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.

What Do You Think About This, Then?

It's actually surpassing my own high hopes (and expectations)... I can't wait to have it finished and off the loom...

On the Road to a Diamond Scarf

Warning: Weaving jargon abounds. Feel free to ask, if you really want to know.

I had two options I wanted to pursue for the personal project in my weaving class. One of them was a set of dishtowels using poppy red and sky blue cotton in a huck weave. The other was a scarf in teal and magenta bamboo. My instructor was hesitant at my colour selection for the towels -- they are a bit outside the norm for weavers, I think, and she was anxious about how they would play off one another, since they are a very pure red and blue. (Not to get, like, way into colour theory, but the teal and magenta are more greyed and thus won't make your eyes bleed when you look at them together.) While I do trust her judgement, since she has a lot more expertise with weaving than I do, I still think I'll make the towels for myself, once I get a loom all my own. It is, after all, the only way to learn which colours will work together when woven, and which won't.

In the meantime, I am going to make the bamboo scarf.
If you've never felt it, pure bamboo yarn tends to feel cool and slick and buttery in the hand, and is quite heavy. The scarf should drape like a dream, assuming I don't weave it too tight. Monday in class we did all the weaving math and made our warps. Tonight I finally took the plunge and sleyed the reed. Step One of dressing the loom is complete. I am doing the warp in teal and the weft in magenta. You can see, through the dents in the reed, the drawdown of the design I'm going to use. It is a weird little twill weave, that will repeat seven times across the width of the scarf and will ultimately make jaggedy little diamonds. Complex? Yes. But when have you ever known me to do something easy?