Monday, September 21, 2009

Finnish Lace Scarf with Fishtail Braiding

A couple of days before the Salmon Arm Sheep to Shawl, I found out that I was going to be the weaver this year. I was excited and very, very nervous as I have never worked with wool before. In a happy coincidence I had an empty loom so Mum had the great idea to put on a wool warp using the same pattern so I could get in a little practice. This scarf is made with 2/10 Merino in a soft pink with muted orange strips in Finnish Lace. This isn’t the first time that I’ve done Finnish Lace; I did a table runner a while back. This is a very versatile pattern and very easy to weave, which is a great bonus, both as an introduction to wool and as a competition piece. I found wool a little tricky to use because it is so sprongy. My edges looked like a mouse has nibbled the sides but after it was washed a lot of the wonky edges smoothed out. To finish the scarf I did a somewhat different type of braid; it is one that I learned at forestry summer camp when I was small, called a fish tail. I don’t know if that is its real name or not. But it is really pretty, very soft and drapy and a perfect finish for this scarf.
The Sheep to Shawl was a little nerve racking as I found a sleying error after weaving about three inches, so I had to pull everything out and fix the mistake and re-hemstitch, this put our team about 40 minutes behind. Thankfully the team was really helpful and very understanding. I put my head down and my iPod onto some rock and just wove; amazingly we came in on time. I was able to weave with only a few joins as the spinners had lots of time to spin during my downtime so that I got nice fat full bobbins and that was the silver lining to the mistake! I had a great time and our team placed second! This is the competition shawl before it was washed. The warp is handspun coridale with baby camel stripes outlining the lace area.

11 comments:

Olive Tree said...

Hi, it's a very great blog.
I could tell how much efforts you've taken on it.
Keep doing!

Dorothy said...

I love the fishtail braid!

Congratulations on your part of the sheep to shawl, nice work.

Your blog name is so catchy, I've been weaving linen and got what I used to call dust monsters under my loom, but now of course they are "dust bunnies" so much friendlier and of course prone to hopping about the room!

Anonymous said...

Well done! Sounds like you had lots of fun with this one. The scarf looks beautiful too.♥

Delighted Hands said...

Congrats on the 2nd place winning! The weaving pattern is beautiful-so nice that you got to participate!

charlotte said...

Congratulations! And the shawl is beautiful!

bspinner said...

Congratulations!!!! I've also woven in sheep to shawl competitions. It's a tough job. Your shawl is beautiful!!!!!

Kim said...

What a lovely shawl! I chuckled at you saying wool was tricky... I love the flexibility of wool and think cotton and linen's non-stretchiness a little challenging! It's all in what we expect, I guess. Bravo zulu on your second place finish!

Sunrise Lodge Fiber Studio said...

Congratulations!!! And what a beautiful piece too!!! ;) I think you should have come in 1st;)

Life Looms Large said...

Congrats on your sheep to shawl project! That would be too much pressure for me.

I love the design of the scarf, and the fishtail braid.

Sue

Leigh said...

Congrats to your team! And the Finnish Lace scarf is lovely, turned out beautifully. Isn't it amazing what wet finishing can do?

Sharon said...

I can't imagine being the weaver at a sheep-to-shawl. I was the plier once and that was pressure enough. That scarf came out great and I really like the fishtail fringe. Nice twist :)