Saturday, December 10, 2016

Finer Weft

Way back in 2001  I received my very first loom, and as it often happens, it came with cone after cone of yarn.  Soon after I bought a spinning wheel, and it too surprisingly came with cones of  weaving yarn as the seller was moving out of the country and was thrilled to load me up with a literal car load of cones.  At the time I had no idea what I was getting, but I was equally thrilled to get that car load!

Fast forward 15 years, and most of that yarn is still on the shelf.  That is because it is cotton flake, a thick and thin yarn, (I would use this only for weft) in some very interesting sherbet like colors, mostly either variegated or flecked.  I have tried a couple of times to use this yarn but with little success.   But, I think I may have finally figured out what to do with it, just maybe.

I have been weaving 8/4 cotton Baby blankets for years, on that original loom by the way, normally  I  used 8/4 cotton as weft, and I have sold or given away many, many blankets with this pleasing balanced combination.  I also  had begun to bring several of those "other" cones of yarn to the center to see if the other weavers were interested in them.  Well last Monday, I was getting ready to grab a few more cones to take to the Center the next day, when it I hit upon an interesting color combo, and I had the brilliant idea (I hope) to try the flake as weft in the next couple of Baby blankets.

8/4 cotton weft




Speckled cotton flake weft




















There is an opaqueness about this new blanket that I find interesting.  I am not sure how this is going to wash, but I decided to weave up a "girl" blanket and a "boy" blanket before I cut off to hem and wash.  It is an experiment, and it may go all wrong in the end, but it might not.

I probably should have adjusted the overshot pattern portion to make it a little bit taller since the yarn is finer, but I didn't think about that  at the time.  If this works out, I will play with that next time.  I will be really thrilled to be able to use this yarn, and it may open up all sorts of possibilities to me, just by thinking of things a little differently.  Who knows, I may end up putting on another Baby blanket warp, (I could use it as fabric for my bags, have I posted about them yet?)   I do have some 12/3 white cotton in lots of tubs that would weave up just as nicely, maybe even better, with this weft,  just think of the possibilities!

Until next time Happy Weaving, Tina


2 comments:

LA said...

Cotton flake does weave nicely in some projects. It looks to be working in these baby blankets.

Maggie said...

I just made three shawls with bamboo warp and tabby weft, with flake in the pattern weft, and I really like it. The sett should be a bit closer, but I bet it will snug up in the wash. Stash busting is fun!