Autumn Leaves Silk Scarf

In the last post I mentioned that the hand painted 2/22 silk warp that I had picked for my latest project looked like autumn leaves with its splashes of red, orange, plum, brown and moss.  So I went with a tried and true pattern, a 10 shaft network twill that I think looks like leaves.  It can be difficult to pick a weft colour, I like to try a lot before deciding.  First lot of weft choices are 2/8 Tencel, in scarlet, moss and spice.  I wanted to pick colours in the warp so I could highlight the colours of the warp but, nope, nothing worked, it all kind of blended into the warp.

Next weft choices are purple Tencel in amethyst, blue/purple and eggplant.  The eggplant is a possibility as it tones down the orange but the other colours in the warp can be seen.

The last weft choices are gold Tencel in straw, Havana (bronze), gold, taupe and old gold.  I like the two gold colours.  But I’m finding the sett of the warp to be too far apart at 24 epi, especially since the warp has been washed once already in the dyeing process.

I changed the reed to a 14 dent so now the epi is 28 and I’m much happier.  I also retested the short list of weft colours, gold, eggplant and straw.

The winner is eggplant!  And now you can see the leaf pattern in the network twill.

After three repeats of the pattern I’m getting some strange looping with the weft on the left hand side on the scarf.

I think that the looping is caused by one of the shafts, in the photo you can see that one of the shafts is rising higher than the others.

I lowered the tie on texsolv loops on the treadles that corresponded with the shaft that was too high.  I also added four threads of eggplant Tencel to each edge of the scarf to make a border to also help with the looping.

The loops have disappeared and I think that the eggplant makes for a nice frame for the scarf.

Final Garden Photo this week I thought it was going to be daffodils blooming but we got one last snow storm.

Pink and Orange Silk Scarf with Blue Network Twill Polka Dots

The scarf started with a small warp of 88 threads in 2/22 orange and pink Silk and I’ve added azure blue edges in 2/8 Tencel to make an 8 inch wide scarf.  I’m using a darker blue 2/8 Tencel called ming as the weft.  It has worked out very nicely in my humble opinion!

The pattern is an 8 shaft network twill that makes polka dots,  and it is just lovely.  The plentiful dots dance across the warp and are a joy to weave.  The photo is a little washed out but the blue edges with the tone on tone polka dots is really quite effective.

I’m quite surprized by how similar the pink and orange splashes are in the warp.  At certain angles they blur together and its hard to tell them apart.  And when the blue weft is added the centre stripe seems to be iridescent.  

The finished scarf is quite striking, even if I haven’t given it a pressing yet!

There are two sides of the scarf one with the Ming blue polka dots (weft faced) and the other side has orange and pink polka dots with the lighter blue dots on the edges (warp faced).  Sorry for the slightly blurry photo.

We’ve had two big storms with lots of rain so the mushrooms have started to show up in the local forests.  We went on a mushroom walk last week and there were two highlights, one was the Hydnellum peckii also called strawberries and cream or blood fungus or jam tart.  The cap leaks red fluid that pools and looks very creepy.

The second was Phellodon tomentosus also called owl eyes.  They are very cute, looking like the mask around the eyes of an owl, like the one at the top of the picture.  

Just as an FYI we are running a 20% off sale on selected items in our store Woven Beauty.

Finishing a Scarf and Starting a Scarf

The plum, moss, purple and turquoise silk scarf with navy blue Tencel weft is finally finished and it's really beautiful!  We’ve had some lovely autumn sunshine so I’ve taken the final beauty shots for our Etsy store, but the photos still need some cropping.  Here are a couple of unedited shots that show how lovely this scarf is.  I hope to have the listing up in a couple of days.

I dipped back into the hand dyed silk warps and picked out a bright pink and orange warp.  This warp only has 88 ends so I need to figure the other 112 ends.  Do I do the silk in a centre stripe, or an offset stripe or break it up?  I decided to pick out the colours that I could be using first and then drape the warp over each.  I thought that I'd let that lead the design.  I pulled out various colours of Tencel and placed them along the length of the silk warp so I could get an idea of how the colours would work.  

I stepped away from them for a bit and then came back with clear eyes and tossed some colours out and rearranged some other.  I got it down to four colourways.  

There were two winners, Azure/Ming Blue and Grey Teal/Dark Grey Teal.  They both made the pink and orange pop and they kept a bright tone for the scarf, they didn’t tone down or mute the pink and orange. 

I finally decided to go with the Azure/Ming blue combination.  Next, I had to find a pattern, I wanted a pattern with a small repeat that would look good across the 88 ends of the pink and orange silk.  A tried and true classic that I just love is the network twill polka dots, perfect!

With the pattern picked, I could figure out how to place the silk warp within the scarf.  I went simple with the pink and orange silk stripe down the middle framed by the azure blue Tencel.  I have just finished threading and soon will be weaving. 

Final Garden Photos show that we are in that strange time when the summer flowers are still going strong like here with zonal geraniums (Pelargonium hortorum) and Hot Lips Sage (Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips').

But the fall colour is in full swing on this lovely cut leaf Japanese maple.  The plants are only about five feet away from each other!

8 Shaft Painted Silk Crackle Scarf

 Another silk scarf warp on the loom today.  I am not choosing to do these scarves in any particular order, just taking whichever one tickles my fancy at the moment.

Today I chose the half gold and half blue scarf, perhaps I am unwittingly influenced by current events, who knows?

