Monday, December 29, 2008

BIG Scarf


Had lunch with a friend today, then up to the guild room to dye a bunch of yarn. Got home around 4 pm, finished sleying the warp and started weaving after dinner.
Of course I had a sleying error to fix! Fortunately it was simple to fix - I put two working ends per dent, and about an inch from the beginning, I had only put one per dent for two dents. Really glad I spotted it so quickly.
Wet finished one of the chenille 'shawls' the other day and the shrinkage weft-wise was much greater than I'd been expecting - from about 22" in the reed to 14 after wet finishing. So instead of shawls, I decided to market them as BIG scarves. Instead of fringes, they will be hemmed - much faster than fringe twisting such tiny little threads! The fabric has incredible drape and feel. If I can get a good photo of the finished fabric, I'll post that.
Since this warp is narrower than I prefer for tea towels, I'm going to finish off all of the 3000 yard/pound chenille on it. If there is any warp left once that runs out, I'll weave the singles 12 linen on it. While the resulting towels will be narrower, they will still be about the same size as commercially produced cotton towels, so will be useable - just not as generous as I like my towels. They will make good hostess gifts, though.
The photo only shows a small portion of the overall pattern. I wanted to get a good close up so you could really see the fabric. I'll play with the tie-up and treadling so that each scarf is a little bit different.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's really pretty! The big scarf sounds interesting, hope you can get a good picture of it.

Anonymous said...

It looks like it's snowing on your loom!

Sharon Schulze said...

Love that snowflakey pattern. The yarn supports that theme, too.

I gave my brother a shawl for his birthday. He promptly wrapped it around his neck and said it was the best scarf he had (even after I said it was a shawl). It was cotton so fairly lightweight, which I guess is what he liked.

Point being, it's all in the eye of the beholder anyway! Not sure he would have paid for it but he went with it as a birthday gift.

Laura Fry said...

Frida, I'll try to get a picture today. :) Enjoying your blog and your creative challenges.

I don't tell people what my textiles are anymore, just let them choose the function. :) I've had tea towels been turned into vest fronts, a hand towel become a skirt, table runner into a scarf. So long as the recipient is happy........ :D

Glad your brother liked the 'scarf'. :^)

Cheers,

Laura