Pin-loom weaving is a great way to use leftover yarns, even more so when those leftovers are precious, like hand-spun, or uniquely sourced or dyed fibers.
I recently had the opportunity to sample the first shipment of Handspun Hope’s Madagascar grown, hand-spun, and now also Madagascan hand-dyed wild Borocera silk. The five natural Madagascan colors are (clockwise starting at the top left): Black Mud, Psiadia Leaves, Tumeric, Passion Fruit, and Nato Bark, some of them unique in this world.
I knitted Martha Wissing’s Holtin sweater and was delighted to have some leftovers that I could try on my pin looms. This yarn weaves up beautifully on any TURTLE F-fine sett looms. It creates a nice solid fabric, is soft and therefore suitable to be worn next to skin. It has a beautiful drape (well … it’s silk), and the vibrant colors are second-to-none.
For the headscarf I used Tumeric, Nato Bark, Psiadia Leaves, and added some undyed silk for the remaining pieces and the ties.
I wove jewel shapes, hexagons, and half hexagons.
The ties are knitted but you can also crochet them.
The Tools
To make the scarf I used the Original TURTLE Loom™ in F-Fine sett and the Original Jewel loom in F-Fine sett.
The half hexagons can be woven on the hexagon loom, instructions are provided in this blog post. Optionally you can now pre-order the new Original Trapezoid (available in R-regular and F-fine sett) which will be released shortly.
The Yarn
You will need a total of about 158 yards.
I used about 42 yds in Tumeric (yellow), 41 yds in Nato Bark (brown), 25 yds in Psiadia Leaves (green), and 50 yds in natural, which includes the knitted tie.
The Pattern includes the instructions to make the headscarf as shown. In addition, blank layout charts are provided so that you can design your own headscarf based on the yarns that you have at hand.
You could also make the headscarf with hexagon and half-hexagons only, on just one loom. Instructions are provided in the pattern.
Not sure if your own precious leftovers are enough or right to make a Rhinebeck? Contact me with a brief description of the yarns that you have in mind and I will make a suggestion.
The Rhinebeck headscarf (and Martha’s Holtin sweater) will be on display at the 2024 NY Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck at the Handspun Hope booth, Barn 30, Booths 17 and 18.
Special thanks go to Gale Zucker, www.gzucker.com, on Instagram @galezucker, who went the extra mile to beautifully photograph the Rhinebeck headscarf in time, and to Gobrielle DeNinno, on Instagram @javagypsy, for stunningly modeling the piece.
Photo credits: I want to thank Diana Wiley from Handspun Hope, www.handspunhope.org, for allowing me to use her Madagascan silk photo for this post.
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