My last project ~ the handspun and wool/silk shawl is off the loom, washed and dried and not what I envisioned ~ I saw it as being deeply pleated and….the pleats are really a lot shallower and floppier than I’d hoped.
The other HUGE problem is that my handspun is streaky, really, really streaky and not in a good way streaky!
The third problem was not so big, but still not what I’d hoped ~ the colour in my 50/50 Silk Wool blend ran like a cheetah. I swear about half of the dye abanoned ship in the wash! I had started out with a warm milk chocolate brown and ended up with a toffee brown, but oh man is it ever soft!
Ahhh well, best laid plans and all that! I’ll just have to wait and see what I can do with it! This is the third project I’ve woven with handspun and so far I’m batting a big fat zero!
Today to make myself feel better I pulled a 2/5 Perle cotton warp in black for a series of table runners. I’m hoping to make 2 runners about 50 inches each and a table square. The length of each will vary depending on how the pattern repeats work out, but I know that I want to hem them, so I need a 3 inch border to work with and how ever many pattern repeats gets me close to about 50 inches. I’m using the same basic pattern as
this one. Ngaire has worked out three treadling variations so each runner will be unique, and I know they are a fun weave. I've got the warp threaded so I'm almost ready to roll.
Last April……I know……six full months ago….I warped up my Louet Jane loom with bookmarks! Sadly there it sat, looking mournfully at me each and every day. I love to weave bookmarks, but not one at a time ~ on my last project I wove 5 at a time,
you can see them here, but because this loom is smaller I’m only doing 3 at a time.
All three of the warps are Bambu 7, two in black and one in taupe. I will be using various wefts (insert flying by the seat of my pants here), but my plan is to use matching coloured linen for the tabby picks to make them nice and firm. Well, that’s the plan ~ see above for best laid plans and how oft they go awry for me lately!
This May we planted 2 tiny fig trees in our garden and amazingly we got fruit to harvest. Well, only one fig, but it was a huge fig!
We ate this beauty as part of our ‘amuse bouche’ course at Thanksgiving. It was so good wrapped in Parma ham with lettuce, Dijon mustard and topped with a jaunty yellow Winter Pansy!
5 comments:
How does the saying go? 'Experience is what you get when what you get is not what you intended'? I do understand....I think we all get ample time in that disappointment mode when we put so much effort and time into something at these looms. I still think it's a good looking piece; try to look at it with a fresh eye that had no preconceived notions about how it 'should' look. The colors are lovely, I'm sure it's deliciously soft; it's a nice piece! So wrap it around your neck, enjoy it yourself, and just see how many compliments you get anyway! Not so bad after all!!! I hope your next project brings you every joy that you intend!!
Hi I am a weaver from Pretoria, South Africa, and would love to have the draft for the S&W bugs, it is so beautiful.
Keep Well
Marlene T.
I would love to get the draft for the S&W sampler in your blog.
Hi, Lynette,
I've found that you get more pleating if the stripes are narrower, say 8-12 threads at most. I know, that's not helpful now that you've already completed that lovely shawl... Next time try narrower stripes, and see if that makes a difference for you.
Sandra
Thanks Sandra, I had no idea that the width made such a difference. I have woven this pattern sucessfully before and you're right the stripes were much narrower...ahhhh well, live and learn!
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