Thursday, August 20, 2009

Choosing the Right Weft

Jeez….did I ever blow it! I wanted to make a couple of scarves using Turned Taqueté and I wanted them to stand apart from the other scarves that I had done lately. Basically I didn’t want any hint of purple, I wanted spring like colours. I chose this lovely yellow called lemon drop and silver, very classic I thought and they followed very loose ‘rule’ for Turned Taqueté – different hues but close in value. I like it! The weft was to be 2/20 black Tencel. It was awful…the effect was dotty and didn’t do the lovely warp justice. So my quest began. Still in keeping with my original plan I tried 2/8 Tencel in charcoal. A lot softer looking than the stark black, but it made the silver a bit dull and lifeless. So then I thought, why not bring in something to compliment the yellow. This dark orange 2/8 rayon, just made everything look dirty. Now I’m getting a bit anxious, so thinking of clearly defined contrasts I tried this 2/8 rayon slub in blue. It made the silver look grey and the yellow look washed out. Thinking that maybe I needed something not so contrasting I tried this 2/8 mercerized cotton in celery. No, no no! Blah… My blood pressure is rising and I reach for the Orlec 2/8.5 is a bit heavy, but the range of colours I have in Orlec made me want to try. This lovely blue/green just made the whole scarf look too sweet – rather candy ish – not for me. Why not try….2/8.5 Orlec again, this time pink! I’m blind…..OMG…. it’s the Valley Girl! I’m trying to be colour brave, but this just scared me. I caved…..yup its purple 2/8 Tencel. I feel a little defeated, but damn it’s lovely! This is my first Turned Taqueté scarf. The purple made the silver appear lavender, but it’s a lovely and subtle. This shows 2 pattern repeats, each repeat is just under 5 inches in length. I am using 8 shafts and 10 treadles for this weave, that gives me 8 pattern treadles and 2 tie down treadles, as Taqueté is a two tied weave.

I put on enough warp for two scarves, so now the hunt for my next weft begins. Today is a Procion MX dye day so I’m thinking maybe a painted weft?

12 comments:

bspinner said...

More than just lovely! Darn right beautiful!!!

R. Delight said...

Color can be so darned tricky! That's what makes it so interesting. The scarves are beautiful!

Alice said...

I need more color lessons like that! What a beautiful scarf at the end of all the work with color.

Debbie said...

BEAUTIFUL. My friend has my 6 yr old son weaving his first scarf! Your posts inspire me more than you could imagine. One day I will pick up a loom and get to it. Can't wait to see what you next.

Susan said...

I've been thinking about the choices you tried based on your warp colours.... and while there are colours that *might* have worked if you had an endless stash, what you came up with was the natural winner! Imagine the colour star and opposite yellow on the colour wheel is purple... with grey (silver) being the middle between them.

It was fate! :)

The turned taquete (sp) looks like an interesting weave! I'm looking forward to seeing it in person very soon!

Susan

India said...

Blue is always a good choice, I just love the blue color.

Peg in South Carolina said...

I assume you sampled the other possibilities? If you did, I would love for you to share them.

charlotte said...

Thank you for a very interresting post. I quite agree with Susan, violet and yellow are complementary colors, so they will enhance each other. Mixed together, the result is grey. I'm sure the turned taquete will turn out to be beautiful, I look forward to see the finished scarf!

Lynnette said...

Hi Peg,
I did weave about 2 inches of each of my colour choices, and then cut them out. It was pretty apparent right away when they didn't work. I had only enough warp for the two scarves, so no samples were saved. I do make a set of sample cards for a few dear friends and have 10 inches set aside for that purpose, I prefer to give a sample that shows the pattern, rather than a series of weft choices, so I will weave their samples in my best weft....I'm heading down the magenta path next I think!

Delighted Hands said...

How perfect is your final choice! Who would have thought the journey would take you here! Thanks for sharing!

Sharon said...

I feel like Mr. Rogers - "Won't you be my neighbor?" I want to live right next door to you - sigh.

Life Looms Large said...

Interesting how you went through a color progression!!

I was definitely encouraged in the color workshop I took last spring to find that even the instructor weaves 2 yards of samples - sampling weft color - at the start of each 25 yard warp.

Sometimes what you think will work, and what actually works are different entirely!

Your turned taquete is beautiful!! Looking forward to seeing more of this scarf!

Sue