I’m dying to tell you all about my trip last week to Saorimor in Wales (that’s Rosie looking resplendent in her woven top outside her studio), but I’ve had this post sitting half completed in my drafts folder for some time now and probably should just finish and publish it first.
It’s pretty obvious at the moment that I’m a little hooked by weaving, not sure why it’s taken me so long to find my weaving mojo, but now I have, there’s no stopping me. Having said that, I’m still knitting and crocheting away in between and I’ve even got my eye on a sewing pattern that wasn’t available in Cork earlier today 😦
Some of you probably saw photos of pink/orange weaving on Instagram a couple of weeks ago?
Having only really woven the table runner previously with itchy, scratchy, coarse wool, I was keen to find out what weaving with softer knitting yarn would be like. Traditionally, knitting yarn is too soft and has too much ‘bounce’ to be used in tapestry weaving, but lots of the modern looms available have been designed with just this in mind. It’s also what led me to purchase my loom in the first place. I’d hoped my ever increasing yarn stash, would eventually begin to decrease, as it’s definitely quicker to weave a large piece of cloth than knit it, but it would be less bulky than crochet.
Unfortunately though, as quick as it is to weave, there’s just no getting round having to warp your loom. I’m sure I’ll get quicker at it, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a quick process. There are youtube videos that make it look like it takes minutes, there’s even one called ‘warping your rigid heddle in 10 minutes’ – total utter 💩detritus💩 for me anyway.
For this project, a scarf, I really wanted to use a yarn that I’ve knitted with to be able to compare the finished fabrics. I opted for the Cotton Premium sock yarn from Opal, that I used to make a pair of socks earlier in the year. The sock yarn is as we know, rather thin (4ply) and so I decided to use a finer reed than before. My 40/10 gives me 40 ends to each 10cm or 4 ends per cm – oh yes, I’m begining to sound like I know what I’m talking about 🙌🏼 Having warped up my loom and wound some bobbins, I knuckled down to a spot of weaving.
I love the texture of plain weave (under one warp, over the next and repeat) and to be fair, I’m not sure I’m ready for twills, waffles and dogtooth checks just yet. The first thing you’ll notice, is that having used the same multicoloured yarn for both the warp and the weft, a sort of chequered pattern forms where the same colours in the yarn cross.
This pattern, adds to the overall effect of the weaving and makes it look a lot more complicated than it really is 💃💃💃
The finished scarf is over 1½ metres long by about 25cm wide and the material feels very different to that of the socks. The socks are much softer and have a squidgyness that the scarf just doesn’t have. The scarf took approximately 1¾ 100g balls of yarn and is light, incredibly warm and I love it, even the mistakes.
Of which there are a few 🙈 🙈 🙈
Technically I could have fixed them and if it was a piece of knitting I’m sure I would have, but for some strange reason they just don’t seem to bother me as much.
Rather oddly I’m also loving tassels as a way of finishing off my weaving too and they’re not something I would have been too fond of in the past. Maybe it’s because I know they’re functional, who knows?
On the loom next, is a cotton something or other, but it’s going to be a gift if it works out – possibly. Blues might just end up being the completely wrong colour though, if you catch my drift 😉
Happy Fibre Fun!
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 