Monday, December 25, 2017

Hand Dyed Silk Goose Eye Blanket Scarf

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All

This project started by pulling out the hand dyed silk bin and rummaging around and a large skein of a thick nubbly singles dyed blue was found.  I was not sure how much yardage there was so I just pulled a warp and then planned a project around the number of ends that I had.
The scarf ended up being quite wide, the finish width is 12 inches, more of a blanket scarf or narrow shawl.  I wanted to play up the fact that it was wide by using a large scale pattern.  I used a simple goose eye twill and the weft is silver Tencel.
The pattern allows the variegation of the warp to really pop.
This scarf has a wonderful graphic punch to it.
The drape on this scarf/shawlette is just wonderful.  For Sale.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Polychrome Crackle Gone Wrong

Flushed with the success from Polychrome Crackle Echo I had a really cool idea.  Echo is an extended parallel threading, which is two different twill lines (or crackle) are interleaved together.  So it is kind of like two different scarves woven together, so what would happen if one of the threading lines was hand dyed splotches and the other a solid colour.  Well let’s find out!

I just happen to have a small bout of hand dyed warp, it is only 96 threads.  It is the sister to the warp that I used for this scarf.  The original plan was to use the two warps together but I couldn’t figure out a project that worked.  The warp is yellow Tencel with splashes of purple and turquoise.  The purple dye had broken around the edges into blues and one of the blues was very similar to Blueberry Tencel so I went with that colour as the secondary warp.
The hand dyed warp was already pulled so I had to pull the blueberry warp separately and layer them with two sets of lee sticks.  But Tencel is really nice to work with and I had no problems pulling on the warp.  The pattern is a simple 6 shaft crackle that I had used before and just loved.
Next came the weft auditions, on the computer I had used a pale green and the pattern really popped. So I tried a green grey, silver and a dark grey.  Not so good.
Second lot was yellow, bright blue, a darker green and a darker blue.  No options this time.
Maybe purple?  Nope.
I found that the blueberry warp killed a lot of the weft colours, it acted like a shadow.  So I decided to just go with the blueberry as the weft and hope that the painted warp would pop.  It didn’t work; it actually looks better in the picture then it did in real life.
Also you can see the edges are bulging.
I unwove the blueberry and go back to trying a new weft.  Maybe black or white would work, nope.
The new idea is to try different weft grists.  I try 2/10 in black and 2/16 bamboo in black and blue.  Nope, too thin.
Next I tried yellows again in straw, gold, taupe and a different gold.  Nope.
Next I tried greens again in pale green, teal and greyed green.
Nothing really worked but I had to make a decision because I was starting to make the warp fuzzy with the weaving and unweaving.  So I went with the greyed green because it worked when I used on the computer.
Nope.  And the edges were still terrible.  There was something wrong with the draft.
You can see the one thread that is the culprit.
The best option that I had was to change the treadling.  The threading was complicated and I hoped that I didn’t have to change it.  After some computer time I figured out a twill treadling that fixed that edges and I didn’t have to change the threading or the treadles.
I just went for black as the weft because it was the only thing that could possibly work and it did. The scarf reminds me of the art paper with a black topcoat that you scratch off to reveal the colours underneath.
The scarf looks good even though it is not what I had in mind.   For Sale.
Final Garden Shot is a creeping rosemary that is just starting to bloom and some sunshine that we haven't seen in weeks! 

Friday, December 1, 2017

Eight Shaft Huck Lace Shawl

The Qualicum Weavers and Spinners just finished our annual sale and I was the committee chair this year.   Although the others in the committee did the bulk of the work, just planning and worrying that I missed something was tiring.  It turned out that the worries were for naught as we had a hugely successful sale last weekend with around twenty weavers and spinners putting their work up for sale and everyone making some sales.
I had a put a fine merino wool shawl on the loom several weeks before the sale, with the hope that it would be ready to include, but sadly it sat unwoven as the sale day drew closer.  The colour is all wrong here, it is actually a lovely deep apricot with a slight grey shade.

The pattern is eight shaft double diamond huck lace, and I am really very pleased with how it came out.  I did not have enough heddles on shafts 1 and 2, so Ngaire spent a few minutes on PCW and put it over 10 shafts for me.  This really made a difference as spreading it out on a countermarche loom makes lifting the shafts really easy.
Here it is off the loom and washed, but not yet pressed or fringe twizzled.
I liked this pattern so much that I’ve put on a series of runners in deep gold mercerized cotton to take advantage of the pattern already tied up on the loom. 
The pattern looks great on a shawl and I know it will make stunning table runners.  The loom always looks so very lovely from this angle doesn't it?

I had such great hopes for putting some of my hand spun and hand knits into the guild sales, but that too was not to be.
This is a mananita that I have been knitting recently.  The pattern is from The Best Of Knitters Magazine Shawls and Scarves and the pattern is by Meg Swanson.  I used my own hand spun fine merino yarn in a wonderful deep gold colour.
The knitting is all finished, now I just have to apply myself and get it blocked., I don't know why I just don't do it...but here it sits.

The garden shot for today was taken this morning and shows my Grevillea victoriae in bloom.  This shrub from Australia is amazing since I just moved it this summer....still alive and kicking after all that stress.