One Mistake at a Time

I have been weaving away and not always as successfully as I’d like.  I wove a really lovely crackle scarf with an original pattern that had so many mistakes that I’m gobsmacked.

There was one treadle that every once in awhile just dragged an adjacent thread along with it.  This was all happening on the underside of the weaving and I completely missed it.  This is a beautiful iridescent scarf and now it’s mine.  It joins the host of mistake ridden scarves that are just ‘too good to be threw’ in my wardrobe.   It will take another weaver, very close up to spot the mistakes but dammmmn!

I then put on one of my hand painted silk scarf warps.  This one is a lovely white and soft grey.  I chose to weave it using a variation of Marguerite Davisons Twill Complications pattern.  I am having a problem with my right knee, so weaving with four shafts and tying all the treadles for my left foot feels pretty good right now.

The warp went on as smooth as silk and the scarf wove up in a flash.  I was really happy with the overall effect until it was off the loom and I noticed an incomplete pattern block.  What the heck?  Again I couldn’t see it from the front of the weaving, but man....it’s there.

This is a lovely scarf and I just can’t take yet another addition to my personal scarves, so for the first time I will sell it as a second.  A non weaver will never notice the treadling error and I will point it out on the sale page.  It will be a good deal for the right person.

Today's garden shot is all about the abundance of figs on our trees.   This is my Fig and Onion Jam.....I took a regular fig jam recipe and doctored it to create these beauties.  It tastes amazing with cheese.

We also have a bounty of cherry tomatoes that are going to be a real ray of sunshine next January!

Undulating Twill Silk Scarf - 10 Shaft

At one of the Guild yarn sales we picked up a small cheese of singles silk in that natural dark bone colour.  The singles also had flecks of blue, red and yellow running through it. It was pretty ugly but it WAS silk.  During our last dye day I chucked the silk in a turquoise day bath; it's pretty now!

I did a wrap test to check what the sett would be for the silk and I got 24 wraps in an inch.  I knew that I had 3oz of yarn which should be enough for a scarf warp but I wasn’t sure what the width would be.
I went to the warping board and started to pull a 3 yard warp.  I knew that I wanted to use all the yarn and I ended up with 318 ends, which is a width of 13 inches.  It is wider than normal for scarf but it is nice to be able to offer something a little different in the shop.

Now that I knew the width of the scarf I went looking for a pattern.  The warp looked water-like with the coloured flecks looking like reflecting light.  I wanted to reinforce that image so I looked for an undulating twill.  I found a nice one that is 10 shafts and has a ripple like effect.

I tried a lot of different colours of wefts.  The first attempt deciding between dark or light shades so I tried two light shades of blue and green, they were too light.  And two dark shades of blue, one was too similar to the warp and the other one was too grey.  But the darker colours worked better.

Second try was a dark teal, hunter green and grey.  The dark teal blended too much and the other colours were too dark.

Third try was a lavender, dark blue, mineral green, teal green and white.  The only one that worked is the dark blue.

Fourth try I am willing to try anything at this point.  So to complementary colours I go, yellow, gold, orange, pink and taupe.  Maybe the gold weft?

Fifth and last try.  I liked the dark blue and gold wefts the best so I grab every dark blue and gold weft that we have to try them all.

I went with the blue at the top it is called Iris, the colour is less stark then the navy blues and seems to be one of those amazing colours that work just about every single time.  The pattern shows up well and it looks like water ripples, exactly what I wanted.  The play between the matte of the raw wild Silk and the shine of the Tencel is lovely.

I am always amazed by how much a scarf can change just by the finishing ironing.  The scarf had a lovely texture but was quite matte.  After pressing with the steam press the texture is gone but the shine is back!

The scarf is wider than normal at 11 ½ inches but it is lightweight and has a lovely drape to it.

For Sale.

Final Garden Photo is something that oozed out of the compost overnight.  It is Dog Vomit Slime mold (Fuligo septica), gross name but harmless in the garden.