slot to the hole to the right of it. You should have 150 warp ends in total.

Tie the warp onto the front apron bar in groups of 6.

WEAVE

Holding a strand of Weft Yarn A and Weft Yarn B together, wind both shuttles full.

Leaving a 36-inch tail at the beginning, weave for 72 inches, beating lightly. Wind more yarn on to the shuttles as needed. Leave a 36-inch tail at the end.

FINISH

NOTE: 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.

Weave in the hemstitch tails.

Cut the fringe ½ inch from the end of the weaving and block as desired.

Fiber Balance Scarf | Purl Soho