Collapse Weave Scarves in Fawn

My favorite winter scarf is one that my Mom wove in Collapse Weave way back in 2015.  The scarf is a beautiful soft rose Merino wool with a lovely crepe de chine texture and a wonderful drape.  So I decided to weave this exciting weaving technique!

The warp I'm using consists of 2/16 Merino wool in tan, a rayon knop in Peanut beige and Lumeya Luster in gold.  The Lumeya Luster is from Reiko Company in Japan.  It is a neutral colourway but the sparkle of the gold Lumeya makes this warp really pop.  It just glitters and shines even in the weak winter sunlight.  This technique is all about differential shrinkage so I don’t really know what will happen with the Lumeya shrinkage wise, I also don’t know if it’ll be strong enough to be warp!  But it sure is pretty.

I made enough warp for two scarves and beaming the warp went surprisingly well . . . for the first couple of yards.

But then the Lumeya stretched slightly making it a little longer than the rest of the warp which created loops that looped around the top raddle on the Spring loom.  I only broke three of the Lumeya threads but it was a bit nerve wracking pulling on the warp.  

The weave structure is plain weave and for the threading I placed the Lumeya and the Merino wool into the same heddle, yup there is a lot of shiny in this warp! 

The weaving of these scarves is a little different; I’m using a very fine high twist wool as the weft, it comes in at about 2/110, finer than sewing thread!  The beat for these scarves is very loose, about 10-12 picks per inch.  In the blog post from 2015 Mom said that it is best to squeeze the weft on a closed shed, boy am I glad to have that information.   

For such an open and airy beat the scarf didn’t weave up particularly quickly.  The rayon knots added some interest to the scarf; you just ignore the displacement of the weft going around the knots.  It was a pleasure to see the shine while weaving.

About halfway through the first scarf I started to notice that one side of the scarf was very tight.  So I added a piece of pipe insulation (a pool noodle or piece of foam would work too) to the back of the loom.  The warp was able to even out the tension by biting into the pipe insulation as needed and I was able to weave without hanging anything off the warp to try to even out the tension.

After the first scarf was finished I cut it off the loom and retied on for the second scarf.  The second scarf was woven just the same as the first.  Then scarves were hand wash in a mild soap and placed into the dryer for about 20 minutes but I stopped the dyer every 5 minutes to check and shake out the scarves.  Here are the final beauty shots of the scarf.  The scarves are light and airy with a wonderful shine from the gold Lumeya.

It is hard to get a photo in the winter sun showing the shine that these scarves have!  But the drape of these scarves is lovely and the soft brown colours of these scarves are just charming.  The Lumeya didn’t shrink at all, which isn’t a surprize but it made little loops that bring extra sparkle and shine to the scarf.

Final Garden Photo of the early snow that we got, La Nina is really feisty this year.  The Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa) was still in full leaf and flowering but this snow and cold snap is putting a stop to that.  But the glint of the sun shining off the snow reminds me of the scarves!

Pink and Blue Wool Throw on Twelve Shafts

On the last blog post about the pink and blue wool throw I had just decided/hoped that the 2/24 white Merino wool will work for the weft.  And thankfully it does!  I’m doubling the weft by using two shuttles that are being thrown from either side.  I was a little worried that I may mix up the shuttles but there is a rhythm to the movement of the shuttles that keeps everything organized.

I have to admit that I found weaving this throw a little difficult on a physical level.  Everything was just out of my comfort zone.  I used 12 treadles so a little leaning was needed to reach the outside treadles.  Also the throw was 34 inches wide in the reed, so I needed to lean a little to catch the shuttles, after giving them a good strong push to get them across the web.  

But it was worth it, the throw is really lovely.  The pattern is a 12 shaft advancing twill which creates some lovely diamonds.  I have used this pattern before for a scarf woven from 2/30 cotton.  It is quite a difference seeing this pattern on a much larger scale.

This throw actually wove up quite quickly due in part that it has been cold and rainy for most of the week and the fact that Mom needed the 14 dent reed for her next project; but there was no pressure from her to weave faster!

I did a couple of beauty shots before I have even washed the throw. It is wonderfully light and airy and  I think that it is really charming.  I can’t wait to wrap up in it on a cold winters night.

This last week it has really started to feel like autumn, although there is still only a touch of fall colour on the trees.  We’ve had a couple of days of mizzle, a combination of mist and drizzle, it is very dreary.  The only advantage to mizzle is that it does a lovely job of highlighting the spider webs, they look like jeweled necklaces.  The shrub is Berberis thunbergii 'Rose Glow'.

It Keeps Getting Bigger

In the last blog post I had just pulled the 2/12 blue Merino wool for a throw.  I emptied the cone and there was less than half of what I needed for the throw.  So I pulled out a large cone of pretty pink 2/12 Merino wool.  After finishing this cone there still wasn’t enough so back to the stash.  I pulled out a small cone of dusty rose 2/12 Merino wool.  Finally I had enough threads for the throw but the dusty pink cone had such a small amount left on it that I decided to finish the cone and add it the throw.  The throw got wider by 2 inches.

The throw was planned to be blue with some random flecks of colour added to it.  Well, it now is a pink throw with blue edges.  The throw is over 900 threads so it took a lot of heddles and a lot of time to thread.  

I got to the end of the threading and I had 20 threads left over!  I did a recount of the threads just in case I had miscounted when I was pulling the warp.  And it turns out I had miscounted the dusty pink; each section had an extra 10 threads.  Back to the computer where I had to rework the threading and re thread.  The throw got wider by another 1 inch.

Originally I decided to sett the throw at 30 epi but when I had sleyed about 2 inches in a 15 dent reed it looked far too dense.  So I changed to 28 epi and used a 14 dent reed, but, I had forgotten to account for the change of sett when figuring out the width in the reed.  So I got to half way and realized that it wasn’t working and I had to start again and re-sley the reed.  The throw again got wider by 2 inches; the throw is now a whopping 34 inches wide!

I have tied on the warp and now gosh, doesn’t it look pretty.

The plan for the weft was to use a large cone of 1/4 blue wool that was purchased at a Guild sale.  Well, a closer look at the fibre had us wondering; and it turns out it isn’t wool even though that's what is hand written on it.  The first hint is the sticker which says Wabasso, which was a large cotton textile company from Canada that made cotton sheets and other things.  After a burn test, it was confirmed, the cone is very definitely cotton.  

I’m not going to use the blue cotton, it would make the throw too heavy.  I’m going to be using this large cone of white 2/24 Merino wool.  I’m going to double it so it will be 4/12 which will match the grist of the warp.  Here's hoping it works because I'm almost out of options.

Final Garden Photo is a sunny yellow orange blanket flower called Arizona Apricot (Gaillardia aristata) with fall blooming Kaffir Lilies (Hesperantha coccinea ‘Mrs. Hegarty’).  The Kaffir Lily is a cousin to the Gladiolus with short spikes of large, brilliant hot pink, star-like flowers and oh so pretty!