Gee Looky here yet another scarf!!

I know I'm killing you all slowly with the scarves, but presents can't wait, and some of you are leaving comments so I guess it's not as boring as I thought ( yeah right). So here is the latest, I love the colors on this one, just my style. The yarn is good old Red Hart, for the weft I forgot the name, and Caron Simple Soft for the warp. I like the sequence of the striping on this yarn nice and even.

Remember these hair nets, well my sister in law sold them for $10.00/ea.!! My nieces go to ballet class and they have wear their hair in buns, so she put these on the girls and the other mom's went wild. Trust me I know they are over priced, sort of like the pidge scarf, which has made it's rounds on the groups, see here (but I'm not complaining). I think that you can price your work for as much as the market can bear. I have to make three more and send them to her, hey I consider it yarn money and who can't use more of that!

COLORFUL SCARF

I finished the colorful scarf and I have to say I really like it. It's for a 11 yr old and I think she will like it also. Since I'm on a learning curve, what I got from this one project, is to not roll out the fabric to peek and see what the colors look like, if your weaving is even etc.. cause once to start rolling the cloth beam up again you will not have the same tension, believe me I did it this time and it's not a good habit to have. My ends on this project were uneven and it posed all kinds of problems for me. So that is a definite no-no.

I'm warping the loom once again for another scarf, I know the never ending scarf and table runner posts, hehe, but hey I have presents to get to before the holidays. I know it seem early, but I'm one of those pesky people that get all the Christmas shopping done before November, sometimes if I'm lucky even October. I can just see you rolling your eyes at me, but I refuse to be stressed out, in a mall with thousands of angry holiday shoppers, just not my style. I rather be home looking at them on t.v. and thinking they're just masochists, doing the same thing every year and expecting different results.

COLOR!!

I've been weaving table runners and place mats for what seems to be all my projects, but I decided to take a break from that and weave a scarf. This one is for Marilyn in SC, she's 11yrs. old and I think she's going to love the colors. They are much , much brighter in real life than this pic. I'm just weaving in random stripes with no rhyme or reason, I don't plan to repeat any weaves to make it match. I thought it would just be fun to do without having to count, measure, etc. I like weaving for the sheer pleasure of making a unique piece. I think I'm going to enjoy this project the most, it's just plain fun.

Comparing Weft/Warp and Place mats

I finished the place mats, which are not what I expected, but that's another story. What we have in these pics are the comparisons between the warp and the weft yarns. On the bottom is the table runner which I used ecru as the warp and multi yarn for the weft. The weft is very pronounced therefore leaving the color light and subtle. On the left is a smaller table runner that has both weft and warp in multi color the color is very visible and form an erratic but pleasing pattern. On the top is my place mat that has 4" of both weft and warp multi color and 10" of warp multi and weft ecru, where the ecru is the weft the color is pronounce as if it were painted on the place mat is wide strokes. The differences between them is really interesting I like the results of the multi/multi and the multi/ecru weft. This was a great experience and experiment in playing with color and position of yarn. I have made my decision on the table runners one will be multi/multi and then multi/ecru with stripes.

SCARF SWAP, PLACE MATS

THANK YOU!!! Cathy I just got my scarf ohhhhhhhhhaaaaaahhhhh, so warm and fuzzy, it will be great to wear when I visit my friends in South Carolina this November. Just the colors I love greens, browns hint of gold and rust.

I love it!!

I warped my loom for my place mats and am almost finished with the first one. I warped with the multi color cotton and wove 4" of the same color, then I switched and wove 10" with the ecru color. I saw a difference with the colors and I like what I see. I like the look of the 4" which is the same weft and warp. I also think that the ecru weft is less prominent than it was in the table runner (last pic). Why is this I don't know. I'm weaving very carefully and evenly, maybe the warp is too tight too loose? Questions, I have loads of those but I will try to read my book and see if it offers any help on that. Or it just maybe the yarn repetition. The bottom pics are where I loosen the cloth beam and laid the weaving flat to note the color changes. Hopefully I'll get the mats done and washed, take a decent picture that the colors can be seen.

