I have dabbled with weaving for a long time now. Well, to be more precise, there has been an on-going contest waging in the Yarnspider residence. In the one corner a rather generously proportioned Le Clerc Colonial, and in the other. Me.
I had tried everything and the damn object would just not co-operate. And then suddenly, it clicked. The reason I was having problems was I couldn't see the point in weaving towels or dishcloths. And there really is only a finite number of pashminas to be woven, and suddenly it came to me. I sew, therefore I require cloth. I needed to weave about a km to knock my selvedges into shape and when you are weaving for cloth, if the selvedge is a little wonky it really won't matter as it rarely becomes a part of the finished garment. Suddenly, after that major revelation, (reached half way through the table runner from hell, no one should have a table that long!), my loom and I have reached détente. I'm not saying there haven't been hiccups - never work out how many ends are required for a project when spaced out on prescription drugs for example - but life with the loom has become considerably smoother.
Which brings me to the photos as promised. Referring to the slight hiccup with the ends I found myself the proud owner of not one, but two warps. Which, in turn,have given me the opportunity to produce 2 similar but totally different lengths of cloth. The first, being a 2/2 twill using a hank of Kauni knitting yarn in heather shades of green through to purple as the weft. This produced a really lovely fairly dense cloth that will, once fulled, transform into a spiffy little coat. It would be worth noting at this point if anyone is considering using Kauni this way. Unless you have sufficient bobbins to wind an entire hank in one go (and even if you do) it is worth winding and then rewinding each bobbin to ensure that the colour will follow smoothly from one to the next. Also, label your bobbins so that you can be absolutely sure that you are using them in the correct order.
Which brings me to the second warp that is now adorning my loom. Instead of a straight warp, this time I slayed the reed a little differently, producing a crammed and spaced threading and a lighter cloth. I then went stash diving, and came across this hank of uber fine hand spun, hand dyed, merino. Now, I know I had spun this with a shawl in mind, but I do have several shawls and my loom was beckoning, so. Building upon what I had learnt from my Kauni length, I once again wound the yarn twice to every bobbin so that I would have a seamless gradient of colour and here we are! A lighter cloth with an excellent pattern. Yay! This will hopefully become another dress. I really am pleased with the way it's going. So Now to measure the next warp before I come to the end of this one. (Another tip I have picked up in the Warping Wars). I will share just as soon as I've decided which one is coming next.......
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