Little Skulls All in a Row

I decided a while ago that something I need in my life is a set of fancy cloth napkins.  It's all because there was a cool project in a recent issue of Handwoven (Mar/Apr 2014) for some napkins with an allover mini-overshot design, and I really fell in love with them.  Of course I had to change everything about the project to make it more 'me' and thus the skully napkins were born.

For non-weavers, "overshot" is just a type of weaving where you weave a base cloth in plain weave (in this case, grey) while making a design within that fabric with another yarn (in this case, black.) The base cloth holds it all together, while the pattern makes it fancy.

I took this particular design from Bertha Gray Hayes' book of mini overshot designs.  She called this one "Gone With the Wind" but when I look at it, I see stacks and stacks of little skulls, like the catacombs of Paris.

Horoscope Shawl

Way back in May, I showed you a progress photo of a wrap that I was weaving.  I finally got the finished project shots back from my photographer, so now I can give you the whole story.

When I was a beginning weaver, I did a lot of websurfing to look at weaving projects.  Somewhere along the way, I ran across Bonnie Tarses' website, and found inspiration in her work.  She was creating these pieces based on horoscopes - she would make a sort of map of the sky in the moment a person was born, and use colour and texture to indicate the position of the astrological houses and planets in that moment.  I was entranced by their beauty, and although I thought it was well beyond my skill level at that point, I ordered myself a kit to make one.

Having made a lot of other things in the meantime, the horoscope shawl was always in the back of my mind, and this year when my birthday rolled around, I thought it would be a perfect time to bring this project to the head of my weaving queue.

Winding the warp was the intimidating part - it involved 12 different colours of Bambu 7, being wound in a very specific order, often with two (or three or four) alternating.  It was a challenge to get it right, while keeping the cross intact and not ending up with a tangled mess of spools on the floor.

After the warp was wound, it was a relatively easy process to dress the loom (thanks to a couple of really helpful tips from Bonnie) and then the weaving itself was simple and meditative, being just a basic plain weave in one colour of Bambu 12.  Throughout the weaving process, I spent a lot of time just admiring the colours, stroking it and feeling the texture of the "planets" nestled in the smooth fabric.

The finished product is a soft and colourful wrap - bamboo yarn has a great hand and drapes like a dream.  As you can see, I added a band of blue to either side of the horoscope, to widen the wrap a bit, and make it a more appropriate size for me.  I think it ended up just about perfect, and look forward to using it to brighten up some outfits, on dressy occasions.

Currently on the Loom

I decided which weaving project to start, next.

And it's a real stunner, I think you'll agree.

More details when it's finished.

Something I Love About Weaving

On my way home from work on Monday, I told my coworkers I was going to dress my loom for an inaugural weaving project. I had a couple of days off and worked on it, off and on, in short spurts, between all my other projects. Yesterday I finished the weaving, and then soaked it and hung it to dry. Today when I go back to work, I will have a new scarf to wear.


The selvedges are not great -- I need to pay better attention to the tension, apparently. I like the purpley grey colour of the finished product, and how the short little fringe peeking out shows the original warp colours. It's quite drapey and plenty long enough for me. Basically, it is just as I'd hoped -- a fast and simple project with familiar yarn, doing a little stash busting and allowing me to get to know my loom.

You Sley Me

Actually, I sleyed the reed. Which is just weavery language to say that today I finally dressed Miss Bennet with her inagural warp, to make a simple little plain weave scarf. I'm using some leftover bamboo I had laying around (from making a hat and a scarf) -- yay for stash busting!


I did a sort of graduated colour change in the warp, from burgundy to light rose and back to burgundy, and I'm weaving it with the teal as weft. Yes, it would have been lovelier and brighter and purer colours if I had enough burgundy to just use that for the weft, but this way I can use the teal up, too, and I don't have to buy any more yarn for the project.

It's sort of interesting how the colours are very greyed out by the combination. Until you look closer, you almost don't register what the different colours are. Another great lesson in the way colours interact in weaving, right?

And can I just say what a real pleasure it is to weave on this loom? No clunky crashy wire sounds, no carpal tunnel, and the action is so smooth and rhythmic. Now, if only I could tidy up those selvedges...

A Weaver is Born

So I spent an hour or so making a twisted fringe on my woven scarf, and then I wet-finished it (which is basically the same as blocking in knitting, but by a different name.) Now it is dry and lovely. As with knitting, the finishing makes all the difference. When it first comes off the loom, it is quite stiff from being made under so much tension. After it is soaked thoroughly, the fibers can all move around a bit and get comfortable with their neighbours. Now that it's dried, it is very soft and has a lot more movement. (Hard to explain, but if you felt it before and after, you'd know what I mean.) As I suspected, the camera doesn't really pick up the iridescent quality of the fabric. If you see it in person, it's quite something. (Click the photo for a ridiculously big image, where you can make out the pattern more clearly.)

Secondly, here is a little progress shot of my Jengu Woobu Aran.
I have just bound off a few stitches for the front neckline. A few more inches and it will be done and I can start the back. It's been a bit of a challenge to keep three different stitch patterns (which all have repeats of different lengths) straight, as well as adjusting the shaping of the thing to fit me. Hopefully it all pays off in the end.

Ready for the Finish

Just so you know I haven't forgotten about it... here's the latest progress on the woven scarf:

Mmmm just look at that lovely roll of cloth winding around and around. The weave pattern is quite amazing when you look at it from different angles. Up close you can see the pattern, but further away, the shine of the bamboo gives it an iridescence -- it is so lovely. The teal and magenta combine to make a sort of maroon... Hopefully the camera will be able to catch it. After I do some finishing tonight in class, I can get this baby off the loom and wash it and start showing it off.

Drops Hat Part Deux

Somehow, despite having finished my few holiday knitting projects well ahead of time, I still feel deadlines looming over me. The funny thing is, they are all self-imposed artificial deadlines. They're projects that I told myself I would have finished very quickly (or at least by Xmas) and I'm starting to worry that I won't, as the calendar pages fall steadily away. Of course, there's nothing wrong with finishing them later. Maybe I should make a resolution this year to give up deadlines.


Here is the second version of the little Drops hat I made previously. This one is for a coworker, who is petite (so it's smaller than the one for my gargantuan head) and vegan (so it's bamboo instead of alpaca/mohair.) The drape of the heavy bamboo is pretty amazing and makes me want to knit some kind of cardigan or camisole from it. I knit the ribbing on tighter needles (US5) since bamboo doesn't have the memory of wool, and the whole thing will be likely to stretch out with wearing. It won't be as warm as the alpaca/mohair, either, but hopefully she'll like it anyway. I think I'm getting a batch of vegan peanut butter cups out of this deal, so it's totally worth the time and effort.