still catching up wiht xmas... weaving edition

so... I did finish all of my xmas gifts on time, but posting them is a different matter all together. Hopefully I'll get thorough it all before next xmas.

I'm so excited at how well this scarf came out. It was fast too (well... compared to the lace shawl I was making with this yarn before I frogged it to make this beauty in just a few days)... The yarn is this gorgeous silk I got from ArtFibers. Here's a link. I would definitely use this yarn again for weaving. It's just a simple plain weave at 12 ends per inch, and then I lightly ironed it after washing. I had to wash it at least three times, this yarn bleed like crazy. Like, poured a bottle of food coloring in the water bleeding. But... pretty!

It really is a dark purple closest to the shot where I'm wearing it, but I was having a hard time getting good pictures right before I had to pack it up and ship it out.

Lightly ironing it seemed to line everything up and bring out this incredible sheen that was there, but only just barely, before ironing. I was very careful about overdoing it though.

no idea what to do with this stuff

Do you ever make things just to see if you can? What do you do with them? Here are some things I'm stuck on... they're neat... they were fun to do... but now what??

I thought... "Hey, I wonder how thin a thread I can crochet with? This sewing thread sure looks like fun. Also, I might as well stiffen it with some fabric stiffener too." Seriously. Now what do I do with it?? I was thinking of buying that resin stuff that you can pour and pour a puddle to encompass this and see if I can turn it into a pendant or something, but I don't think I'd wear it... so I'm stuck with this oddly miniature and completely hard as a rock doily. Made with variegated sewing thread. Woohoo!

Here's another one. I made it at the very very beginning of this year, not too long after I got the Inkle loom. I was thinking it could make a neat belt, but it's too thin. Right now I just have it sitting around just like my other inkle loom project, although that one gets more of a pass because it was to figure out how the loom worked and practice. All finished up and nowhere to go. This sucker is about 5 feet long.

Plainweave Katia Colibri scarf finished!

This was another fast-seeming weaving project... my guess is that weaving latley seems quick because I'm comparing it to how long it would take to knit something the same size using the same weight of yarn.

Anyway, this scarf exceeded my expectations on all fronts and I'm pleased as punch.

Woven in plain weave at 12 ends per inch, the scarf is just about 8" wide and nearly six feet long. The most challenging part was not beating the weft too hard, it needed a gentle and consistent hand to maintain the openness, although the thick and thin yarn also helps to disguise any minor inconsistencies.



I like the cross hatcing effect created by the thick and thin sections of warp and weft interacting and how it makes some areas solid and others translucent, the drape is also really nice.





For the finish I did the simplest one possible... I knoted the warp ends at both sides. I like that finish for scarves, since having a hem at the top and the bottom of a scarf just seems weird. Sometime I'll have to try hemstitching too, I've only done knotting and finishing the end on a sewing machine.

weaving... more plain weave... again :)

I've started another weaving project... more plain weave again.

I'm using Katia Colibri, which is a thick and thin yarn, and it's giving the weaving an interesting effect so far. I plan on making this up as a scarf and giving it as a Christmas gift to my great aunt, who seems to like white accessories.

Here is what the warp looks like pre-weaving, which gives a good idea of the thick and thin nature of the yarn. It's 51% cotton, 45% acrylic, 4% nylon and 223 yards per 50 grams. Usually I prefer natural fibers, but I know that is less of a concern for my aunt.



Woven in plain weave with the yarn as both warp and weft at 12 ends per inch. I like the grid effect that the randomly placed thick and thin sections give.

dishcloths complete!

Remember that thing I said about weaving being much faster than knitting? I can't believe those dishcloths are DONE already. Wasn't it last week that I was just finishing up the first one? Anyway, now it's a matching set of four, off the loom, finished, washed, etc. Here is the Weavolution page for it!



I think I will always be surprised at how much unmercerized cotton shrinks, although it really wasn't all that much. The finished dimensions were about 15 X20 (not including a bit of fringe on the ends). Before taking them off the loom, they were measuring in at just over 17 wide by 22 inches long. I set everything up at 15 ends per inch and 18 inches wide, so overall I lost about 3 inches of width, but I still think I have some nice dishcloths in terms of size and porportion. I almost always forget to account for shrinkage, in pretty much any craft. You'd think I would have learned better by now. Ceramics should successfully teach that lesson to anyone, I must be really stubborn.



