up and then down again

Not for nothing, but my Flip has stolen most of my blogging thunder :) I sit down to write and am like-- I used to write about knitting, then spinning... but maybe weaving is too large a leap to make here? Still, the worry hasn't slowed me much and I have a grip of new scarves to show for it.


Socks that Rock lightweight, "Fred Flintstone"

I had slowly started getting rid of many of my multicolored sock yarns, opting to stash the semisolids instead. I held onto this skein for a while, being an orange and red girl, but I just didn't feel the pull of socks in its destiny. I think it does look fun woven up though...


6.5" width, ~60"length excluding fringe
10dpi reed, 72 ends, 9rpi

A random plaid in some places. I think the tight twist sock yarns make it harder to make a neat selvedge than a softer yarn might... I have some beautiful Zen Yarn Garden sock yarn that I want to test that idea with in a few. As much as I like the colors, I don't know if I like the scarf (I'm leaning towards slightly thinner, slightly longer ones lately)... I see myself accumulating a pile of these scarves, destined either for gifts or my etsy store.*

A fun experiment with this handspun cormo...


Hester, fleece from Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm
spun from batts, 2-ply heavy aran (90 gm, 88 yd)

I originally spun this testing for a heavy yarn for one of the Fine Fleece beauties... I later decided that I didn't want to card the cormo for that project, and still had this really soft, squishy, super fat yarn that seemed maybe even too short for a hat. Enter the loom and...


5" width, 57" excluding fringe
10dpi reed sleyed every other (so, 5dpi), 42 ends, ~7.5-8rpi

This one was fun for a few reasons... first, I can use handspun as warp! Everyone always tells you to be super careful about it, but this heavy 2-ply did well (and I put it under extreme tension to test the question out). I also was excited that alternating every other slot/hole on the heddle essentially "gave" me another 5dpi heddle-- I have been thinking about buying new heddles for heavier handspun yarns in the stash, and will eventually, but being able to use the 10dpi with the loom means I can put that off a little longer (they're expensive at $46/each, and can't be swapped with the less expensive Ashford heddles like they can on the Kromski Harp...)

Also, it was neat to see how the yarns reacted differently under tension and not-- the warp on the loom looked like an entirely different yarn weight than the weft as I was weaving, and I could see the warp gain some of the bounce when I was finished and cut it off of the loom. Fulling the scarf gently to really make the yarn pop and puff seemed to work as well.

This is easily the softest scarf of all-- maybe not just for the cormo content? The fulling? The heavier weight yarn? Dunno-- but I really like it. I found several batts of the same fiber I had carded up a while ago stashed in the back of my closet that I really wasn't interested in spinning, now I think I may spin up a few more heavy skeins of yarn for weaving.

This one was the most fun...


Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette, granite and medium indigo (naturally dyed)

I bought this pair of skeins as a baby boy bootie project at the same time I bought the twin bsj yarns-- never got around to knitting them, even though they are really nice. I planned for a colorwork project... til my son said *he* wanted a scarf. The idea of weaving a 4" project on the loom didn't really appeal... til I wondered if I could do two of the same scarves at the same time. And I did! :)



Oh, my odd stick shuttles? Thomas the Tank Engine train tracks. My shortest shuttle is 15", then 21" so no way was I using those at the same time :) I had planned on letting my son weave one and me the other at the same time... but honestly couldn't stop once I had them warped after his bedtime and had them done by the time he woke the next morning.



The fabric on and off the loom is beautiful. But I don't really like the solidness of the color... I keep looking at the loom as the beallendall solution to "my! yarn! is! POOLING!" of multicolor yarns-- maybe I need to open up to the possibility that solids on the loom will be okay too.

As much as he protested he wanted one, no TWO and swore up and down he'd wear them...




4" wide, 44" long
10 dpi reed, 44 ends, 9rpi
(staged for your benefit :))

...he has worn one once and said "no thanks, maybe tomorrow" every day since. Oh well. Mine now.



Seriously though, these little-length scarves are cool for tucking into jackets where you don't want a bunch of bulk against your belly trying to keep your neck warm. Doubling up in two different colors is really pretty too, if I say so myself. The Nature's Palette is also really great feeling woven up-- not a super tight twist but really soft.

Well, there has been a little knitting (who forgot to tell me the holidays are coming and I needed to get cracking on my grandma's afghan?!) but it's just not as interesting as the fun I'm having weaving... so those pics and details will have to wait.

Til then! :)


*I'm heading home for a week or more and will be putting my etsy stitch marker store in 'vacation mode' while I'm gone-- no orders and no shipping during that time. I'll be shipping orders til this Wednesday and have added gift certificates to the shop with free shipping if you're looking for holiday gifts for the knitters on your list (and I can ship directly to them!)... If you're local, you can also find zero stitch markers at A Verb for Keeping Warm's retail store, The Workshop, starting Dec 6th (the day of their grand opening!)
Yay! :)