I have been busy weaving two styles of wraps.
The first style is a poncho woven in two rectangular pieces and sewn together. I wrote about these in a previous post.
The second style is a wrap that I have come to know is called a ruana. This one can also be woven as two rectangles sewn together or it can be woven as a double weave.
Both are easy to weave since they are rectangles. It has been SO much fun weaving these wraps because there is no end to the number of design options available. As long as they end up the right size, anything goes. You can use any combination of yarns and any size reeds/heddles. They can be woven on floor looms, table looms, and rigid heddle looms.
All of the wraps I have made so far are plain (tabby) weave. It will be fun to try additional weave structures as well as combinations of colors and textures in the future.
Poncho Size
The basic poncho is composed of two rectangles 22″ wide and 35″ long. The difference in length and width contributes to the size of the head opening. Once you know the correct size head opening keep this difference the same. If you make the piece three inches longer it should also be three inches wider. On the other hand, if you want to make the head opening larger or smaller, increase or decrease the difference. To make the opening larger, increase the length more than the width. To make the opening smaller increase the width more than the length.
Ruana Size
The basic ruana is composed of two rectangles 22″ wide and 56″ long. This fits most adults pretty well. If you make the pieces wider, the wrap comes down farther on the arms and there is more cloth in wings. If you make the pieces a little longer the wrap falls closer to the knees. I just ask the person “normal or wide” and “longer or shorter”?
Although you could make these rectangles on any style loom, I made all of these on a four harness floor loom with a 5 dent reed. The structure is all plain weave.
First and Second Ruanas
I have hoped that these wraps would be stash busters so for the first attempt I chose yarns that I already had on hand. I wanted to use the very old WoolEase sport weight yarn in color Wood. I didn’t have enough so I paired it with some Caron SimplySoft in color Black. The warp is stripes of black and Wood, the weft is all black. Everyone seemed to really like the stripes and most of the requests I got after this were for some variation of this design.
I made two ruanas like this, one a little wider than the other. I used up all of the woolease yarn, one of my goals.
Sheila’s Ruana
Sheila liked the Wood color yarn, but I was all out. So I had to go and find something similar. I chose this Caron SimplySoft in color Taupe.
It turned out nicely with a bit of interest from the tweedy yarn. This yarn has a nice drape and a soft feel.
Gray Ruana
This one uses Loops and Threads brand Barcelona yarn in color Arctic for the warp and Onyx for the weft. 
The yellow ribbon is used to measure the length of the piece as I weave. Even though this ruana has no stripes or patterns, it seems to be a favorite.
The Barcelona yarn is soft and fluffy. There are enough color variations to keep the cloth interesting even without other design elements.
Jodi’s Ruana
Jodi liked the striped ruanas with brown and black yarn but requested gray and black instead. I decided to perk up the stripes by adding a few thicker yarns to each stripe. The thicker yarns are Thick and Quick. The other yarn is Caron SimplySoft in gray and black warp and all black weft.
The thick yarns add interest without added another color.
Anna’s Ruana
I made this ruana for Anna. The poncho I made her was light colored with navy accents so I decided to make the ruana dark with red and white accents. I had seen a plaid similar to this and considered trying a plaid but chickened out at the last minute.
I wanted the white accent threads to look “even” and not “odd” so I put an odd number of yarns between them. In this way they were both in the same shed. Both up or both down at the same time.
The yarn is Premier Everyday. I found it on sale for $2. The colors are Charcoal Heather, Red Heather, and White.
I am looking forward to getting creative with the wraps, trying new weave structures and color patterns. Keep watching!
As always, your polite and helpful comments are welcome.
Knitting, Weaving, Writing 