Carrying an Umbrella to Prevent the Rain

Well, people in central Florida have me to thank for the end of the "cold" spell and the return of our typically temperate February weather.
"How did she do it?" you may be wondering. Well, it was simple, really. I just finished the toasty warm scarf that I was making for David! ;)

It went amazingly quickly. I purchased the yarn last Saturday and finished weaving after work on Monday. As advertised, the wool was very forgiving with my far-from-perfect tension and settled itself into nice parallel stripes after being washed.

I had been wondering what the term "felting" means for a while, and I learned the hard way - by putting the scarf in my washing machine. I did select the most gentle cycle, but there was definitely felting along the fringe. Lesson learned - it's hand washing for me from now on. ;)

I was worried about the weft tails from each color change. I tied overhand knots, but many of them came out - in the washing machine... So, I used my sewing machine to stitch along each long edge. And I took that opportunity to put in my label.


Eventually I hope to get a photo of David modeling the scarf, but a friend at work offered to be the "stand in" for now:


The yarn for my next series of samplers in the Chandler book is due to arrive early next week. Unfortunately, I've got a trip this week and through the weekend, so it's going to be a little while before I can get back on the loom... :(
Oh, I'll be working with something other than wool - kind of like going without a safety net! ;)
Wish me luck! :)

Post a comment 3 comments:

Life Looms Large said...

Gwen,

The scarf looks great!! Very impressive first handwoven gift!!

Somewhere in Chandler she covers different methods of tucking the weft ends in so you don't have to knot them, or do finishing work on them when you take the cloth off the loom. (I'm way too lazy to walk upstairs to get the book and find it, but it's somewhere in early chapters - probably before the section on twill).

And, like with most things in weaving, there are a ton of different ways to do that!!

You'll do fine with new non-wool fibers (and they'll felt less!) Too bad you'll be away from your loom for a bit....but maybe absence will make your heart grow fonder!!

That scarf is really great!! Congratulations!!

Sue

Anonymous said...

Gwen, that is absolutely gorgeous. You should really be proud of yourself!

Anonymous said...

nice classic scarf! it really pulled together nicely after the wet finishing...and i admire your candid approach. thanks so much for sharing. i also adore your labels! i'd love to know where you obtained them???
perhaps with the inspiration of you and other weavers, i will start a blog too. right now i have just posted a few weaving pics on flickr -
thanks gwen!
jeannie