These were super fun, and I'm already planning the next project. Hopefully one that really lets me sink my teeth into something a bit more complicated. Given that I've been making everything in plain weave that shouldn't be too much of a stretch :)

I have to get back to knitting that big pink shawl for grandma, and there's my sister's christmas present to get to (from last christmas... doh! good thing I made a substitute fair isle hat when I gave up on finishing the sweater on time), and that pair of socks out of noro kureon sock I'm making for myself... perhaps weaving only goes fast because I am forced to stick to one project on the loom at a time?

speed weaving!

OK... so I just recently started weaving, and I'm probably not that fast at it as far as weavers go... but I'm coming new to the craft after knitting and crochet. Man, does it seem to go fast. Two weeks ago I decided to make a set of dishcloths (probably for my sister, but I'm not sure) and after spending about a week on and off getting the warp measured and on the loom, a few days with a few on and off hours of work now have me almost done with the first cloth. It's plain weave with a bit of plaid/stripe at the edges. I like it. Eventually I'll have to do something with this fancy 8-shaft loom except for miles of plain weave (and a little bit of point twill) but for now I'm still thinking this is pretty awesome.



here's a little preview... I measured enough warp to make four of them. I think I'll use the inkle loom to make little hanging loops that match perfectly.

more of last year's projects

I've been lax about uploading photos of my current projects. I have been busy, a pair of plain jane socks popped off the needles after I discovered a nearly completed sock in my knitting basket that I don't even remember making. I grafted the toe shut and knit a mate lickety split. Not sure when I made the first one, and it bugs the heck out of me that I can't remember.

So... here are some of last year's Christmas things.

These two little projects are both made from the same fabric. First one is a Christmas ornament I made from the scraps of the Apron shown below. I made about 10 of these little guys, and it's a great way to use up little scraps from a project with a fabric like this. The one thing I would have done differently is match up the fabric pattern for each of the different colors. I accidentally came pretty close to doing so, but unfortunatly it looks like I tried and messed it up. That's worse than it looking like you didn't try at all. :( But the project went over well with the recipient (I'm told, I wasn't there), so that's what counts in the end. Nobody is as picky about the things I make as I am.

This is a scarf I made for my grandma for xmas. I'm still very new to weaving, but I'm happy with this. And boy, let me tell you, was this thing fast! Weaving in worsted weight yarn is the weaving equivalent of knitting with super ultra bulky weight. This took just a few hours from start to finish! The yarns are both cotton/rayon blends and it's a point twill. By coincidence the way the weft was verigated made the pattern look like alternating light and dark zig zags. How neat is that! The first pic is still on the loom under tension. The scarf is a little on the short side because I didn't plan for quite as much shrinkage as I ended up with, but since it's pretty much to drape around your neck for fashion rather than warmth, AND my grandma is a good bit shorter than I am, it'll do just fine.

Speaking of Christmas gifts for my grandma, the pink lace shawl is coming along swimmingly. I'm almost done with the first half, then it's just the border. I don't think I am going to have enough of the yarn I bought to finish. I might do the border in another shade of pink. I'm thinking a really light pink would play well against the more vibrant pink in the body of the shawl. A different enough color to look like I did it on purpose, rather than similar enough to look like I messed up on dye lots.

Weaving yarn stash created!

I was, perhaps, a little overzealous at WEBS right after the new year, but with great results!

I now have a good quantity of both mercerized and unmercerized cotton that will shortly become some woven dishcloths and shawls. Ooo Pretty! I'm just learning to weave, so it may be slow going (the yarn is SO THIN!), but I'm up for the challenge.

The box arrived yesterday. Hubby says that when he picks up a box of yarn and says "ooh... this is heavy" that he knows I ordered A LOT of yarn. But seriously, they sell it in one pound cones, and if you want to make your sister a set of three dishcloths with three colors each... you see where I'm coming from.

Oh, and I made another recepie from the cookbook. Photos and stuff to follow.