Valerie Baber Designs

The friendship factor adventure continues with a terrific Golden Plum Tartan scarf by Paula Veleta shown below. This beautiful scarf design is perfect for any wardrobe and a wonderful pattern to weave. Lisa and I spent some time discussing what we wanted to try next and we both felt weaving plaid or tartan was the next journey we wanted to explore. I love the Golden Plum Tartan pattern that Lisa found on WEBS you can link to the pattern here: Valley Yarns #99 Golden Plum Tartan PDF at WEBS | Yarn.com There is also a yarn kit you can purchase with the colours in the photo to make your yarn choice easy. The traditional tartan pattern was mixed up with a beautiful technique to make a lovely single strand stripe in the pattern instead of a thicker stripe normally seen. This give a modern touch to the design that we really enjoyed trying out. I hope they don’t mind me posting a photo of the pattern below as I promote how great this pattern really is.

Our thoughts and journey of the pattern:

Valerie:

Currently I am in love with plaid and tartan designs! I couldn’t wait to try the Golden Plum Tartan pattern. In order to use yarn from my stash I chose a fingerling weight yarn instead of the DK weight it was patterned in. This works as I wanted a slightly narrower scarf to wear. At the end of the scarf I added another set of the pattern to make it the length I wanted to achieve and compensate for the difference in yarn weights. It worked out great.

Being a designer I can’t help but change things from the inspiration of the original design. I love to experiment and see what can happen when I change this or that. Of course there were a few changes based on a couple of mistakes I made. I warped it backwards! Yes I really did. LOL. Usually I warp (rigid heddle loom) my shorter length scarves on my kitchen island, but this time I warped it in my studio forgetting that I warp on the right side of my loom in my kitchen and on the left side in my studio. Of course it doesn’t matter which side you warp it on with plain weaving, but when working a pattern like this you must warp it on the right side of your loom since the pattern is working from the right. Otherwise your tartan pattern turns out on the opposite side as you may have noticed in the photos. Because of this I also made another small mistake, you likely can’t see it. My advice is make sure you warp from the right side of your loom, unless you want it the other way.

For the yarn I used Tough Love Sock yarn from SweetGeorgia Yarns www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com I used a pink, burgundy, Ivory and a pale purple. The purple didn’t show up as well as I thought it would, but I love the subtle effect it gives. I would use a darker colour for this section as this is where the unique warping is done and on my scarf that effect is too light to see from a distance.

The Golden Plum Tartan scarf was a well written pattern and a wonderful weaving experience. The colour combinations that you could achieve with this designs would be great for both men and woman. Definitely a keeper on my list of “I need to make this one again”. Weaving with Lisa is always a great time while we choose our next project, choosing yarns, and weaving the item. We encourage each other to look outside the box and try new things that we didn’t think we could. Sharing each others goals and interesting weaving techniques we find on the online as we work together to achieve our weaving goals and grow our friendship.

Lisa:

For my tartan scarf, I chose browns and purples with green accent. The brown yarns and the purple yarn are Knit Picks City Tweed, a mixture of merino wool, alpaca and Donegal tweed. The green yarn is a silk and wool blend that I found in a yarn shop in Jackson, Wyoming on a trip to Yellowstone. All of the yarns were nice to use and the wool from Knit Picks bloomed nicely after a bath. The yarn is DK weight so this scarf will be warmer than our previous scarves. 

At first, I wanted to make the scarf to match my heavy jacket, but I did not have burgundy yarn in my stash so purple was my second choice. Browns are always a winner with me, but the dark brown I chose was a little close in value to the purple, so together the colors make more of a subtle difference rather than the stark change that one would expect in a plaid. The look suits me, however, since I don’t wear a lot of “loud” clothing. 

The pattern, which came from WEBS, was easy to understand and had a warping sequence that neither Valerie nor I had seen before – threading holes with a different color than the corresponding slot. This created thin stripes in the warp. Once warping was completed, it only took less than a week of evenings to weave this scarf, so it would make a nice last-minute gift to weave for someone if you are in a hurry. Just allow yourself time to wash your scarf and to twist the tassels.  

Weaving is the perfect metaphor for friendship! Different fibers and colors come together to make a pleasing design, just like different people in all shapes and sizes with different personalities come together to make the world a more beautiful place. The interaction of the warp and weft make an enduring strong cloth that provides warmth and protection against the cruel elements. A friendship with good attributes and character provides a place for friends to interact in an unconditionally accepting environment that serves as a buffer against life’s cruelties. 

Although we live far apart, I think Valerie and I have a woven cloth kind of friendship. I am having a great time learning from her in this process as we exchange ideas, discuss patterns and talk. Valerie is an awesome crochet designer and this trait naturally spills over into her weaving. She’s not afraid to do her own thing and that gives me courage to experiment more. I still continue to be amazed by how we can meet people through the Internet that we would not have known otherwise. Who would have thought that when I started selling crochet on Etsy in 2011 that I would be weaving with a crochet designer from Canada in 2021?  

Start your own Friendship Factor Adventure today with your friends, family and others you care about. Your adventure could be weaving, knitting, crocheting, sewing, painting, scrapbooking or anything you have a desired to learn. You never know where it will take you. As Lisa said is is hard to believe it has been so many years when we first met on Etsy helping to promote each others work. Now we are great friends who are helping each other along the weaving and crocheting path. Thanks Lisa for another enjoyable Friendship Factor Adventure. Looking forward to our next adventure with Expressive Weaving where we take a big step out of the box and try our hands at various unique techniques.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

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Have a fibertastic day!