Shawl in a Day

I have been nursing a head cold for the last couple of weeks, and it has not gone away yet!  Lou Ann wanted me to go to the Museum today, but I decided that I needed to finally take a day at home, to see if I could shake it.

I wanted to wash a little bit of fleece, which I have already written about on my Farmsteadstudio blog, and I also wanted to try something.  A different project, something I have been putting off.  I wanted to see if I could weave a shawl out of my handspun, on the rigid heddle loom, in just one day!

I opened up my tubs of handspun wool, and started to look through it all.  I immediately began to worry about ruining some  of my precious yarn by using it.  What if I made a mistake!  All those hours at the wheel wasted, I seriously thought about closing up the tub and not doing the project after all!  That is when I spotted a couple of skeins of yarn that had been a blending experiment that I had tried, that had gone well enough, but the colors just were not what I would have normally used.  I had enough of this so so yarn to do a shawl.  My math skills are not the greatest, but I figured out that I could easily do a shawl 22inches in width, and a 4 yard warp, which was the length that some of the other weavers use for shawls.

 I used the 6 dent reed, though I think I should have used the 8, and the warping went smoothly

 Once I had the warp wound onto the back beam, I took the loom downstairs where it is a little cooler.  I cut the yarn and threaded through the holes.

By lunch time, I had woven a little over 1 yard, and I decided to have a bite to eat before I proceeded.

 About that time I looked out to see that one of the hens had gotten out.  All the other ones were in the pen!  I don't know how she managed it!

Right after lunch, I kept on weaving, and about half way through I realized, the way that I often do, that I had mismeasured for the length of the warp, and that it was going to be shorter than I wanted it to be!   Never mind, it is a sample warp anyway, I am still learning a lot on this project!  I can wear it as a really wide scarf!

By 4:40pm, I had the shawl/scarf off of the loom, and I began to twist the fringes.  I did a very soft twist this time, cause that's how I wanted it to be.

I did a long soak, and a couple of good thwacks later, I am really pleased with the hand of this scarf/shawl.  I think next time, I will use the 8 dent reed for yarn this fine, but all in all, it has been a top notch learning experience.

Until next time, Happy Spinning, Knitting and Weaving, Tina