I really enjoyed weaving this project; and it was truly a
comfort weave, after all it’s just twill by another name.
The 12 shaft Drall pattern that I used had three blocks of
3/1 twill. The first block 1-2-3-4 (a) weaves
the squares that sit in the vertical bands.
The second block 5-6-7-8 (b) weaves the bar that runs completely across
the fabric. The third block 9-10-11-12 (c) weaves the background for the colour
blocks.
I didn’t want to weave the pattern repetitively; I wanted to
develop the pattern as I went along to make it uniquely mine. I did make a couple of rules for myself
though. I wanted to make sure that there
was continuity to the scarf, just not repetitiveness. The first rule was that block (a) would
always be bracketed by one block of (b) and one of (c). The second was that block (a) would never be
followed by block (b). As long as I
followed these rules I could vary the size of block (a) and change the placement
of the other two blocks to my hearts desire.
This is the scarf just as it came off. It’s a stiff as a board and at this stage it
shows all the valleys and hills where the twill blocks are threaded, not really
exciting at this stage at all! The edges
tended to curl under as I wove, not enough to cause a problem but enough to be
noticeable. If you look really closely
you can just make out that there is a colour change in the red stripe next to
the gold. I had originally planned to
put more colours in the warp, but as I pulled the warp it started to look too
busy, so I stopped at three colours plus the base colour.
It’s quite amazing what just a short stint at the ironing
board can achieve. The valleys and hills
are completely eradicated as are the curled edges….and the shine finally
appeared! The scarf isn’t really
finished; I’ll haul out McSteamy for that final hard pressing. The randomness of the pattern shows up nicely
here, every time I look at the photos I like it more.
There are definitely two sides to this scarf; one side is
much lighter than the other with more of the colour popping out.
I am calling this scarf ‘Open Doors’, I wanted to call it ‘open
windows’ but though it would just confuse the heck out me ~ I can just see
myself pressing the file expecting to open my operating system and being
surprised that I couldn’t ~ so ‘Open Doors’ it is!
There is something so very pleasing about a graphic pattern
isn’t there?