![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
2nd weaving project: shawl
Dec. 2nd, 2023 06:01 pmGot my mom's Christmas present off the loom today - it's a shawl measuring about 2 ft x 6.5 ft. I am MUCH more pleased with it than the attempted scarf. This time I only warped every 3rd spot on the heddle, as my goal was to essentially have the warp threads completely hidden under the (much larger) weft, and it worked perfectly, except in a few places where somehow the weave didn't get packed as tight as I would have liked, wich is baffling because as far as I can tell I treated it all the same. Tension is apparently a Deep Mystery. I did have Aunt Debbie help hold tension while I was rolling it up on the bar, which was a LOT better than the failed problems with the scarf, especially since this was so much wider.
Warp threads were the same strong cotton warps as before (from Mom's Tub o' Loom Materials). For weft I had two skeins of weird nubbly yarn that I think my mom offloaded on me a few years ago - it is approximately the same structure as the Lion brand "Homespun", though I never saw labels so I can't actually speak to its provenance. It is however a VERY pretty mixed blue color that is very much something my mom would LIKE, I think she just got frustrated with the texture when trying to knit with it.
The thing is, it's quite a bulky yarn, so I wove one skein and it was only about 2 ft so both skeins would not be enough for a shawl. I then spent a day searching for more of it online, with no success (and also a persistent reluctance to buy MORE yarn, the point of this exercise was LESS yarn). Yarn is also apparently quite expensive! Next thought was to add a middle section in a contrasting color, as I figure it's better to deliberately contrast than attempt to match and fail. The only thing I had in the right weight though was some Very Pink Lion brand Homespun, that was definitely not a great color scheme and also has vague plans for becoming a sweater (it's a long term UFO - I knitted the sleeves ages ago, never started the body). Thought after that was, could I *make* an appropriate yarn? From Mom's yarn bin I raided two skeins of "Hygge Charm - Starlight" (which was a fairly dense worsted), and a weird thin but very fuzzy yarn ("Polo", possibly 80s by the look of the lady in thr pattern picture on the tag), all in a slightly off white (the Hygge also has a very slight shimmer to it), and plyed them all together, creating a yarn that was about the right weight, though still a much smoother texture than the "Homespun". I'd assumed the Hygge was a cheapo yarn (from the Red Heart label), but later googling says it goes for like $10/skein!
Spinning until I ran out of Polo, and weaving that in, gave me another 3ftish, and then I finished up with the other skein of pretty blue "Homespun". It worked exactly as I wanted in hiding the warp threads. It also left me with the end of both Hygge skeins, each of which I chain plyed (because I'm really into this very fat yarn), and then made into a hat on my peg looms. I am ENAMORED of the fact that fat yarn on peg loom turns into a hat in just a couple hours of knitting. Traditional knitting a hat is MONTHS (I am not fast).
So all told, five skeins of yarn into a shawl and two hats in a week! That is VERY happy rate of yarn consumption. Next up is attempting the "ply multiple yarns into a nice yarn" with ACTUAL cheap yarn (there's like a dozen skeins of Super Saver in here), and thinking of something to do with literal MILES of cotton Sugar and Cream yarn. We're talking 9 of the 750m cones, plus another dozen or so of the little 2 oz/100m rolls. Maybe I can weave it into dishcloths or something... It makes great potholders too but the QUANTITY!
Warp threads were the same strong cotton warps as before (from Mom's Tub o' Loom Materials). For weft I had two skeins of weird nubbly yarn that I think my mom offloaded on me a few years ago - it is approximately the same structure as the Lion brand "Homespun", though I never saw labels so I can't actually speak to its provenance. It is however a VERY pretty mixed blue color that is very much something my mom would LIKE, I think she just got frustrated with the texture when trying to knit with it.
The thing is, it's quite a bulky yarn, so I wove one skein and it was only about 2 ft so both skeins would not be enough for a shawl. I then spent a day searching for more of it online, with no success (and also a persistent reluctance to buy MORE yarn, the point of this exercise was LESS yarn). Yarn is also apparently quite expensive! Next thought was to add a middle section in a contrasting color, as I figure it's better to deliberately contrast than attempt to match and fail. The only thing I had in the right weight though was some Very Pink Lion brand Homespun, that was definitely not a great color scheme and also has vague plans for becoming a sweater (it's a long term UFO - I knitted the sleeves ages ago, never started the body). Thought after that was, could I *make* an appropriate yarn? From Mom's yarn bin I raided two skeins of "Hygge Charm - Starlight" (which was a fairly dense worsted), and a weird thin but very fuzzy yarn ("Polo", possibly 80s by the look of the lady in thr pattern picture on the tag), all in a slightly off white (the Hygge also has a very slight shimmer to it), and plyed them all together, creating a yarn that was about the right weight, though still a much smoother texture than the "Homespun". I'd assumed the Hygge was a cheapo yarn (from the Red Heart label), but later googling says it goes for like $10/skein!
Spinning until I ran out of Polo, and weaving that in, gave me another 3ftish, and then I finished up with the other skein of pretty blue "Homespun". It worked exactly as I wanted in hiding the warp threads. It also left me with the end of both Hygge skeins, each of which I chain plyed (because I'm really into this very fat yarn), and then made into a hat on my peg looms. I am ENAMORED of the fact that fat yarn on peg loom turns into a hat in just a couple hours of knitting. Traditional knitting a hat is MONTHS (I am not fast).
So all told, five skeins of yarn into a shawl and two hats in a week! That is VERY happy rate of yarn consumption. Next up is attempting the "ply multiple yarns into a nice yarn" with ACTUAL cheap yarn (there's like a dozen skeins of Super Saver in here), and thinking of something to do with literal MILES of cotton Sugar and Cream yarn. We're talking 9 of the 750m cones, plus another dozen or so of the little 2 oz/100m rolls. Maybe I can weave it into dishcloths or something... It makes great potholders too but the QUANTITY!