Look! Weaving!

You know that black warp that’s been on my loom for, oh, almost two years?? The one that I finally finished threading back in March?

Well, I couldn’t decide what to do with it. I tried a few colours, didn’t like them. I hmmed and ha’d about whether I was going to weave some trim for a jacket, whether the warp was too narrow, whether I had enough warp on for enough trim and a scarf…. and the warp sat idle for months, gathering dust. Things gathered around the loom… mostly stash that overflowed from the stash cupboard.

A couple of weekends ago, I did some major clearing out of the yarn/fibre/stuff stash cupboard, turfing out old fleeces that I’ll never spin, rearranging some things, putting the overflowing yarn into plastic boxes. It’s nowhere near perfect, but it’s better than it was. Last weekend, able to get to the loom again, I made my decision about the warp: weave two metres of plain black for trim for the jacket, then weave a scarf. If I have warp left over, I can weave a little more plain black.

So, I sat down at the loom last Sunday, and wove, off and on, for a couple of hours. I’ve woven some more during the week. This morning I sat down again, and by lunchtime had finished 2.2 metres of plain black – it’s sett at 28epi, and I’m probably weaving it slightly closer than that, so there’s a lo of shuttle throwing and beating in 2.2 metres!

Then it was time to decide on the scarf pattern. The warp is threaded in an advancing twill pattern, but I decided, after some experimentation, to weave it as overshot, with a plainweave black pick in between each pattern shot. I recently bought on eBay some 2/28 throwsters silk in a natural ecru colour, and after trying it on the warp, I decided I liked it. So, here’s the progress so far – including the mending of a broken warp thread!

Overshot wool/silk scarf

Overshot wool/silk scarf

And here’s a detail of the pattern:

Pattern Detail

Pattern Detail

I’m hoping to get this finished in time to take it to the Spinners and Weavers meeting next Saturday – so I can show them that I haven’t entirely forgotten how to weave!

3 thoughts on “Look! Weaving!

  1. You inspire me! My loom currently surrounded by boxes. Major clean-out required. Thankfully, still have access to knitting. Can’t believe you plunged back into weaving… with black on black. Very courageous. Love the overshot patterning of the scarf.

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