Valley Yarns #291 Night Sky Shawl

Valley Yarns Night Sky Shawl

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Night Sky Shawl is a woven wrap designed to showcase the natural beauty and iridescent qualities of blended fiber content. This finished shawl measures 22.5" x 67" (with an additional 4" of fringe on either end), making it an elegant accessory suitable for layering or draping. The design was created by Jill Staubitz and combines striking color contrast with sophisticated fiber blending to produce a garment with exceptional drape and visual interest.

Weaving Technique

This shawl is created using the Summer and Winter weave structure, a tied unit weave that produces beautiful patterning and texture. Summer and Winter is particularly well-suited for shawls and scarves because it creates excellent drape while maintaining structural integrity. The weave requires an 8-shaft jack or table loom with a minimum width of 26" to accommodate the skeleton tie-up required for this weave structure. The shawl is woven using a striped technique that combines multiple yarn types and colors to create visual depth and the distinctive iridescent quality that emerges when the finished piece comes off the loom.

Stitches and Weaving Details

The weaving draft (Draft #291) uses a centered threading pattern with special attention to edge stability. The pattern includes doubled floating selvedges at the edges to prevent breakage during the weaving process. The warp is threaded according to a specific draft that repeats a bracketed area three times across the width. Plain weave picks using scrap yarn are worked before beginning the main pattern to properly spread and stabilize the warp on the loom.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The Valley Yarns Night Sky Shawl combines three distinct yarns to achieve its unique aesthetic:

• Warp Yarn: Valley Yarns 8/2 Tencel in Amethyst (100% Lyocell, 3,360 yards per pound), requiring 1,752 yards total. This yarn is sold on approximately 1-pound cones.
• Tabby Weft: Valley Yarns 8/2 Tencel in Gold (100% Lyocell, 3,360 yards per pound), requiring 555 yards. Also sold on approximately 1-pound cones.
• Supplementary Pattern Weft: Valley Yarns 5/2 Bamboo in Birch (100% Rayon from Bamboo, 2,100 yards per pound), requiring 555 yards. Sold on approximately 1-pound cones.

The combination of Bamboo and Tencel fibers creates the exceptional drape characteristic of this design. Both fibers are smooth, lustrous, and fluid, making them ideal for shawls and wraps. The designer notes that pairing these specific yarns with the Summer and Winter weave structure guarantees beautiful drape.

Equipment and Setup

Weaving the Valley Yarns Night Sky Shawl requires the following equipment: an 8-shaft jack or table loom at least 26" wide, a 12-dent reed, 2 shuttles, and 2 bobbins for managing the multiple weft yarns. The warp is set at 24 ends per inch (epi), achieved by threading 2 ends in each dent of the 12-dent reed. The finished weaving width in the reed is 24.25", with a warp length of 3 yards containing 584 ends (including 4 floating selvedge ends). The finished piece is woven at a density of 20-21 picks per inch (ppi).

This downloadable PDF pattern from Valley Yarns provides complete instructions for winding the warp, dressing the loom, and threading according to the provided draft, making it accessible to weavers with 8-shaft loom experience.