Monsoon Calamity Indulgence

I was given a lovely gift of a huge 1050 yard cake of MonsoonCalamity gradient yarn in the "I Must Be Crazy" colourway. It's a fingering weight yarn made up of 4 finer strands held together. The colour changes gradually throughout the ball.

As soon as my loom was free I wound a warp to coordinate with it.

I put a few stripes of the gradient yarn into the warp and then for the remainder of the warp I chose mercerized cottons that harmonized with it.

The warp was then woven with the lovely gifted yarn as weft, keeping the colour gradient in order.

Final result after wet finishing is 16" wide x 4.72 yards in length. Or in metric terms it is 41cm in width and 4.32 metres in length.

I haven't decided yet what to make with the finished yardage. I think ti could be lovely clothing of some sort. It's soft, has great drape, and washes up beautifully by machine.

Carefully Chosen

My youngest granddaughter was over yesterday for her regular weaving time. This is the first warp she's worked on where the colour and all of the yarns in the warp were of her own choosing.

She chose the yarns last week and was a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to weave with them right away. I told her I still had to wind the warp and get it onto the loom. It was all ready to go when she arrived yesterday. 

I think she's really enjoying working with a warp full of colour and texture, rather than the plain black prewound she's been using so far, though she's finding that having pompom yarn in the warp is a little troublesome.

It just so happens that her warp is pink, just like the weaving I just finished! We even used some of the same yarns.

The yardage below is my Dogwood  Blossom weaving, now off the loom and ready for its wet finishing.

I plumped up the fringe ends by adding in extra yarn before twisting them.

Hats of Grey

Here are the two hats made from the "< 50 Shades of Grey" warp.

The one on the left is made by tying the warp ends together and twisting them, while the one on the right has a french seam that is almost undetectable, hidden amongst all the texture at the back, and then a pompom as decoration 

Both hats will be available for sale at the Chilliwack Christmas Craft Fair.

< 50 Shades of Grey

I was definitely remiss in blogging about this one! I finished it a few days ago.



It was such fun to weave that I barely stopped to take photos.



A very neutral colour scheme, but lots of interesting texture and additions.



There are bits of ribbon, blobs of roving, and hairy novelty yarns,



boucle yarns, sparkly threads, and a sprinkling of beads,



metallic ribbon, handspun, and a few dangling jersey knit tubes.



It all adds up to a lot more visual interest than you might expect from a monochromatic weaving.



It made for a rather fascinating fringe.



I was kind of sorry to see the end of that warp. It did not end with the cowl though. In future posts I'll be displaying a couple of hats woven from the same warp. They are having their hand knit ribbing added now. Unfortunately that process takes much longer than weaving off the warp!

Charlie's an Angel

I've been saving a small skein of "chiengora" for years. Chiengora is dog hair that has been hand spun into yarn. Depending on the breed it can be beautifully soft and have a halo that is much like angora (rabbit). And no, once it is properly washed and spun chiengora does not smell like wet dog when it rains!

Many years ago my daughter adopted a senior "rescue" dog, a white shepherd named Charlie. He had lived in various SPCA shelters for so long that his original location and story was no longer known, nor was his age. He was a very loving dog but was advanced in age and came with a host of medical problems that eventually took his life.

While Charlie was still living I took some of the soft, creamy white undercoat that he had shed, carded it with sheep's wool that had been dyed pink, and then spun it into a 116 yard, 2ply skein.

I finally found a project for at least a small portion of the special "Charlie" yarn. I included it in a 6m mixed fibre warp and as I wove I added in the occasional small weft stripe of Charlie's cheingora as well.

I used the first portion of the warp to make a lovely cowl.

There was enough warp remaining to weave a Saori style hat, which also turned out beautifully. 

I'm still not at the end of the warp. I may just have enough left to weave a second hat though perhaps only a child size. We'll see.

The Whole 5 Yards

The "8/2 Blues" warp, after wet finishing, is 41cm by 4.51 metres or 16 inches by 5 yards. 

Although at this point no plan is carved in stone, I am considering the possibility of making most of this into a window valance for my guest room. 

Both ends are fringed. I do this so that the ends are secure during the finishing process and so that I have the maximum versatility in how I use the finished fabric.

If I do decide to go ahead with the valance idea I will use both fringed ends to make a matching cushion cover for the bed in the room.

And then I would add a header (hidden behind the handwoven cloth) of commercial fabric to serve as a pocket for a curtain rod.

The loom is not yet redressed. I'm taking a breather while I get other items ready for entry in our fall fair.

After a Bath and a Tumble

The fabric I finished weaving a few days ago has had its fringes twisted and has taken a trip through the washer and dryer. The mercerized cotton didn't just handle it well, the fabric actually improved! It now is beautifully soft, has a lovely fluid drape, and a silk-like luster. The photograph really does not do it justice. Indoor lighting on a dull, cloudy day robbed it of its true vibrancy and sheen.

 Now I'm pouring through my resources trying to come up with the perfect pattern to show the fabric off at its best. I'm thinking I might combine elements of two different patterns to create the effect I'm after.