Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Handspun Handwoven Throw


I made the first one of these last Spring for the Spinning Guild Fiber Exchange. I was about 24 inches wide if I remember right and 60 inches long. Gary wanted one, he never said a word but I know he liked and was disappointed when he found out it was not for us.
I had a odds and ends of handspun yarn (turned out not be that much odds and ends) so I decided I would weave one for him. The specs: at least 70 inches long and what ever width I could get with the yarn I had. Precise measurement once again.
After the last weaving attempt that ended in failure, I was not very confident of my abilities as a weaver. I said: oh well it's just yarn and started winding the warp.
I came up with exactly one inch more warp than my loom is wide! Forty four inches is a lot of width when throwing a shuttle, but my mind was set.
I cut it off the loom last Saturday with no loom pictures since the camera is not back yet (something to do with not finding parts and extended warranty replacement needs a lot of paper work........)
Either way it is off the loom now and in the slow process of getting the fringe twisted. I have an electric twister but it takes for ever. Over 500 threads on each side makes for a slow process. The picture is kind of washed out in color but that is better than no picture at all. It will be done for Christmas and he has no idea it even exists. Double surprise, that is the fun part!



After I proved that I can actually weave cloth and it does not fall apart I started thinking about the next project. This is handspun Rambo from about a year ago. I had 13 x 200 yd skeins in white. The idea was and "Old English" color combination but I think I went a bit into the bright side of it. It might tone down a bit with the weft that will be same as the one above: alpaca/wool yarn as we know: NOT strong enough for warp but does very well as weft.
I will tie on the new warp, not to save time, it will not, but to save loom waste.

8 comments:

fleegle said...

As a former weaver, I am truly impressed. Fabulous job!

Woven Spun said...

that looks sooo pretty. I need one of those electric fringe twister things...especially when my hands are sooo cold.

Bonnie said...

So glad to see you have climbed back on the weaving horse. It looks beautiful!

Lacefreak said...

Your cloth is lovely!What a great surprise :-)

Romi said...

Oh my. That is just exquisite! :drool:

Leigh said...

I am so impressed that you are weaving with handspun! I don't think I have the nerve to do that. But the throw is absolutely lovely! A keeper for sure.

Leigh said...

Re: warping my loom - Laritza, you have to look closely, but the raddle is there balanced on support sticks between the breast beam and the shafts. It's probably hard to tell because the beater has been lifted out and is sitting over on the floor.

Also, the auction site has been having problems, but they hope to be back online soon!

Dorothy said...

I'm a bit slow - just got around to finding your blog.

Wow. I'm stunned.

That is wow, for your weaving, what a lovely drape the wool silk scarf has, and Wow! your knitting!!!! I have the Heirloom Knitting book, but have so far just stumbled through some basic pattern samples. I guess it's worth keeping at it...

Weaving a handspun throw is my goal. Do you have any tips on the spinning, do you use singles or prefer plied yarn? How many wraps to the inch?