Finished Scarf: Bearfoot Scarf

Last year I pledged to use twelve skeins of sock yarn, an entirely necessary strategy when dealing with a sock yarn stash of magnitude. In the end I knitted up thirteen and a half skeins of sock yarn.  The project that pushed me over my goal? A woven scarf!

Project: Bearfoot Scarf
Yarn: Warp: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Marigold & Berry, two warp threads in Treadsoft. Weft: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Yellowstone & Marigold.
Loom: Schacht Flip, Rigid Heddle Loom 25"
E.P.I.: 13 on a 12-dent reed


I think I had picked out these colors to go together over the summer but didn't get around to warping my loom until December. (Basically I realized I was going to be half a skein short of my goal, and weaving was the only way I could make my deadline before I left for our Christmas travels.)  I love the Marigold colorway, in fact, I have two more skeins of it in my stash!  It makes me think of New York curtains, Buddhist monks, Indian garlands, and the Day of the Dead.

I started with about 8 inches of plain weave with the Yellowstone colorway, then switched to four shots of Yellowstone and one shot of Marigold. I simply looped the Marigold up the side of the project creating little decorative loops along the edge.

I put on my big-girl pants and hemstitched the ends, so that I have finished edges!  Of course, I haven't done anything with the fringe on the edge yet, but I imagine I will twist them together to make a more finished look.

Marigolds at Hidden Lake Gardens, Tipton Michigan.

I have another project on my loom now and it seems so incredibly bland in comparison. It is all yellows, greys, tans, and blues - and is in fact a color study.  My eye is so used to planning projects for knitting I am sometimes unpleasantly surprised by what happens to color when weaving.  I am now attending a once-a-month workshop led by a friend of mine at Woven Art for flip and cricket looms.  I am hoping this structure will help me broaden my horizons, be more creative, and experiment more with my loom.

My practical nature wants each project to be useful in some manner, whereas I think I would greatly benefit from pure experimentation. I need to let go.  But it fights against my very nature.  Weaving will be very good for me, I can tell.  I just need to unwind enough to let it happen.