I mentioned in my last post that I wound a new warp for the loom. Last weekend, I stole a few minutes between grading exams and did some sampling. It always amazes me how different the same pattern looks when woven with different yarns.

The light yarns are showing up the best in this photo, but they really toned down the colors in my warp yarn.  You can still see a little bit of the vertical striping, but it’s pretty subdued. I wanted something that would highlight the warp instead, so I decided to go with a dark gray background color, shown second from the top in the photo above. The flower pattern is less dominant, but the colors show up nicely. When it’s viewed from the right angle, the colors really pop. I wove a couple of repeats yesterday, and I think it’s going to work well, though the pattern isn’t as bold as what you see with the pale yarn in the bottom of the picture.

This is an overshot pattern, which means that you weave with two different colors and alternate between pattern rows and plain rows. It takes a bit of thinking to keep your place in the pattern, but it does make for an interesting fabric.

I also finished another bobbin for Branden’s sweater yarn. That meant that I had enough to ply again, so today I plied off three fat skeins of handspun.

I’m about half way done with the spinning now, so this should be ready to cast on early in the new year.

Of course, the exact cast on date will depend on my progress on my latest Briar Rose sweater (which desperately needs a name). I’ve only been able to knit a few mornings on the train in the past couple of weeks, so it’s progressing pretty slowly, though you can really see the texture starting to pop out.

Tomorrow is the last day of class; then there’s one week of review (i.e. lots of office hours), and the final next Tuesday. It’ll take 2-3 days to grade that, and then I’m home free for winter break. I am determined to take a few days completely off between Christmas and New Years’, and then it’s on to prep for next semester. Still, the between-semesters time should be quieter, so I’m looking forward to getting some real crafting time in there somewhere. Soon!