Update On Weaving Projects

Bison Rug

If you look back a couple of posts, you can see the picture of the rug I made with the Bison silhouette.  I ended up donating it to the "Build a Better Wilsall" Auction last weekend and heard from several people last week about how much they liked it.  I also heard that it brought in quite a bit of money for the community in Wilsall.  Since I really didn't want the rug, but also didn't want to try to sell it with the broken warp thread, this seemed like a pretty good win/win situation.


Here is a picture of my Rio Grande Walking Loom that is warped and ready.  I just don't have any clear inspiration of what to begin.  It is warped to about 45 inches wide; wider than I have done on that loom so it will be interesting to get going on it.  I'll keep you posted about what I start.

The Rio Grande warped and ready to weave... just waiting for the right inspiration!

After finally getting the Bison rug off the loom this summer, I was motivated to get all three looms warped, so I put the blue warp on the Cranbrook for the scarf for my son, and then also put a rayon chenille warp on the Allen loom for a couple of shawls.

Rayon Chenille with Railroad Yarn... quite a bit like one I did last year.
Have enough for 2 shawls and am planning to do the second in more of a burgundy color...

After I cut off the blue scarf from the Cranbrook, I wound an off-white / white warp from 10/2 cotton for a scarf for a friend of my son and a scarf for my high school age son.  We decided that something more feminine would be good in the off-white, so I tied on the warp to what was already threaded on the Cranbrook and wound on a warp for the 2 scarfs.  I am using the same advancing twill structure for the scarf for his friend and am pleased with it so far.  The fiber is quite a bit finer than the 8/2 cotton, so am feeling like it will drape nicely and be really pretty in a very subtle way.

10/2 cotton for a scarf for Liz

I am hoping to get this finished this week and then get started on the scarf with the same warp for my second son.  The weft for his will be black.









I also have two other scarfs that I will be making as commissions for a couple of people that I am planning to make using 60/2 silk.  It is a really fine fiber and should be interesting to use.  The scarf I made from 20/2 silk was really nice to work with, so I am looking forward to this.  But in order to use the draft that I am planning to use I am going to have to die some silk yarn that I have on order.  That will be another adventure in my weaving growth, so I will try to chronicle that process.  That will have to be in September,  so stay tuned for that.

Scarf for Son

I finished a scarf for my college-age son this week.  It was made with an 8/2 cotton warp in a light blue and an 8/2 cotton weft in a medium blue.  The pattern was an advancing twill.  I had not used the draft before so had to do quite a bit of reading and studying to understand the draft and process, but it was very interesting to do a block weave.  I even figured out what a profile draft is and how to use it.  (Sorry to use the technical language for those who are not weavers.)  Let me see if I can explain that in a way that would be understood for those who don't weave...  A twill is a way of switching the harnesses in such a way that the fabric appears to move in a diagonal way as it is woven.  The advancing twill moves not in just one way, but a few ways.  I used a design for pillows from the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Handwoven Magazine and tweaked it to make it narrower for a scarf.  I also added in some back and forth patterns to have several 5 inch segments of a design of what looked like stripes interspersed in the scarf.

I was concerned that the scarf would be too stiff using the 8/2 cottons.  I had searched in a number of places and saw some in a lighter weight 10/2, but wanted to use the blues that I had on hand.  After cutting it off the loom and finishing the ends and washing it, I am pretty pleased.  It seems more masculine and although it is somewhat wide, I think it will drape well for him.  And the blues look fairly neutral so should be good to wear with quite a wide variety of colors.

It seems to drape pretty well; hope he will enjoy wearing it!

Here is a view of the pattern in the weaving.

One last note: I did hurry to get this finished so that he could take it with him when he leaves in a few days!