Skye Weavers - Tweed, scarves, throws and clothing woven by pedal-power on the Isle of Skye

Woollen scarves, throws, tweed and more woven on a bicycle pedal-powered loom on the Isle of Skye.

  • Home
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • View All
      • Home
      • Women
      • Men
      • Kids
    • Delivery Times & Shipping Costs
    • My Account
    • Terms & Conditions
      • Privacy Policy
      • Cookies Policy
  • About
    • About Us
    • Sheep to Tweed
    • Skye Wool
    • Our Tweeds
    • Campaign for Wool
    • Wool Care
    • Our Blog
  • Visit
  • Contact
    • Contact Details
    • Enquiry
  • Newsletter
  • 0

Stone to Scarf

June 25, 2021 by Andrea

You are here: Home / Blog / Stone to Scarf

pedal powered loom
Although our designs are usually inspired by Skye, we sometimes go a bit further afield. So for our latest range of scarves we’ve been travelling (metaphorically) over the sea to Orkney – and way back in time.

It all started with a trip to Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland a couple of years ago. Wandering around the Neolithic collections I was transfixed by a carved stone. It had incised patterns of zigzags and chevrons between sets of parallel lines. I immediately thought of weaving (it’s never far away from my mind!) and I visually filed it away for future reference.

Stone with incised decoration
The carved stone on display. © National Museums Scotland.

This winter as I was playing around with some pointed twill on the sample loom, I realised that I had found the perfect weave structure for ‘my’ stone. Wanting to know more, I contacted the National Museum and their super-helpful Senior Curator, Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark, filled me in. It turns out that the ‘Brodgar Stone’, as it is known, was found in the Ness of Brodgar on Orkney in 1925. At the time it was believed to be part of a Bronze Age burial cist, but since then archaeologists have found out that it is much older.

Carved neolithic stone with 3 pebbles on it
The Brodgar Stone as it was found in 1925. Courtesy Orkney Library Photographic Archive. Photo Tom Kent.

The Ness of Brodgar is in fact a major Neolithic settlement. The first activities there have now been dated back to more than 5000 years ago. Excavations at the site began in 2003 and are ongoing. It’s one of Europe’s most exciting archaeological sites and the deeper the archaeologists dig, the more complex the site turns out to be. There is evidence of human activity here over a period of at least 1200 years, and over 30 structures have now been uncovered. The spot where the Brodgar Stone was found turns out to be not a burial cist but a large stone building (‘Structure 8’), constructed c. 3000 BC.

View of excavation with sea in background
View of part of the Ness of Brodgar excavations. Courtesy Ness of Brodgar Trust.

The Brodgar Stone’s incised patterns are typical of late Neolithic rock art in Orkney, with straight lines, chevrons, zigzags and crosses. Over 900 stones with similar decorations have been found at the Ness of Brodgar site. The meaning of the symbols – if any – is unclear, but it’s understood that stones were often decorated in several stages over a long period. This made me think of graffiti being added to a wall over time and somehow made me feel closer to our ancestors.

I was also interested to learn that the Neolithic period was full of colour. We tend to think of the ancient past in monochrome but there is evidence at the Ness of Brodgar of the use of colours such as ochre and haematite, an iron oxide.

Incised decorated stone
Another Neolithic decorated stone – this was found at the Ness of Brodgar in 2015. Courtesy Ness of Brodgar Trust.

Back on the sample loom, I set about trying to translate the stone’s patterns into weave. I had great fun experimenting with different pointed twill variations that would work well on our 8 shaft loom. Pointed twill is a structure that creates diagonal lines in the same way as regular twill, but as the twill threading is reversed after a number of warp threads the weaver can create chevrons and zigzags.

sample loom with pointed twill design
Pointed twill experiments on the sample loom.
samples of weaving and calculator on a table
Trying out different patterns inspired by the Brodgar Stone.

The final weave, which we are using to create scarves, has five parallel lines of different geometric patterns running along its length. For colours we decided to have one ‘stone coloured’ and three other more colourful variations. While not aiming to copy the Brodgar Stone exactly I hope the pattern might evoke something of this magical and mysterious place.

cones of coloured yarn
Yarns for the colour variations.
Roger beaming off colour scarves
Beaming off the Brodgar Scarves.
detail of grey striped weave on loom
The ‘stone coloured’ version on the loom.

If you’re interested in the fascinating developments at the Ness of Brodgar site you can follow their blog and find our more on their website. There’s a good little video too. Sadly I’ve not seen the Ness of Brodgar excavations myself as I visited Orkney just before the discoveries. There were still plenty of other ancient sites to explore there though; I loved the way the ancient stones and monuments sit among the living landscape. I very much hope to return before too long.

Meanwhile, the scarves have turned out beautifully and you can now buy your own bit of Neolithic neckwear in our online shop.

Striped scarves
The final Brodgar Scarves in four colour variations.

Filed Under: Blog

Newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter and be first to know about our latest designs, products and news from the weaving shed. We will process your contact details securely and won't be passing them on to third parties. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

On our Blog

  • Skye Wool Summer Clip
  • Amazing Maisie, the very special sheep
  • Stone to Scarf
  • Technical fix: The nuts and bolts of weaving
  • Romantic Skye: Captured on camera
 
 
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2022 Skye Weavers · Website by West Coast Media