I wove and wove. With the help of some friends on Saturday, who helped me wind balls from skeins, too large for my swift, I was able to finish the shawl. I measured carefully and added the extra few inches that I thought would be needed for the sproing take-up factor. You know, when the stretched yarn goes back into shape and suddenly your item is smaller than measured.
It didn't sproing back, at least not yet as it isn't wet finished. The wet finished sample became softer and had more drape but didn't change it's size appreciably. However, maybe long shawls were all the rage in 950 AD?
Still it's pretty, it's soft and I like it very much. The cat so far has liked it as well. The longest part of the project seemed to be twisting the fringes. Next time I'll put more threads into each fringe as I had only done 4 this time and have lovely, fine fringes which took me half of yesterday and a good part of my morning to finish. Did I mention that twisting fringes is the only part of weaving that I find at all tedious? Okay, tedious bordering on the not quite loathing.. but still, they are needed to keep unhemmed wool warp threads off the loom, under control.
Garden update
The Dyer's Knotweed is looking okay so far. I transplanted two Dyer's Greenweed plants but they look a little sad today. Keep your fingers crossed for those as it took me forever to germinate the seeds and they're 3 years along already. I found some Bloodwort or Rumex Sanguineus, which is supposed to have red dye properties in the roots and they've been planted. The Icelandic poppies which don't seem to survive the winter have now been supplimented with plants from another supplier in hopes of having them seed and survive next year. I've space left for a few as of yet unknown plants and the garden space for the beans is nearly ready to be planted.
What to do for the next project? Hmmmmmm.. I'll keep you posted!
Hey...bring your green thumb (and warping karma) over here! I need tons o' help!
ReplyDeleteWell, one trick to the green thumb is having a couple of sons who will work for pie - any kind of fruit pie that is :) They're good diggers! Not so much on the weeding though, I get to do that. Raised beds, even just slightly raised, seems to have made a huge difference in the gardening success.
ReplyDeleteAs to the warping, that is just timing I think, and pressed to get it done quickly before any kids get up and about and in the way or turn on the telly and ruin the peaceful atmosphere!