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.

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!

Armed... and dangerous!

I finished weaving shawl! And now I'm armed against the cold weather.  Look out frost!!

 

It was really stiff until I washed it in very hot water in my washing machine… no turning action though. Just laid it into the water with some dish soap, spun it out, took it out and filled the washer again, laid it into the hot water, spun it out, and put it into the sun to dry.

 

  It softened up SO much!

  And it’s SO warm!

And it’s the perfect length!

Bring it on winter!  Bring on the cold!
I'm armed... and dangerous!

Old Wool

I was going through some old wool that was given to me and I came across these faded skeins.  I decided to over-dye it so that it can actually be useful for something.  I don't know if the faded areas are extra fragile or not, but I am willing to use it in at least a rug.

I like the way the dyeing turned out.  I used kiwi color dye, and it's blotchy because of those whitish areas, but I do like it!  It will weave up nicely!  Plus, it was free, so I really can't complain!

I'll set the green stuff aside until it dries, but I'll use it in my next project.  I need to get some of this stash used up!  I have a lot of this wool.

I used up some of this wool before in my blue and white rug back in June:

I have been eying this old wool as a warp, even though it is a bit on the brittle side.  I decided to take a chance and weave a shawl... but the plan is to be gentle with it!  This warp is 3 yards long, which is about 1/2 yard longer than Brian's man-shawl.  We have decided that 2.5 yards for a shawl is just a bit on the skimpy side.  This one should be perfect...

 

I especially like the colors... the dark blue mixed with the lighter blue.  At first I wasn't sure there would be enough contrast, but it is just perfect!  And so much more relaxing than my last few projects!

 
I was going to do just a scarf, kind of like those acrylic scarves from a few months ago, the ones with the huge motifs... but I really wanted a shawl or wrap instead.  So far, this project is going really fast because the sett is 8 ends per inch.  I had it threaded in less than 45 minutes!

When it comes off the loom, I am going to ever so slightly felt it in the sink by shocking the fibers with hot and cold water, just to make it a bit thicker.... which also might increase the strength of it, if it is brittle.  So far, I haven't had a problem with it.  This shawl is going to be so warm for the winter!

 

I wish I had a loom big enough to do a blanket in a solid piece.

Maybe someday!

 Oh, and PS.  My loom is weaving up SUPER straight now!  Yay!!  I am about half way done with this shawl already and it's not at all crooked!  In fact, this is the straightest I've ever woven with this loom... ever!!

A rainy day dye day

I have had this thought stuck in my head for awhile, and I finally decided to try it.  My thought was a new way to dye yarn.  

I started with measuring out 14 yards of hand-spun white wool on my warp board:

 

 This wool was straight from a sheep in eastern Washington State!  It was really soft, but still had debris in it.  Because of the debris that remained in it, I set it aside as rug wool.  In other words, it is ok if this project doesn't turn out!  It's great practice stuff.

I had the rainbow of Wilton's food coloring dyes, which I might point out are food safe.  (This is important in the next step!)

 And I filled up my pressure canner with 7 quart-sized jars.  I added a little dash of vinegar to each one.

Then added the rainbow of dyes, one to each jar.  I had 7 jars, so there are 2 shades of blue, a dark and a light one, plus all the other colors of the rainbow.

The hardest part was estimating how much yarn to put into each jar!  I ended up not putting enough in at first, so when I got to purple, there was a lot left over.  So, I just put a little bit in red, orange, and yellow again!  It's just for practice, anyway!  Next time, I'm going to put some yarn markers on the wool while it's on the warp board.  For example, if I had 14 warped yards and 7 colors, I'm going to mark every 2 yards with a little piece of yarn.  that way, I will know how much goes into each jar.

I wasn't too careful with the Wilton's food coloring, and dyed my hand a few different rainbow shades!  It's going to be a few days before it will wear off!

Over high heat, I raised the temperature until the water was simmering, not quite boiling, then I turned off the heat, put on the lid, and let it sit for a few hours to cool.  This is what it looked like after the dyes had a chance to wick up some dye in the white parts and then set! 