What I’m finding more problematic is finding a pattern that shows off the painted warp rather than hiding or muting it.

I finally settled on this 8 Shaft Crackle Pattern that both Ngaire and I have used successfully in the past.  Here is a link to previous scarves, Scarf 1 and Scarf 2.

I love taking a first photo of how the warp looks from the back of the loom, you can really see the painted colours so clearly and if you look at the heddles you get some foreshadowing of what the pattern will look like.  The deep vee’s of the pattern are showing a bit.  Of all the photos taken, this one is the closest in colour.  The next few photos are taken once the rain starts, thus dulling the warp colours.

Here is the pattern just beginning to emerge, and the weft needed no auditioning, navy blue was the perfect weft from the get go.  

This is an extremely long pattern repeat with the entire pattern measuring 14 inches, so I’m only showing a part of the pattern.  The nice thing about this is that I will only weave 5 full patterns, so I sure won’t get bored!

This pattern is quite asymmetrical and you can see it clearly here.  You weave a lozenge like pattern first on the left side and then a similar, but not identical pattern on the right side.  I find this type of pattern really exciting visually.

Finally we got a photo of the last scarf I wove after washing a steam pressing.  I love this feather pattern and the drape is exceptional.

Two Scarf Warp in Blended Colours

I really loved the pattern I used on the Silk Waves Scarf, so I decided to weave it again. 

This time I wanted to drive home the ocean aspect of the pattern so I decided to pull the warp using colours from dark to light and back to dark again.  

These are the colours I chose Aquamarine, Greyed Teal, Mineral Green and Cactus, all in 2/8 tencel.  I decided to make a two scarf warp because pulling and blending the diminishing colours takes quite a bit of time. 

You can see the progression on the warping board.  I pulled the warp in two sections ~ dark to light, then combined the big bouts on the loom.

I tied it on the loom allowing 10 inches for fringe.  The scarves will woven to be 70 inches (+ or -).

I love this shot.....you can really see the waves in the pattern already.

I auditioned some weft possibilities and frankly I was surprised.  From bottom to top they are navy,
ming blue, greyed teal, olive, ink blue and just to go out on a limb adobe.  

For the first scarf which I will call ‘Salish Sea’ I chose to use the greyed teal as the weft.  

I think it looks moody and cool just like the ocean looks today with our cold wind and rain.

I have been overwintering some Brugmansias in my ensuite and they have gone from this.....

To this in the past few days.  Brugmansia have a heavenly fragrance that really dominates a room.  They are evening/night scented with a strong rose/lily/baby powder scent.

Silk Waves Scarf on Eight

I found this pattern somewhere on the internet and I loved the general shape of the motif, so different from the very angular shapes I’ve done lately.   I put the original Crackle Weave draft up on the computer and made a few alterations both in the warp and the treadling to make it uniquely mine and I’m really happy with the results. This is the original draft.

I have a lovely stash of silk in my cupboard and as I was riffling through I found this lovely deep dark inky blue that totally captivated me for the warp.  I paired it with 2/8 tencel in Greyed Teal for the weft.  A match made in heaven I think.

To get three full motifs, I ended up pulling a warp of 200 ends for a slightly wider scarf at 8.3 inches in the reed. I sett the warp at 24 ends per inch.

When the light hits this web, it shimmers beautifully.  On a side note, we have had the cloudiest spring I can remember here this year, so getting photos that really show off the shimmer and shine in my weaving has been difficult.

Here is the beauty shot of the scarf after being washed and quickly pressed, but to make my admittedly self imposed Monday deadline, the fringe has not yet been twisted.

And another photo of the scarf outside in the gloom against a grey house.....maybe not the best light, but needs must, and all that.

I have my fringe twizzling to look forward to today!

I have nurtured a cutting from my Brugmansia all winter and today I noticed it has decided to reward me with a blossom.  I can’t wait to see it open, hopefully our temperatures will warm up enough that I can start putting her outside soon.

Second Pink Silk Scarf

There was yet another batch of Debbie Bliss silk singles in the stash cupboard.  This time the yarn was a darker pink and there is less of it than I had to work with for the last silk scarf. 

I tried out a couple of different styles of stripes on the computer and I think that the best bet is to keep the dark pink silk as a large splash of colour.  So I ended up with two pink stripes with three smaller stripes of cream and chocolate brown silk.

For weft I went into the pink/rust range of Tencel.  I tried Adobe, Pompeii, Sea Coral and Spice.  I was surprised that I liked the darker colours best because they showed the pattern the best.

My final choice was the Pompeii, I like how it blended with the chocolate silk stripes and added a depth of colour and richness to the dark pink stripes.

The pattern is my new favourite, Stricklers #385.  I promise that this is the last time that I’ll use it for a while!  I have memorized the treadling, and because I like it so much the scarf wove up quite quickly.

I haven’t finished the scarf yet, it still needs the fringe twisted and a hard pressing but even on a cloudy day the scarf is lovely.

The monthly botany walk with the local nature club was last Monday, one of the highlights was the spawning herring seen from the parking lot of the park.  In the photo you can see a light blue ribbon of the roe, harder to see is the flocks of gulls, seals and sea lions feasting on the herring.  Those mountains in the background are the Coastal Mountains on the mainland of BC. 

The other highlight of the walk was the 500++ year old Douglas Fir; a massive tree that had lots of holes along the truck that later in the spring will have nesting birds.