Benjamin's Outlandish Tartan Scarf
By Benjamin Krudwig
Recently I had the pleasure of working with the Lhasa Wilderness yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch in a few of their new colors from their Outlandish colorway series which was inspired by Outlander, a book and recent TV series based in the Scottish Highlands.
When I was thinking of projects for this yarn I immediately knew that I had to weave a tartan plaid with it. (My Scottish ancestry is generations back and not well recorded, so I decided it was best to not weave a traditional tartan that I didn't have claim to.)
To create my plaid, I arranged my warp threads to make sure I used the same number of each color in the pattern. Not only did this give me peace of mind that I would use the same amount of each color of yarn, it gave me a visually balanced scheme. I wasn't worried about anything but the looks of the finished tartan. Using a weaving program allowed me to move colors around in the design without committing to a final setup.
Recently I had the pleasure of working with the Lhasa Wilderness yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch in a few of their new colors from their Outlandish colorway series which was inspired by Outlander, a book and recent TV series based in the Scottish Highlands.
When I was thinking of projects for this yarn I immediately knew that I had to weave a tartan plaid with it. (My Scottish ancestry is generations back and not well recorded, so I decided it was best to not weave a traditional tartan that I didn't have claim to.)
To create my plaid, I arranged my warp threads to make sure I used the same number of each color in the pattern. Not only did this give me peace of mind that I would use the same amount of each color of yarn, it gave me a visually balanced scheme. I wasn't worried about anything but the looks of the finished tartan. Using a weaving program allowed me to move colors around in the design without committing to a final setup.
What You'll Need
Materials
- Lhasa Wilderness from Bijou Basin Ranch, 130 yards each in the following colors: 31 - Laoghaire (pronounced Lira, a yellow though it looks orange in the photo); 43 - Watercress (bright green); 44 - Lallybroch (dark green); 52 - Skye (blue)
Equipment
- 4-shaft loom or rigid heddle loom with at least 7” weaving width
- four stick shuttles or a boat shuttle and four bobbins
Directions
Warping
- I set up the 4-shaft loom as a straight draw, using 4 shafts just to distribute my heddles evenly. This also allowed me to have the option of doing a twill structure if I wanted to. For rigid heddle looms, use the indirect method with warp chains.
Repeat this color order twice. Note that it’s asymmetrical. - Helpful hint: When I use my Baby Wolf, I normally use my lease sticks to keep my warp cross because I generally have a pretty wide warp. For this project I had a much skinnier warp than normal, and I felt that my lease sticks would be too large. I had an "aha" moment when I looked over and saw my Variable Dent Reed on my shelf. I took out the individual dents, and slid the frame around the cross. I re-screwed the frame together and then lashed it onto my loom.
Weaving
- Weave about 2.5 yards following the same color sequence as in the warp.
- Finishing
- Using four groups of two threads, make four stranded flat braids all the way across your warp.
- I found that my selvedges weren't up to snuff, so I chose the dark green (Lallybroch) and single crocheted a border around the edge. I also found that this added a more "masculine" edge to the scarf, making it feel more substantial.
© 2015 Schacht Spindle Company