Sun 9 Dec 2012
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!
Your weaving is lovely. What’s the plan for the finished pieces?
Branden’s sweater will probably go quite fast once it’s on the needles.
The Briar Rose is pretty–it looks a little bit like basket weave but I’m sure it has another name.
The palettes on Brandon’s yarn and the Briar Rose look similar. You will look smashing standing next to each other!
The weaving is beautiful. Whenever I see pieces like that I’m tempted to try weaving all over again. I’m loving the texture of the Briar Rose sweater–it looks so squishable! Hopefully you’ll be able to find some bonus time for fun projects over the next couple weeks.
I am very interested to see the results of the weaving – all of the versions are lovely (I admit to liking that bottom pattern even more than the others, but it’s hard to choose among so many variants!). Which pattern are you using for Briar Rose, or is it one of your own? Good luck getting through the reviewing and the finaling – you are so close!