weave4fun

so I made a warp up of 1/15 worsted. And I did it in plain weave and 4-shaft honeycomb in both 24 and 32epi. The plain weave was better in 24 (more balanced and less sticking, which reminds me I really should learn to make and apply warp sizing to stop that from happening, it makes weaving plain weave in wool a real pain in the backside) but the honeycomb was better in 32, cos it's more weft-faced, innit anyway, here's a pic of the 2. Both quite nice, I'll have to give it a go in the cashmere next week sometime, see how that goes. And this ugly duckling on the right is the cashmere, after going through the wash (big mistake). See, I've been hoping to be able to weave multiple scarves in a single width, but due to a lack of proper finishing equipment, this is proving somewhat unlikely. Also, for some reason, the blue weft yarn in this scarf is shrinking and felting more (much more) than the white. Which doesn't make a lot of sense because they're from the

As you may be aware I am in the process of sampling for cashmere scarves. It has been suggested to me that I should attempt to move away from the tight-heavy-beat steady flat fabric I tend to weave, twills, plain weave and all that. This in order to create a more sort of soft fluffy fabric which would be a more pleasing kind of scarf for someone to wear. One possibility which was suggested to me was Honeycomb or, as our friends in the colonies call it, Waffle Weave. I'll be making a warp of this stuff later on today, after I get a lift over to the church (it's raining so I'm not walking and waiting around for a lift and using the time to do warp-planning and writing my blog and doing colour plans and arguing with people on facebook forums). Anyway, this should create a sort of texturey feel, and add some thickness as well. I still haven't figured out how to finish the selvedges or the fringes. I think I'm just going to have to be old fashioned and walk the fa

 Blue and brown scarf  Chaos Cloth Cloth samples (that I forgot to subit as part of my assessment, doh!) Yeah, could do better, eh? yeah, white background, natural lighting and a steady hand might help a little bit Add another to the list of skills necessary to become a successful weaver: photography Not there yet -Andrew

So yeah, it has been suggested to me that what your average person (not me, but most people, apparently) likes in a scarf is a feeling of bulk and airiness (not airiness, but fluffiness, maybe?) which is obviously something you get a lot of in a knitted scarf, because of the inherently loose structure of a knitted fabric (it's full of air, that's why it's so warm, but it's full of air which is why it doesn't provide a great wind barrier, but that's what your coat's for) So the lady (who is worth listening to, 'cos she knows what she's on about) suggests that i should use a nice loose weave, like hopsack or something like that. But for some reason I'm really at a loss. I'm only working on 4 shafts and 6 pedals you see, as opposed to the 24 shaft dobby loom to which I've become accustomed. And instinct tells me to make twills, because I really like twills, and I'm very visually orientated, so I tend to work with colour a lot more