This all ended up being the perfect rainy day activity!  

We made our own rainbows inside with the Wilton's dyes!

And now, here are the results of my dyeing experiment:
 It's so colorful!

 

 This is going to be so much fun!!

The stripes are going to be long and I love the sections that fade to the next color!  I didn't get that when I spun already dyed wool, like before.





After the rainbows, I decided to do a dye bath of yellow-green, green, green-blue, and blue.  It was wound into a 2 yard skein, so the color changes are kind of short, not like the rainbow 14-yard warp.  I imagine it being a pretty little scarf mixed with the other white skeins, which are super white now because I washed them really well and shook out a lot of the debris.  I think more will fall out as I work with it on the loom and then wear the scarf.

I feel so excited to re-discover this wool!  It feels cool to find lost things in your stash!  

Now I need to weave up these dyed wool skeins so I can see which ones I like better, the longer stripes or the shorter stripes.

A new do

After I ran through one skein of kool-aide wool, I wanted to try something new with this project.  I went to my stash and Nature Spun fingering weight yarn by Brown Sheep company in the color Bordeaux, or a red wine color.  The texture is way better, the designs are more squarish, the edges are way better, and I really like this combination of red and white.  These little pieces will just end up being small runners for the tiny pieces of furniture we have, like the top of our very small bookshelf.
 

But at a later date, maybe my very next project, I would like to consider a scarf in overshot.  I have yet to see one around.  I think it's more decor fabric than wearable fabric, but I've been known many times for setting my own clothing styles.

In fact, I break most rules with clothing, so it doesn't really matter if I break yet another fashion rule!

Here is my list of Bertha Gray Hayes patterns I want to consider for the real scarf: 
Jitterbug, Dominoes, The Olive, Primrose, and Stagger (in this order)

For the overall scarf, I need to improve on:
1.  The edges!  I think a 1-2-3-4 rotation of a few rounds would look a lot better than what I have going on right now.
2. I need to center this design.

A mistake in the pattern

There was a mistake in the Dominoes pattern that I forgot about, until now!

It's down here at the bottom.  I had made a note about it on my page before, but missed the note.  Oops!  I made an even bigger (and harder to miss) note for next time!

All better!  It's amazing how those few shots make all the difference.

It's so colorful!

So... I think I'm going to skip the scarf and make it into a table runner instead!  I know my mom would love this project!  She loves table runners, and this one is so cheerful and colorful, too!

I can't believe this yarn was dyed with kool-aide!

I plan to explore more kool-aid dyes later!

Dominoes #21 REPEATED!

I really like Bertha Gray Hayes' miniature patterns in overshot.  They are amazing!!  I have done quite a few of them already, and it's my goal to do the whole book someday.  Back in June 2011, I already did the dominoes pattern with some potholders, but I wanted to see what it looked like with other yarn, maybe even a scarf.













I decided to break out my rainbow kool-aid dyed yarn.  What made me decide?  Working on the scarf for yoppie.  Mine was navajo plied, and it's much scratchier than the other yarn, so it's not quite the same.  And I'm doing an overshot pattern with it, but this was still inspired from that scarf!


















My warp threads are 20/2 wool, which after getting to work with it, it's terrible stuff.   It breaks so easily because of how small it is!  I just have to learn to be even more gentle than ever before.  Cotton is so robust...














This is Bertha Gray Hayes Dominoes #21... Love it!  I love anything Bertha Gray Hayes!!  Her patterns are SOOOO awesome!  I have displayed this stuff on Ravelry and have sold quite a few copies of her book for her, because of all my work!  I wouldn't be surprised if this sold a few more copies...

Stats: 20/2 wool sett at 24 epi, 2 threads per dent on #12 reed.  Pattern weft: 3-ply yarn that smells delicious, like fruit.

Pinwheels!

The loom is all set up and the beginnings of the pinwheels are emerging!