Editor‘s note: The colorful orange, red, yellow, green, and blue blocks in Véronique Perrot‘s design are echoed in the autumn foliage and patch of bright sky I see outside my office window. Eventually the leaves will fall and winter will arrive, but for now the world is awash in the colors of this scarf. Subscribers can click on the link below for a full draft and instructions.—Lynn

As a formerly serious knitter, I accumulated a sizable stash of knitting yarns, including a whole box of Noro Kureyon balls patiently waiting for their place in the sun. Looking for a structure that would use Kureyon to its best advantage, I perused The Best of Weaver’s: Thick ’n Thin. In diversified plain weave, a thin yarn is used to hold together a much thicker yarn in both warp and weft. Plump Kureyon works perfectly as the thick yarn, especially when combined with 16/2 cottolin or cotton as the thin yarn. To avoid the notoriously sturdy hand of diversified plain weave, I loosened the sett from the expected 8 ends per inch (epi) for Kureyon in plain weave to 5⅓ epi, and I added stripes of plain weave in the thin yarn.

What color for the thin yarn? Madelyn van der Hoogt points out that light-colored thin yarn washes out the colors of the thick yarn. Perish the thought! Dark thin yarn it had to be. Dark purple and blue worked well with the two Kureyon colorways I chose. Feel free to use a single color of 16/2 instead of the three I happened to have on my shelf.

The resulting scarf is a plaid of three fabric weights and many colors: dark squares of plain weave where all threads are in 16/2 cotton or cottolin, medium-shade squares of plain weave where every third pick or end is Kureyon, and squares of diversified plain weave, where one color of Kureyon in the warp crosses (but doesn’t interlace with) another color of Kureyon in weft. The latter squares are of one Kureyon colorway on one side of the scarf and the other colorway on the other side, giving distinct personalities to both sides.

The Autumn Jewel Scarf will keep you cozy—and brighten any outfit.

Project at a Glance and PDF Link

PROJECT TYPE: 4-shaft

STRUCTURE: Diversified plain weave and plain weave.

EQUIPMENT: 4-shaft loom, 19" weaving width; 8-dent reed; 2 shuttles.