Friday, April 10, 2015

Another Bite



Officially at the half way point as I begin to set up warp #9 on the great stash busting count down from 18.

This is the only blue warp in the run, which is a pity because I know I could sell a lot more than three blue shawls.  But the point of the exercise is to use up what I have and what I most had was a bunch of coral/rust reds.  So I will have depth of stock in those, some purple/pinks, a couple of magenta and a couple of turquoise warps.  I'm trying to break up the coral/red warps by weaving other colours in between.

Someone asked me if the very open weave I'm doing with this yarn will result in a stable cloth.  It is stable enough for shawls/scarves.  It won't survive getting caught in a zipper or snagged on a necklace or bracelet.  But most textiles won't, either.

One of my primary aims as a weaver is to make cloth which will fulfill it's function.  The yarn as mentioned previously is a highly twisted lower quality silk.  As such it is matt not slippery and the corkscrew twists of the yarn help to catch and grab onto the threads crossing each other.  That, combined with a good hard press, helps to lock the threads into place.

So while it is possible to disturb the threads from their path, there is sufficient stability for the job the cloth is intended for.  At least in my opinion.

5 comments:

Peg Cherre said...

If you cross some of those reds with blues, will the result be a nice purple or an unpleasant blue & red combo? I'm sure you've tried different color wefts to mix it up.

Laura Fry said...

I only have enough blue to weave the blue warp. Plus I don't think that Royal blue would play nicely with the coral red.

I'm just really happy to use up as much of this yarn as I can and start building inventory for the fall sales. :)

Cheers
Laura

Desirée said...

Slippery silk is a problem sometimes. Will keep looking for a simpler qualitet.

Nancy said...

Laura, Brava on the focused stash reduction. I have a color question for you - do you ever do any kind of overdyeing to change up the offerings available if you have a preponderance of one shade or color family in your display?

Laura Fry said...

I have done. Not doing much dyeing now my back is hurt. :(

Cheers
Laura