12 Shaft Drall Scarf

Like so many of us I am forever looking at the news and social media and frankly, both of them can make you a tad sad.  I often feel that events beyond my control are flying off willy-nilly and it all seems a bit much at times.  

That's when I really enjoy weaving; there is something so very comforting about the simple process of warp, weft and colour.  

Usually I am drawn to weaving curves and spots, but the chaotic feel of life right now is leading me down a different path.

I am looking for structure and there is nothing more structured than a square!   

Now that I have decided to weave a simple design I started hunting through some of my previous drafts and I was immediately taken with some 12 shaft drall scarves I wove back in 2012.  I had named the post My Comfort Weave and I guess it still is.

I have been watching a lot of gardening shows on BBC of late and they have been showing a lot of Escheveria, and although I don’t have any of these lovlies in my garden I have embraced the colour scheme.  This photo is not mine, I give all credit to the photographer.

I began by pulling the warp in silver, sea coral, rose, mineral green and lavender.

The colours are in varying widths to try and replicate the overall colours of the Escheveria flower.  

I had previously woven my drall scarves in a random treadling pattern, creating the blocks as I went along, but this time I want structure, so I planned my colours very carefully and I decided to treadle the pattern ‘Exactly As Drawn In’. 

This gave me a nice mix of boxes with plenty of interest to the weave.  As I treadled it each different colour was woven once as a true square as the pattern progressed, the rest of the time they were rectangles.  I think this gives a little more interest to the weave.

Off the loom and before washing it looks a little flat and wavy, but after washing and steam pressing I am pleased.

Each side is different and lovely in their own right, but the squares are it for me!

I really loved creating this scarf and have already put on another warp in a different colourway with a different threading.  This scarf will appear on Etsy for sale and as a PDF pattern in a few days.

The garden this year has been amazing and the Brugmansia is a real show stopper.  Today I have 12 buds ready to open and to fill the garden with the sweet smell of baby powder. This is a bog standard Brugmansia and didn't come with a name so it is called a NOID.