These handspun singles were a pain in the patootie to warp the loom with. The were hairy, scarily fragile and very, very long. It took 3 days to wind off the threads and get them to the loom. Then it took me another couple of days to thread the reed and heddles. To cap it off, I was only able to wind the threads on at a rate of less than 2 yards per hour, so it took me something silly like 8 hours just to wind the warp and get it ready to weave. Six threads broke while winding and at this point, I was really worried that the project was in huge trouble of not succeeding as the first few inches of weaving was pretty scary. Threads caught and the shed wouldn't open. Then poof.. all of a sudden I got all the tension right and so far so good, ( touch wood) it is weaving as it should.
The real problem? I underestimated my yarn requirements. I would have had enough had I alternated the light grey and dark grey threads, but my calculations suggested that I'd have enough of the light grey alone and wouldn't need to mix them. So I went with the light grey. Then I realized I was going through it at twice the rate I thought I would. Turns out I had underestimated the picks per inch and instead of having an unbalanced weave, I have a lovely balanced tabby.
The colour reminds me of the grey flannel pants that the boys had to wear as part of their school uniform. It is so pretty that I am glad I didn't dye it. So, if I can borrow a drum carder, I will be able to mix some grey fleece to hopefully match, and be spinning and weaving my little heart out for the next couple of weeks. If not, well it will end up being two toned as I have far too little light grey to finish the project as is. Happy about the way the project is turning out but unhappy about the wool quantity discrepancy.
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