Category: Finished Object

Finally Off the Loom

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It started as spa wash cloths, and ended up as a rag and a table runner. The warp was a nice cotton/hemp blend called Hempathy, but the weft, at first, was plain hemp 100% hemp yarn. Sorry, but after just one cloth, I was ready to call it quits. It has a rustic look, which is fine, but it was dusty, and it shed bits and pieces everywhere. It's best left for a rope, or a handle, or something other than a wash cloth. Plus, it smells when it's wet, too, so don't use it for something meant to be doused in water on a regular basis. I made one loop pile cloth, then moved onto a second, which I quickly turned into a little rag, and the final two feet of warp sat on my loom for two months.

I decided to use the hemp blend for the weft, and a little pick-up stick pattern to create a small table runner. The pattern was 2 up, 2 down, and the weaving was Up + Pickup Stick, Down, Up, Down. It worked out nicely, with the warp floats creating a stripe. Hemp is nice in a blend.

A Simple Scarf

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  • image from www.flickr.com
  • image from www.flickr.com
image from www.flickr.com

I finished this one the day before Christmas Eve, just in time to wash it, dry it over a radiator, and trim and tie the fringes. Woven on the Emilia using an 8 dent heddle and a simple 3/1 lace pickup pattern, I used slubby, handspun alpaca. The result was a pretty, incredibly soft and warm scarf. I only snapped these two pictures before waving goodbye.

Blizzard Scarf!

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I warped, wove, washed, and wore this scarf during a blizzard warning! It was two hours on the loom total, hand-washed and dried overnight on the radiator. When I wore it shoveling out from the 10”+ of snow the next morning, I was quite happy with it tied snugly around my neck. (And even happier when my neighbor drove up on his tractor and plowed our driveway!)

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I used an 8 dent heddle and white acrylic for the warp, Rizotti (color: Marry) for the weft. The weft yarn is a blend of wool, mohair, nylon, and acrylic, and I found I hardly needed to beat it. It's very, very light and fluffy. I had a notion to make this a ruffle scarf by tugging a center warp thread and gathering the scarf in a little bit, but once I started, I didn't hold the opposite end and whoops! I pulled an entire thread out of the scarf. After scratching my head and laughing a little, I realized I kind of liked the look, so I pulled out two more warp threads on purpose.

The slubby texture led to some bumpy selvedges, and I just didn’t care. The one color change I messed up (you can see the color go from gray to white all of a sudden) didn’t bother me. It was a scarf woven during a blizzard! I mean, really!

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Diamond Table Runner and Comfy Throw

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  • image from www.flickr.com
  • image from www.flickr.com
  • image from www.flickr.com
  • image from www.flickr.com
image from www.flickr.com

Finished: the 7.5" x 16" table runner, woven with two heddles. Just big enough for a super small table or a mat underneath a lamp and telephone (which is where this one is living for now). I was thrilled to use two heddles and can't wait for the next project. This one involved embroidery thread and I used the Diamonds pattern from The Weaver's Idea Book. Very fun indeed. I don't even mind the bumpy edges (strange, I've read about this thing called a floating selvedge and yet never thought it would be something I need someday…).

Also finished: the shawl, poncho, throw-type weaving. It measures 17.5" x 60". I should have been about 6" longer, but I ran out of the Caron Simply Soft and was too impatient to buy some more. It's plenty long, however, and after knotting the fringes and trimming them to about 4", I called it done. It's now flung over the top of a chair. The pattern gives it a rustic look and I'm pleased with it.

The cat picture has a story. She suddenly flung herself onto the throw and skidded to the edge of the table. I snapped the picture just as she turned, shot across to the other side, jumped into her little basket, and skidded over the other edge where she landed on the ground. We think she was embarrassed.