A hand-spun and handwoven purple and blue scarf - merino, botany waste, bamboo and silk, spun by Emma Baker on an Ashford wheel in Salisbury
 
This scarf is woven by Emma Baker on a rigid heddle loom in Salisbury, Wiltshire from yarn she spun herself on an Ashford spinning wheel. The yarn is not a commercial product: Emma spins it from a blend of four fibres - long-staple merino, botany waste merino, bamboo and silk - each contributing a different quality to the finished scarf.
 
What is botany waste - and why it matters
When long-staple merino fleece is combed to align the fibres for spinning, the short fibres that fall out during combing are called botany waste. These are fine merino offcuts - material that commercial production treats as a by product. Emma spins botany waste back into the yarn rather than letting it go to waste, blending it with the long-staple merino to add body and a slightly more textured quality to the yarn's surface.  To this merino and botany waste base, Emma adds bamboo fibre (which contributes a cool, smooth quality and natural moisture management) and silk (which adds sheen and a fluid drape). The resulting yarn is a blend that no commercial spinner produces: four fibres, two of which are materials that standard yarn production would discard or ignore. Each batch is slightly different because the botany waste component varies. There is no exact replica of this yarn.
 
Three variations
All three are woven from the same hand-spun merino, botany waste, bamboo and silk yarn on Emma’s rigid heddle loom. The differences are in length and fringe:  
Variant A: 21cm wide × 160cm long, with a 10cm twisted fringe at each end. The longest fringe of the three - a more dramatic, flowing finish.  
Variant B: 22cm wide × 166cm long, with a 6cm fringe at each end. The longest scarf of the three.  
Variant C: 22cm wide × 165cm long, with a 6cm fringe at each end. 
 
Select your preferred variant from the drop-down menu before adding to cart.
 
What makes this scarf special
Hand-spun by Emma Baker on an Ashford spinning wheel in Salisbury, Wiltshire
Handwoven on a rigid heddle loom by Emma Baker
Four-fibre blend: long-staple merino, botany waste merino (combing offcuts), bamboo and silk
Botany waste: material that commercial production discards, spun back into a useful yarn
The bamboo adds natural moisture management and a cooler handle
The silk adds natural sheen and fluid drape
Purple and blue colour palette - variations in shade across the warp as the hand-spun yarn’s natural variation shifts the colour balance
Twisted fringe at each end (10cm on Variant A; 6cm on Variants B and C)
Absolutely one of a kind - hand-spun botany waste yarn means no two scarves are alike in quite the same way
 
A unique cosy gift
The botany waste and hand-spinning story makes this scarf a genuinely unusual gift - the kind of thing that a buyer who values sustainable craft over commercial production will appreciate immediately. A birthday, a significant occasion, or a personal treat for someone who would be delighted to know their scarf was spun from fibre that a commercial producer would have discarded.