It's off to its destination!

I thought this blanket was incredibly soft before, and then I washed it and put it through the dryer and it's even more soft than it was!  I didn't think that was possible!  Wow, it's sooooo soft to the touch and super heavy and warm.  I think it will be perfect!  It's a little off square, but I think I'm ready to accept this as a fact and move on.  If I had to redo it, I would go with a 2.5 yard warp next time.

Anyway, this was my best center-fold line yet!

It's perfect!

Almost square!!

It's so close to being square... I was able to weave 16 rows one way and 14 the other.  It measures to be 38x42", but with fringe it is 42x48".  I wish I would have warped just a little tiny bit more so it could be just a tiny more square!!  Anyway, look at the bright side... the blanket is so soft and warm!  I love it!  I love how it turned out.  I love the colors!  I love the softness!  I love this blanket all over! 

This was a very quick weave.  The fringe twisting took the longest! 

This is the way I took it off the loom.  Whenever I cut a double weave blanket all at once off the loom, it tends to "explode" and the weft comes out all over the place!  So I have learned to choose 8 threads at a time, snip, tie a knot, and proceed either left or right until I have the whole thing off.  It makes it so much easier!  In this picture you can see one mis-threading in the 3rd block from the bottom.   I ended up taking out the one thread and with a needle, I sewed it back in with the correct pattern.  It wasn't very hard, just took some time.

It's so pink!

I can't wait to give it to my niece and SIL!

Good-bye pink blankie!  Keep my new niece warm and safe in Seattle!

It's so bright!

I think I'm already 1/4 of the way done!  Well, maybe that isn't saying much considering I'm aiming for 16 stripes!  

Here's a pic to give you an idea how big each square is going to be.  They are about 3" square.

 

 Once it's off the loom and washed up, some of those weird zigzaggy twill lines will relax and even out.  They are very apparent from here though!

I'm trying really hard not to squish it down too much, but it looks a little weft heavy.  I might have to relax a little bit more.  Once it's washed though, so much magic happens.  It really changes and looks a lot better after a good washing!

I love doubleweave!

This is like the giant hounds tooth scarves, but a sort of herringbone look instead!  I like how large the design is going to be.  It's also very soft, hearty, and will be perfect for a baby girl surviving her first winter in Seattle!

Every baby deserves a soft handwoven blanket made with love!

Blanket for a niece

My SIL is having a girl this month, so I am making them a soft polyester doubleweave blanket!

These are all the reds, pinks, whites, and other girly or neutral colors I could find in my collection.  It's just a 2 yard warp... just enough for a little tiny baby!

2.5 yard warp

It doesn't look like much now... 

But I'm sure it's going to be cool!  They all end up being great no matter what I put in my stuff!

This is kind of an experiment.  I want to see how big a blanket is at a 2.5 yard warp.  I've already done a 4 yard blanket before, and it was just too big!

I love the process!

I love the process of setting up the loom.  And I love sharing that process when I'm making something for someone else who doesn't weave!  Here are some updated pictures of the Seattle Scarf:

It's all set up and ready for weaving!

Another one done!

I'm almost caught up with all that I need to get done!

Free Pattern: How to make a Polyester Houndstooth Scarf

I have received two last minute orders for Christmas scarves from friends!  So I decided to make a tutorial for you so you can make your own.  They have been very popular this year! 

Measure out 2.5 yard warps in each color.  There will be one set of 17 threads on the warp and the other set will have 12 threads.  Today, the aqua has 17 on the warp board, or 34 total.  This accounts for 4 stripes of 8 threads each, or 32 threads, plus 2 float threads, one on each side.  The black was the less number today, and it went around 12 times, so we have 24 threads, or 3 stripes of 8 each.

I put the color with more on first, and then the 2nd color on after it.  I am using a #8 reed with 1 thread per dent, so it has an e.p.i. of 8.

Thread the heddles 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 with each color, making sure to start with 1 float and end with 1 float thread.

Wind on the warp.

Tie on the warp...

...and make sure the treadles are tied up as 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5, 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6-7, 5-6-7-8, 6-7-8-1, 7-8-1-2, 8-1-2-3.

Weave with the aqua first, or whatever color is on the outside.  Start with 4 rows of plain weave.  Then press treadles in order 1-8 with the one color.  Make a nice little hemstitch to hold the yarn together.

Do the 2nd color with the treadles in order of 1-8.  Then back to the first, etc.  While weaving, make sure not to beat the yarn in too hard.  Just place it into place, or else you will pretty much have a funny looking skinny rug!

When you get to the end, do the outside color last, and then 4 rows of plain weave.  Add another little hemstitch to hold it in.


