Zebras on the Serengeti

Carla Jeanne Hubbart finds asymmetric design quite freeing and spontaneous. She enjoys the balanced randomness and lack of preciseness of asymmetry, so it often shows up when she warps a loom. During the actual weaving of this piece, Carla did not feel compelled to simply repeat the same pattern at the other end of the scarf, so there is asymmetric design in both directions.

Nature itself, never 100 percent symmetrical, also contributed to the design of this piece. The Serengeti was green at the end of the rainy season when Carla's daughter and son-in-law went on safari for their honeymoon. The first animals they saw were zebras—her favorite!

If the Serengeti or zebras aren’t your thing, this design works quite nicely in other color combinations. Pick a handpainted fingeringweight yarn in your favorite color and combine it with either black and white or two other contrasting colors for the pattern design.

Enjoy this subscriber bonus project from Handwoven Summer 2024.

STRUCTURE
Plain weave with color-and-weave.

EQUIPMENT
Rigid-heddle loom, 15" weaving width; 12-dent heddle; 3 shuttles.

YARNS
Warp: La Jolla (100% superwash merino wool; 400 yd/115 g; Baah Yarn), Serengeti Sunset, 345 yd; Black Pearl and La Perla, 63 yd each.
Weft: La Jolla, Serengeti Sunset, 240 yd; Black Pearl and La Perla, 85 yd each.
Note: Serengeti Sunset has been discontinued. Choose another handpainted fingering-weight yarn as a substitute, such as La Jolla Sea‘s the Day or Mountain Meadow, both from Baah Yarn.

OTHER SUPPLIES
Fringe twister (optional); Eucalan or other no-rinse wash.

WARP LENGTH
180 ends 94" long (allows 4" for take-up; 18" for loom waste; loom waste includes fringe).

SETTS
Warp: 12 epi.
Weft: 11–12 ppi.

DIMENSIONS
Width in the reed: 15".
Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 72".
Finished size: approximately 13" × 71" plus 4½" fringe.