Silk and Tencel Scarf on Ten Shafts

I have had some hand dyed 2/12 silk in Denim Blue in my stash for a while now.  I keep looking at the hanks and wondering how to showcase the lovely randomness of the colour. The silk has been dyed so that the colours are pretty even throughout the skein with small lines of darker blue here and there, but as always with hand dyed there could be some unexpected surprise spots.

I chose a graphic ten shaft, ten treadle twill and I have treadled ‘as drawn in’. Hopefully I have allowed the colour variations to shine through. The warp has 200 threads and it is sett at 24 epi.  

The scarf it a little wider than usual, but that is the only way I could centre the motif.

I love to show the threading from the back of the loom.  It really gives a forecast of the overall shape of the pattern that is to come. This one has definite diamonds.

My weft is 2/8 white Tencel and I aimed for a 50/50 weave to keep the pattern square.  Beat is really important when you have such a strong square over pattern.  White was a quiet choice for this scarf, but I really liked the idea of having a low contrast with high lustre to allow the pattern to gleam through.  

This is the scarf off the loom but prior to washing.  You can see there is some difference between the front and the back, the blue and the white trade places throughout the motif. 

Sorry about the lighting, but we’ve been overcast for weeks it seems; my counter top is bright white and grey, not this weird yellow tinge!  

Another shot showing both sides of the scarf.  There are really two patterns at work here, the big square boxes and the diamond stars in the centre.

And one more beauty shot.

Baked a couple of loaves this morning and Oh My! The house smells wonderful.