Weaving update

 The double weave project is off the loom!   Yay.   I thought it would take me much longer than it did to finish it.   I played around with how much I could weave without hurting my healing hip and straining my muscles, and then kept to that schedule most days.   As I was more comfortable with the process, it became faster and easier.

I wove it to 74 inches long and it lost almost 4 inches when I took it off the loom.    It was 24 inches wide single and opened up to and 46 inches wide. I fixed about 3 errors on the top layer and a good few more than that on the bottom layer.   This included 2 skipped warp threads which were easily repaired by threading an extra warp thread between them. Because it was fairly loosely woven, it was the easiest fix.   There were some other skipped threads from my not picking up the 1st shed on the bottom layer.   

It didn't take long to fix the skips though.   My biggest issue was a big, furry kitty butt that parked itself on top of the new blanket and tried to claim it.   So after the repairs were made, and I'd double checked the machine stitching on the ends to secure the threads, I tossed it in the washer to slightly full the blanket.   This was before hemming, because I really wanted it safe from kitties and the loose thread ends would have created all kinds of interest for the kitties. 

   I tossed it in the top loader washer and set it on a light load wash cycle, made a cup of tea and promptly forgot to check it.  I pulled it out of the washer and it was well fulled, although not horribly felted.  The looseness of the weave allowed for a lot of loss though and it ended up at 40 inches wide and 60 inches long.  However, that size was in the ballpark of what I was aiming for so I'm not sad.   It's soft and cozy and the perfect size for a lap blanket.  It needs a bit of a press and steam as the cats dragged it down while it was drying and slept on it.

I took a couple of days off from weaving and tossed on this simple scarf.  It's Ferris Wheel by Lion Brand.  It's a bit loosely spun to make it a really easy weave.   I had to cut a scarf off earlier because it was so sticky, it made for miserable weaving.  However the scarf I'd woven  before it, with the same yarn was okay to weave, although a bit delicate.   This is the same as the first one.  It requires a bit of care as the yarn is subject to a bit of abrasion  and  drifting apart when the spinning loosens.   Both of these are easy to deal with as long as you watch for them.    Advance the warp every few inches of weaving, which is reasonably good advice anyway and if the yarn is drifting apart, mainly while hem stitching  or winding on the shuttle, then manually add the twist back in. 

 I do like the greys though.   It's a soft, easy care acrylic and works nicely enough on the rigid heddle loom.  I wouldn't use that yarn on my floor loom though.