I pretty much know how to use color in knitting, but in weaving I am still very much feeling my way. It’s an entirely different way to use yarn, and colors can interact in very unexpected ways.

I spent a lot of time last weekend dithering over a light warp or a dark warp. The light one would brighten the yarn that I want to highlight, and I was hoping that it would make things “pop.” The dark one was subtler, but also a good match.

Since I know that I tend to be overly conservative in my color mixing, I compensated and went with the light warp. Today, I finished putting it on the loom (all 300 ends of it).

…and it’s not the right color. It pops alright, but so much that it overwhelms the yarn it was intended to flatter.

Unfortunately, there’s really not a good way to swatch with weaving, besides putting on a full length of warp that’s a few inches wide. I generally find it better to just do the whole thing at once if it’s a narrow piece like this one, rather than winding on part of a warp and then having to go back and add on another, shorter part later. It makes for a lot of up-front investment that’s riding on your guiding vision.

And, frankly, my guiding vison is a bit…fuzzy where this is concerned. I’m afraid we missed the mark this time.

But, better to be late and perfect, so off it comes tonight, to make way for a darker one.

Fortunately, I have lots of other things that will go with this warp, so the yarn won’t be wasted. I’ll lose only the time it took to put it on the loom, and I gain a sample for future reference.

A sample, and a little more experience in color and weave structure. At least I’m learning, yes?

Off to wind another warp, and begin plotting other uses for this one…