Handwoven Tencel Twill Scarf

At the end of August, I warped the borrowed Megado loom for some tencel scarves in a fancy twill.

My friend Susan Harvey of "Thrums" shared the draft (which she used for some gorgeous bookmarks) in this blogpost. I really liked the pattern, but discovered that the 153 picks per repeat couldn't be programmed into the mechanical dobby on the loom - it has only 130 dobby bars. Hmmm. So I turned the draft (swapped the treadling with the threading) and tweaked it a bit, and then I only needed 119 bars.

I got it all warped up, and then... I got busy with other things (commission spinning, the rainbow towels, etc.) and the warp languished on the loom.

My friend Jenny (who allowed me to babysit her loom while she was in England for 6 months) has returned home, and would like her loom back, thank you. :) So I got busy weaving, and now the scarves are well in progress. I really like the way they're turning out.

The warp is a variegated tencel in blue/purple/green, and the weft is black. The little yellow flower pin is marking my progress - I measure, then record the progress and move the pin.

The Kitsune/Harvest sweater is progressing nicely as well - I'm halfway through the decrease section of the body:

 Of course, it won't be cold enough to wear it until late November, so I have plenty of time to knit!

Handwoven Holiday Napkins in progress

I wanted to put another project on my loom quickly - I missed throwing that shuttle! I rummaged in the stash and came up with a warp that I received in a guild exchange last year.  It was supposed to be for 2 short towels, but I'd rather have regular sized towels, so I'm weaving 3 napkins instead. The structure is a simple twill, and is weaving up fast.

Autumn, How I Love Thee

Autumn - the word conjures images of swirling dry colorful leaves and brisk chilly air. Sounds lovely, and many parts of the country experience this when the season changes in late September.

Not us - we still have temps in the upper 80's, high humidity, and green leaves firmly affixed to trees. We won't experience much in the way of Autumn until late October, and perhaps even early November.

So I wove some Autumn instead. :) Here's a lovely scarf I finished this week, handwoven on a Schacht Flip rigid heddle loom. It's 70" long, 6.5" wide, with additional handtwisted 3.5" fringe on each end. Warp (lengthwise yarn): Enchanted Knoll "blissful" yarn (merino/silk/tencel) in "Sunflower Sampler". Weft (widthwise yarn): 8/2 tencel in "spice".

It's available in my Etsy shop.

I'm attending a weaving workshop with friends this weekend - we're weaving finnish-twill breadcloths in cottolin (blend of cotton and linen). I've not woven with cottolin before - I look forward to learning its unique quirks. I hope to end up with some Christmas gifts for family, and if I love the material and the structure, a new item for the shop. We'll see!

Placemats!

I finished these placemats this week and mailed them off to Canada. They're for an exchange WAL (Weave-Along) in the Jane Stafford Textiles group on Ravelry.

We chose a color scheme (either blue/green or red/orange) and decided on our own individual design. We were to weave 6, and send 5 to the exchange coordinator, who will send us 5 placemats (all different, but in our chosen color scheme) in return.

I adapted a pattern for a scarf from a recent Handwoven magazine, in a twill/huck lace fusion. I really wanted the twill ribbons to be vertical, which meant that I couldn't fringe my placemats and had to hem them top and bottom. I used 6/2 unmercerized cotton. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out!