Cut it off the loom, make sure the fringe is all the same length.  Twist it together, and viola!  You have a polyester scarf!!

It's a Super Duper Match!

I personally think it's an incredibly close match!!!

I can't believe this is even possible!
If I were to do 1 strand of each color, I think it would be even better.  BUT, the navy yarn will be 4-ply and I want the weights the same.  So, I just went with 2 creams, 1 pink, and 1 green.


For now, my cousin doesn't think the colors match her hat as well, so she will send me some colors that will match perfectly.  So for now, this project will go on the hold list.

More on the super challenge

I decided to put my challenge more to the test than just a little sample.  I mean, if I'm going to make a commitment to undo enough yarn and re-spin it for a whole scarf, I needed to make sure my plan really worked.

My first method didn't work.  It was trying to pull large amounts of yarn out of a center-pull ball and take it apart.  There was too much energy in the yarn and it just didn't want to come off the ball really easily.  My second idea was to take segments and then when I am spinning, re-attach them back together.  So I took about 1 yard segments apart and spun them back together as singles.  Then I took 3 singles and plied them together.

Here are my original balls of yarn:

 

The center ball was something I wanted to try and stretch further anyway, so this was a good choice to try my new ideas on.  Also, I wanted to see what this looked like with a faded yarn.

I cut sections about a yard long, and each was a 4-ply yarn, so I re-spun each as singles, but there were 3 singles about 4 yards long.  Then, I spun each of them together as a 3-ply yarn:

This is 2-ply, because it was the tail end and I ran out of the pink:

Kind of neat, eh?!  It makes the super colorful yarn a little more toned down, and brings in more solid colors.  I wonder what this would look like all woven up!  I also wonder if it looks or feels different, or if you can see a difference in the plies if you look close.  I also wonder how it mixes with the original commercially done yarns.

It really does open up some doors though!  It's a little bit of extra work, but if you don't have the right shade or size, you could potentially change that!

A super special request and challenge

My cousin in New Mexico has a woven hat that needs a matching scarf.  This is the picture she sent:

She wants me to weave a scarf that is a close match.  Now I could take the easy way out and just pick out one color to match with navy, but that's just not my style!  No, I'm a take-it-to-the-limit kind of person!!

I thought about this carefully for a few days.  I thought about dying my own wool, but that makes it wool and I kind of lose the challenge of it being polyester.  So then I thought about ways I could weave with 3 or 4 strands of yarn that it just wouldn't make this kind of weave.  I really wanted to be able to match the original yarn of 3-ply pink, green, and cream and weaving with 3-4 colors wouldn't solve that problem.  Finally, I turned to my last resort: Dissecting already existing polyester yarn and re-spinning it together!  And it works!

Here is my trial run with very short pieces of colors that have nothing to do with these!

I'm pretty sure if I were to weave this together combined with another color, it would look like the above picture!  I'm terribly excited and I can't wait to try an even bigger amount of yarn!  I told her that if anything, I could make a very close "cousin" to her hat!

Here's what it looks like as 2-ply:

This is really cool!  I feel like I've hit upon a really cool new thing!  I see lots of visions... like I have very little of some ombre yarns that I liked... what if I mixed them with something else to not only tone them down but also stretch them further?!  :-)

The M-awl

It's a Man Shawl... so a M-awl for short!

Remember this scarf??

I loved the stripes!

 Here is the pattern:

The stripes aren't as apparent on the big project as they were on the scarf.  It's more of a scattering of color, which is cool... but I definitely liked the stripes!  

Here's a bigger shot of the whole thing.  It is very pretty and super soft!!

I actually ran out of black and didn't want to buy more black just for the last 1.5 inches, so I improvised with navy.  You can see it on the right in this picture.  However, in real life, it's not as apparent.  It's just that I used my flash in this picture and it picked it up really well!  I guess I should have spread out the navy yarn throughout the whole warp, but it wasn't that important to me.  I mean, this isn't going to be leaving the house!

But I think it will make Brian very happy... and warm!

The entire warp was actually free because the black yarn was given to me.  

That's just awesome!!  I love free things and good deals!

 So far, this entire shawl has only cost me $1.90!

Oh yeah!

That's just beyond awesome!!!

Striped Zigzags

This scarf is going to my aunt in Massachusetts!

This is the same tie-up as the chargers scarf, but just a different threading.
This scarf is threaded 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 and treadled 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2.

I love this yarn!!! 

I got it on sale at Hobby Lobby.  The blue is actually leftovers from the chargers scarf.

It looks more purple-y in this combo!

 

I also like the uneven stripes!

I hope she likes it, too!!  I know it will keep her warm in such a cold state!