I hand washed it this morning and it didn't shrink one bit, so the edges are still a bit bumpy but oh well. There you have it, a bright orange mohair/merino/cotton scarf, washed, dried, ironed, triple fringe knotted, and waiting for cooler days. It was woven on my trusty Glimakra Emilia rigid heddle loom. It's a fun and cheerful scarf, although the pictures captured it in a quiet, rather somber mood.
You know, I must have my old orange Vox blog on my brain, because this scarf reminds me of it. I used Cascade Pima 100% cotton for the warp, warping 8" wide and 88" long. I used the 10 dent heddle on my Glimakra Emila, which as of right now is the only size heddle I own. The cotton is smooth and a little shiny. The warp is a bright, orange mohair. Orange! It's stranded, which means there's one fine strand of mohair right alongside another strand of merino. Out of the 220 yards of the warp, I used practically the entire skein. The weft, though, left me with about 100 yards, so there's enough for another project if I ever foresee needing another bright orange mohair woven item. I started this last week and took it off the loom this morning, with just a handful of hours of weaving. Now, I need to wash and finish off the fringes.
It's time to think about pumpkins and nice orange leaves. What better way to welcome fall than with a very bright orange scarf?
Coming soon: the sad story of a broken Weave-It 4" loom.
Last night, I knitted a small sample on the 28" Authentic Knitting Board using just 22 pegs (and 22 pegs on the opposite side, too). I used some Berroco merino and followed the beginning of the pattern for the Luxurious Alpaca Scarf. What I learned is that I need to tighten the gauge because the knitting was a little bit too loose and the ribbing, which starts after six rows of stockingette, was not very distinct.
This board can be adjusted. Do you see the bolt on the end? There's another one on the other end, too. You may remove the bolt, take out the spacer in between each side, and then put something smaller in between, such as a washer. I'll have to scrounge around in the toolbox tonight for something appropriate. The closer the two sides of the board, the tighter the gauge. So, if you're working with a chunky or bulky yarn, or if you want a very loose knit, you would actually put more space in between the two sides instead of keeping it snug.
I was brainstorming last night and came up with a way to, possibly, turn this two-sided loom into a round loom by adding my own type of spacer (a piece of wood with two metal pegs). That way, I could knit socks or other small-gauge items in the round. We'll see how it goes.