Ann's Finger Weaving Scarf Class

Ann Anderson's class on finger weaving a scarf was wonderful.  We all really enjoyed meeting her and taking her class.  Her scarves and handspun, Navajo plied yarns were gorgeous.  She is a wonderful teacher.

Ann showed us her scarves.

My Notes:
Use worsted weight yarn, any fiber, preferably variegated, cut into 90" pieces and tied in the center.  Wrap one end of the bundle at the center around the back/top of a chair several times or anything that will give you some tension. You will work on one half of the scarf at a time.

Take a pencil or dowel and starting from left to right, wrap each strand of yarn around the pencil.  Wrap under, around, and over the pencil.  The yarn end will face the next strand of yarn that you wrap.  Choose colors in any order that you like.

 
You will weave from left to right.  Hold the bundle in your right hand.  You will use your left hand thumb and middle finger to move the "weaver," which is the yarn woven across, over and under the lengthwise strands, which are the warp strands.  I will try to post a video of Ann weaving in another blog post soon.  Here's a picture of her weaving.

To begin, you will always begin each row on this half of the scarf by going OVER the first strand.  On the second half of the scarf, you may end up beginning with an OVER or an Under, depending on how many strands you started with.

Use your left thumb to move the "weaver" over a strand, and insert your middle finger of your left hand in the center of the weaving strand to go under a strand.  So, you alternate by using your thumb and middle finger of your left hand.  After going through the strands place the weaver up on the pencil.  When you have 3 strands, take the oldest weaver down, going under or over the other two weavers, and place them up (the last two weavers) on the pencil.  The oldest strand always gets woven down and back into the bundle.

Pull down on the lengthwise yarns to help even out the tension. Use a ruler after weaving several strands to try to keep your scarf width consistent.

Other half:  Take out the pencil and straighten out the ends.  Find the last two weavers.  Those will go up on the right side.

This is Ann showing the two weavers on the right hand side on the 2nd half of the scarf.  They will go up.  You will start weaving on the left side by choosing the left most thread to weave across.  You may end up starting with an "over" or an "under" depending on how many strands of yarn you started with.  You will be weaving on the same side as you first wove, but on the opposite end.


Fringe:  You can trim the fringe diagonally or straight across.  Remember that twisting will shorten the length of your fringe, so cut it longer.  Twist two strands separately in the same direction until they are twisted tightly, then hold them together, letting them twist in the opposite direction together.  This will ply them together.  Tie a small knot in the end of the fringe.  You will begin the fringe by twisting the last two weavers together.  Then make sure you always twist a front strand with a back strand to lock in the last weaver.

Finishing your scarf:  Ann recommends using a wool soap, such as Soak or Eucalan.  These are no-rinse wool soaps.  She uses hot water, like a hot bath, and wool soap and soaks the scarf.  Squeeze the water out and hang the scarf up on a shower door.  This will help straighten your scarf as it dries.

We loved the yarns Ann spun for us, and we asked her where we could buy the roving to spin.  She recommended Green Wood Fibers on Etsy for colorful rovings.