Saturday, June 28, 2014

Lucious Hounds Tooth

  I really love the way this hounds tooth turned out!

   
I tried something new to try to make my weaving better.  I wound a towel onto the beam as the warp first wound on. I have noticed that my weaving often ends up with a U-shape because the nylon cords change the shape of the weave once it hits that area.  This towel really worked wonders!  I like how square my weaving ends up being.




On this warp I also made the edges different colors.  One side has black and one side has white.  Usually I make them both the same.  The reason why I did it differently this time though was because I ran the black yarn up the black side and the white yarn up the white side.  It really made it look better, not be too bulky, and not be too bright by having the opposite color.  I'll have to remember this for next time.



Time to wash.


Next time I'll cut and serge, and sew the edges!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Smaller is better

 Sometimes I feel like an evil scientist trying out my experiments!

 

Or a magician during a magic show... doing tricks!  "And now, for my next trick..."



I am really loving this 2/2 hounds tooth twill.  This current project is a 3 yard warp and it's made of 8/2 cotton from WEBS.  I'm having so much fun with it that I'm almost sorry I didn't discover this weave sooner!  I'm not even sure why it took me so long to try it, I think I just assumed it wouldn't be as good.  Yes, the hounds tooth design is smaller, but sometimes smaller is better!  It definitely has a good feel to the fabric being only 2/2.  The floats are only as long as 2 threads, but in the 8-shaft hounds tooth, the stretches are 4 threads long, and sometimes that is just too much space.  This cloth will certainly hold together well.  I should try redoing this design using something thick, like the worsted weight peaches and creme.  At one point, I made some place mats for my sister using 8-shaft hounds tooth in peaches and creme cotton, and yes, they were really cool.... but... they were also really loose because the floats were so long and you kind of have to mold them into place on the table and hope they will stay.




Friday, June 20, 2014

Winter Woolies in Summer



Like I said before, I don't know why I make scarves in the summertime heat!


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Late? Or Early.

I don't know why, but I do most of my scarf weaving in the summertime.





I'm either really late... or really early for winter!




So far, I like the way this one is turning out, even though the yarn is so fragile.  I'm hoping it lasts until the end of this warp.



Monday, June 16, 2014

Twenty dash two

Sometimes I think I'm nuts.  

(Or maybe I was nuts sometime in the past.)

I had bought this 20/2 wool a few years ago thinking it was a great idea because 1.) it was nice and thin, 2.) there was a lot of it, and 3.) it was super cheap.



I pulled it out this week to make a scarf and I think to myself, "What was I thinking?"

This stuff is super thin!

I have 3 strands per dent on the reed, and it tangles real easily and breaks even easier.



I'm excited to make a super thin scarf, but...

...there are certainly drawbacks to the 20/2 wool!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Table Runner



I completed the rest of the sample warp was a table runner for my mom's birthday.  I think she'll love it!! I wish there was more warp to make one for myself!!  I'll just have to put another one on.



Sunday, June 8, 2014

It's beautiful!

I haven't had a chance to wash it yet, but I love it!


I'm definitely going to finish the sample as a table runner.  And the table that gets to display this will be one lucky table...

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

It's working!



It's working!!  I had to stop for now because I ran out of white tabby thread and need to wind some more.  But I'm just so happy it's working!  I have been obsessed with this pattern done in these colors since I saw it!  I shall continue on later... right now the baby is calling and so is dinner!


Sunday, June 1, 2014

An inspiration

Recently there was a post shared in the Warped weavers group on the thread called “What weaving thing have you been doing” post #24827. Website pic is here.




It is a very colorful and beautiful overshot sampler done with red, yellow, and blue in the warp and the tabby wefts are the same colors, but the pattern weft is white.  I am so intrigued by this pattern, that I want to try doing a similar project.  I found the pattern in Carol Strickler's book "A Weaver's Book of 8-shaft Patterns"pg 130, pattern #481.



 So far, this is the closest I could get to the colors, but I think it will still do the same thing.