DesigKnit

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…

Between the move on the first weekend of June and a conference on the second, this month is just flying past. Suddenly there are only three weeks to go in Madison, and then I’m off to Chicago. It’s craziness, I tell you.

Since the weeks are slipping so quickly past, I am suddenly facing a rather tight deadline on a weaving project that I’d like to get done for a friend before I go. I’m not big on deadline crafting, and I’m even less inclined to secret projects, but if I show you the yarn she’ll know who it’s for. So I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait until later for full details. Fortunately, “later” really won’t be very long in this case (I hope).

I really, really need to get this project on the loom soon, which means that I’m currently pushing hard to get the potholders off. They’re almost there:

I think I should be able to finish them tonight, if I push hard.

Since I can’t show you what I’ll be putting on the loom next, I thought I might show you some recent acquisitions from a foray to the LYS on Sunday. Perhaps it’s ironic considering the subject of my last post, but both purchases are for weaving this time. They’re shown below with their partner cones from the stash.

The skeins are from Sun Valley Fibers, a local farm and dyer that makes beautiful yarn. I’ve often been tempted, but haven’t actually given in until now. (I need to round off my frequent buyer card before I leave, you see.)

So there you have it. I had enough yarn before, and now I have enough plus three skeins.

Now if I could just find some time to use it in, I’d be all set…

This has been one of those weeks where I find myself saying “what, Thursday already?” Since it’s almost the weekend again, I suppose it’s about time that I post about what I did last weekend.

First, I finished up the leftovers from my doubleweave workshop. There were about 2 yards of warp left over, and the fabric was only about 4 inches wide. What do you do with such a small strip of fabric? Well, I made coasters.

I made some with a dark weft, and some with a light weft. And then I repeated the edging pattern over and over again to make one that looks like it has zigzags all along it (those are my favorites).

I just love these. We’ve been needing new coasters for a while now, and I’m thrilled to bits with my little magic carpets. (Though they may have had a certain Disney song stuck in my head all weekend.…)

Then, I wove the last few feet of warp on the big loom, so that it will be ready to return next weekend while we have the truck to move Branden to Chicago.

I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about this one before. It’s a rayon warp, with Madeline Tosh laceweight as the weft. The colors are very similar, but the two yarns look different in the light, and the subtle color gradations in the laceweight make for pretty contrast.

This is the most complicated threading that I’ve done yet, and it was a lot of fun. I definitely want to play more with complex weave patterns. So many things to try…

At the end, I had a few feet of warp left after I ran out of laceweight, so I switched to cotton and did some playing around.

These are two different patterns that use the same warp threading, and you just lift the threads (treadle) in a different way. It’s interesting to me how much difference the weft color makes. I really love the dark laceweight, and the off white, but I don’t really care for the medium toned purple. The colors go well together, but I don’t like the way they interact with the pattern; I find it very hard to see. The off white looks great, though. I think I got enough of that one to make something with it, too.

I think the final finishing on these will probably have to wait until after the move. I did manage to hem stitch the ends of each of the coasters, but these larger pieces will take a little more time and work to get done. Still, I’m excited to know that they’re almost ready to use!

Once the coasters were finished, the little loom was left empty. We can’t have that, so this week I’ve been working on threading up a new project.

This is a new doubleweave warp. The first part wasn’t behaving quite as nicely as I wanted (I was trying to work too close to the end to avoid waste), so I wove about 10″ that I think will probably become a drawstring bag of some sort. I finished that just before leaving for the bus this morning, and now it’s on to potholders.

So that’s my weaving progress report. Two things off the loom, and another on. I wonder what I’ll get done this weekend?