Double Weave blanket

The double weave wool  blanket is off the loom.    I wove it to about 87 inches long.  My plan was 85inches but there I did a couple of inches more just because length wasn't so much of an issue.   It came off the loom at about 82 long and 44 wide.   Because of the learning curve with the temple, there was a bit of packing in the centre line where the two sides attached.  I easily pulled out 2 threads from the centre which gave enough space for the rest of the threads to spread out.  Because it was tabby weave, I had to pull out 2 threads to make sure the weave structure was continuous.

I probably should have left enough for fringes, but I have discovered that I don't like blankets which have fringes.  They tickle my neck and face, and arms and wherever else those fringes end up.  I find it most annoying.  However, I just ran the ends through my sewing machine with a zig zag stitch,  cut the ends about 1 inch from that and put the blanket in the washer for wet finishing.   I also put in a pair of jeans and a couple of other items to balance the load.

I used warm water -  I only use warm for finishing fabrics.   I set it for the normal cycle, but only for a short agitation time.  I checked it a couple of times and ended up letting it run the whole cycle.   I pulled it out and still wasn't happy with the fulling -  I wanted it fairly dense so I could do some embroidery on the red band.   I shortened the time cycle and ran it through the washer again.   This time though, I got distracted by loading the woodstoves and by the time I returned to the washer, it was the spin cycle.   

So yes, it did full just a little more than I wanted.  I lost 10 inches in length and 4 inches in width..  I've tried embroidering on it and it's just a little more fuzzy and dense than I'd prefer for that.  On the plus side, it's fuzzy and almost soft.  It is amazingly warm.  At one point there were 3 cats cuddled up on it and no room for me.   

I hemmed it after it was fulled.  I used the thrums to hem it, so the yarns match.  In hindsight, I probably should have hemmed it before I fulled it instead of after so that the hemming threads would full as well and become virtually invisible.  They aren't easy to see as it is, but in a perfect world......

From a distance, it looks a greeny-brown with a red stripe.  It isn't until you are up close that you can see the different coloured weft and warp.   The colour variations in these photos aren't noticeable by most people.  Nobody has commented on it as of yet.     It was really difficult to get a good colour representation.  The middle photo is closest but it's still too bright.

This was a fun project.   Once I started weaving, double weave made so much sense.  It was ridiculously easy.  I had a few skipped threads on top, and only one on the bottom.  There were no threads attaching the two layers in the wrong places.   The temple made the selvedges easy, once I figured it out.    Anyway, I'm super happy with this blanket.   Super, Super Happy!