In addition to all the reading and thinking I’ve been doing over the last few weeks, I’ve also been really enjoying the challenges of learning how to get the best results out of my rigid heddle loom. I experimented with doubling the warp for cotton dishtowels to see if it would give me a better fabric. I planed to make two towels—one with a single strand of weft and one with it doubled. Warping the loom took much longer, but I was quite pleased with the results as I wove the first, single weft towel. Only, due to a terrible error in basic math I made it about twice as long as I had planned, so I only had a little warp left to experiment with the doubled weft. Doing the doubled weft was extremely tedious, as in order for it to look good both strands have to be lying flat beside each other, which requires lots of fiddly about on the weaver’s part. I’ve got the fringe noted on these two pieces and just need to wash them to see the final results, but I think double warping and single weft will be a good option going forward. I’ll just do better math next time!
The other big challenge I set myself was learning how to double weave—to weave a folded piece of cloth so I could make something twice as wide as my loom.
Getting the loom double warped and threaded was pretty involved, and I actually ended up doing the threading twice because I discovered some significant issues once I started weaving and had to pull it all out.
However, all that work on the front end (and having to buy a second heddle) is totally going to pay off with only having one seam instead of three, and only having to match two woven piece instead of four. I’m working on a ruana using some very deep stash laceweight that I think will make an excellent work wrap for my sister, and then I plan to make myself one too. I love the colors, I love learning this challenging technique, and I’m excited to see what the finished product looks like. Today I laboriously hem stitched the edges using a ruler to make sure I didn’t sew them together, and then I can carry on with the weaving.
Part of the reason I know that the double weaving will pay off so well in the finishing is because I got the destash yarn I ordered from a lady of Ravelry, and finished the third panel of the woven baby blanket. It took waaaaay longer than I had thought it would to seam the three pieces together—probably in part because I was using three different colors of yarn for each seam, but also because I was having to do a bit of easing as I went. Now I’m working on a twisted fringe, as I want this to be super easy care.
The fringe is also taking forever, but I think the end results will be totally worth it. I’m looking forward to sending it on its way! I have a coworker who’s wife is expecting, and I’m debating about weaving them a blanket as well. My niece is pretty well provided for in that area, but I might weave her one too. We’ll have to see how long these double woven ruanas take me!
While I’ve been spending quite a lot of time weaving, I’ve also been plugging away on my pink summer top. It’s at my waist now, so it looks like a) I won’t need quite as much yarn as I thought and b) I should be able to get this finished this month. I think I’m really going to like it, though there is of course the fact that I’ll only be wearing it in certain air conditioned situations! Oh the joys of living in the blast furnace of the south...
Well, I have a book report to finish, and it's not writing itself. Here's to another week of learning and making!
1 comment:
You amaize me Lina! What neat weaving you can do! I've given up on neddle work due to my bad shoulders and arms.
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