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Lemon Chiffon Handwoven Scarves

Like most weavers, I have quite a stash of yarns.

When I’m at a show (not very common for me) and I see yarn I like at a good price, I buy it. Then I come home and have to put it away, and sometimes forget about it. Months later I’m looking in one of my boxes for something, and get a pleasant surprise at finding a yarn I’d forgotten about, particularly when the color & fiber still make me smile.

That was the case when I found 2 cones of 10/2 cotton in a color I was calling buttercream. After the scarves were woven I had to change the name – the color was richer yellow than what I think of as buttercream. I opted for lemon chiffon. (The color is much more yellow than it appears in the photos. I’d still call the color in the photos buttercream.)

I decided to weave some huck lace scarves from it. I love weaving lace, both huck and a variety of Swedish laces. I like the way they look on the loom, the way they wet finish, and the way they please and amaze my customers when they see them hanging at a show.

I decided on an overall huck threading for this cotton, warped up my little counterbalance loom, and set to weaving. The first two scarves were woven in what I think of as typical huck. (I know I don’t use the correct terms for these lace weaves. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that when I started calling them by ‘my’ names, and somehow can’t seem to get the correct names planted in my brain.)
handwoven scarves, lemon chiffon all-over huck
I’ve woven this pattern in 10/2, 8/2 and 5/2 cotton, cobweb weight cashmere-silk, 100% silk, and rayon. It never fails to please. I think the cottons work best, but it’s pretty much always a winner.

This time I opted to weave the third scarf in what I call ‘windowpane’ huck. Same threading & treadling, just a different tie up.
handwoven scarf, lemon chiffon huck windowpane
For some reason (I don’t know why) I haven’t used this option in a while. It does seem a bit more fragile, more prone to snagging a thread while wearing it, but it’s so lovely that people like it anyway.

The two scarves look so different, it really is magic that they’re so close in structure.
2 lemon chiffon cotton handwoven scarves
I took all three scarves to my show at Chautauqua Institute in July, and sold all three, bing, bang, boom. Shoulda bought more of that yarn when I saw it – buyer’s remorse in reverse.

Parting shot:
Mama Phoebe built her nest in the rafters underneath my porch. She’d just fed her babies and told them to be quiet since I was nearby.
baby birds

4 comments to Lemon Chiffon Handwoven Scarves

  • Cathy

    Can you tell me the sett and yarn type you used for the ‘windowpane’ huck? I want to make a lacy scarf. This would be perfect but I am having trouble figuring a sett for 8/2 cotton warp. Thanks for any information you can provide!

    Cathy

    • Peg Cherre

      Happy to help when I can, Cathy. I thought I knew the details you were asking about, but went back to my records just to be sure.

      I wove the lemon chiffon scarves with a 10/2 mercerized cotton. My notes tell me I sett the threads at 20 ends per inch (EPI). I generally use 12 EPI when I’m weaving lace with 5/2 cotton. I also looked up my records for what I’ve sett 8/2 at for cotton (or rayon) lace, and I generally use 18 EPI. I did just weave some 10/2 cotton lace (it’ll be my next post) at 18EPI because I hadn’t checked my records (hah!). It’s fine, too.

      I don’t change the sett with the different treadlings – that is, whether I’m weaving traditional huck, huck lace (what I’d called huck windowpanes) or huck bars, I use the same setts.

      Do let me know if you have other questions. You can also email me directly if you prefer: peg (at) handwovenscarves (dot) com.

      Have fun weaving lace!

  • Judy T

    Beautiful! Easy to see why they sold out incredibly fast!

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