Completed Table Runner

I finished the table runner, or in my case a buffet runner, because my loom is permanently occupying my dining room table, hehehe.. What did I learn on this project?? Well for one thing I learned that I can't make even twisted fringe. I also learned, as you can see in the top pic vs the bottom pic, that Peaches and Creme cotton shrinks after the wash and drying process, which was okay I didn't mind, but I'm going to make two table runners as gifts this season and the shrink will effect the overall length and width which I need to adjust for. When I first laid the runner out it was 19" x 92" after washing it 17" x 86". That in itself is quite significant, considering I need one runner to be 17" x 112" and the other 20" x 122" as finished sizes (I can't figure out why my family has such large dinning room tables that are never used, but whatever makes them happy). So now I know that the width I started with is fine for one but the length is definitely a reconfigure.

I just got my Hands on Rigid Heddle Weaving book and there is a formula in it to figure out how to get the measurements correct, so I will put my math skills to the test. ( that will be scary) I also found that the warp color was very prominent in the weave and that the weft is very subtle in the variations of color. I think I may want to change the colors around and see how that would work or maybe use the same colors for warp and weft and take a look at that combo. Regardless I will need to make some samples before I weave the two next big projects so, the place mats will be the testers, at least I'll finally get those place mats I've been wanting, and I get to try my color variations. The last thing I learned is that there is a lot of loom waste, which being a knitter doesn't really make me happy, so my solution for this is that loom waste will become stuffing for the couch pillows. There I feel better about the waste now, hehehe.

Placemat OOPS!

I bought some Peaches and Cream cotton yarn for some place mats I wanted to weave. Ecru for the warp and Harvest Omber for the weft. I counted my heddles, marked my start and stop points as I was suppose to do, measured my warp and dressed my loom (which by the way, I think I'm getting much better at) I was so impressed with myself thinking, wow this went relatively well without a hitch, no tight ends, all the warp wrapped up in my separator paper just straight as can be and tension is good. I even went as far as putting my measuring tape on to the first weave so that I could consistently weave each place mat the same length and insert my seperator between them.

I've been told there someone named Murphy and he has this law stuff----well, I waltzed in to it. I knew it was going to good not to have something go wrong "I" having the mathematical prowess of a knat, (trust me I can work an Excel spreadsheet to make a grown accountant cry, but need a calculator to do simple math) took the measurement for each place mat's length and made it my width, so my place mats were 18" wide instead of 12", mind you I work with length and width all day since I've work for a Sign Co for quite a few years you'd think I would have this down by now?

See the top markers that's where the warp needed to be for the width. Can we say six (6) inches to wide "ARRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHH" enough to make a Christian woman curse.

Okay exit stage left and enter the new and wonderful TABLE RUNNER. Which is looking quite nice if I do say so myself, as it turns out I needed one of those too, **wink wink** whether by accident or necessity depends on my point of view.

I will give the place mats another go as soon as I finish and I will use the old carpenters rule "MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE" words to live by.

In knitting news, I have the pic of the scarf I made for Jennifer in Alaska, for my loom knitted scarf swap. I made this one with my Fine Gauge Knitting Board, and four skeins of Bernat Chunky yarn, I also used Eyelash yarn for some fun accent stripes. I hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed knitting it for her.

Woven Baby Blanket & Scarf Swap

I finished the woven baby blanket, spent two nights twisting fringe, a big THANK YOU to Gail for the instructions on how to accomplish that task. The colors are subtle and the blanket is soft and warm,The final blanket measures 27" x 34" without the fringe. I used Red Hart for both warp and weft, white for weft and a multi in baby tones. Now I know that the width of my project are 27" with all the heddles warped.

I have also finished the scarf for my swap now that picture can't be posted until I mail the package tomorrow. It's going to Jennifer who is in Alaska.