Ready In Time For Christmas

Done! And with five days to spare even. My goal was to have this weaving ready to hang on our front door by December 1st.

 

The plan was to hang it between our front door and the storm door in lue of a traditional wreath since the space doesn't have a lot of depth. My husband and son think I should hang it inside. That way it won't be temptation to a thief and we can also enjoy it more indoors than something that hangs outside where we ourselves would only see it occasionally.

The Saori style weaving is lit with a string of 50 very tiny battery operated lights. I poked them through the weaving from the back and then secured each and every one with a discrete yarn tie. 

The battery pack that powers the light string hangs hidden behind and is supported by the large candy cane. The lights can be turned on once and will cycle through a 6 hours on, 18 hours off, repeating pattern, or they can be turned on and off at will with the push of a button. 

Better Safe Than Sorry

I was cautioned by an experienced spinner to do a plying experiment before committing my entire 4oz ply of Recycled Sari Silk to being plyed with the Blue Faced Leicester wool. She was concerned that the two very different fibres would react differently when the yarn was set -- the wool perhaps shrinking while the silk did not. That would, of course, end up with the silk creating loose loops like boucle. 

I had already started spinning the BFL so I decided to spin it all and if the plying experiment showed combining the two was a big NO then I would just ply them back on themselves. 

As it turned out my little plying test was a resounding success! The two different fibres played very well together.

The silk ply adds sheen and little specks of colour and the BFL adds some loft and softness. 

This is great news since I have other colours of Recycled Sari Silk matched with BFL that I still have to spin.