More crinkles

The pleating goes on. This is one I finished between the blue pleated scarf and the black-and-beige series currently on the loom, but I've struggled to get a decent photo.

This scarf is another expedition in warping with handspun. I spun this yarn years ago, from Henna-dyed tussah silk roving. Then, because I'd just moved to the UK and had no way to weave, I used it to try my hand at lace knitting. This is one of the few things I've knit, because I'm not really a knitter. I discovered, however, that lace knitting really needs a slightly firm yarn. This was a lovely scarf, but completely floppy because the yarn was so soft. The lace was completely lost. And as I wear a lot of red, I've always wanted my own handwoven red scarf. So I frogged it out and resolved to turn it into a woven piece. But there wasn't quite enough of the yarn to make a full warp. Which is what led me to the whole 'reversible pleat' idea.

What to put with it? 60/2 silk, doubled on each warp thread, to make stripes set slightly less thickly than the handspun silk, and to give a difference in drape between the stripes. And the weft? Well, I have some yellow and variegated red-orange-yellow silk cap (visible here): the next logical step was to dye and spin some in bright tangerine orange, to match the warp. Yellow at each end, a bit of orange, red in the centre.

The end result was this:

Which I'm pleased with. This isn't as soft and floppy as the rayon and silk scarves, but it has a lovely firm hand and a decent cling to the neck. I can choose whether it sits to be mainly orange or mainly red. I think it's pretty, and it will go with a very wide swathe of my wardrobe!

But most importantly, this scarf is highly personal to me. There's a bit of silk in there that I haven't dyed and spun: but not much.