More Wordless Handspun Romney Shawl

Wordless Romney Handspun Shawl

Handspun Yarn Auction

I'm re-grouping and re-listing some of my yarn Grab Bags (translation: more yarn for the money, fewer packages to ship), so... shameless begging to follow... please check out my auctions again. I'll be listing things for a couple more days, but I want all of the auctions to be done well before I leave for the cruise, so everything that is sold can be shipped and can arrive at its new home in plenty of time to deal with any issues (there haven't been any issues yet, but I want to give everything time). Some of the regroupings are previously unsold yarns, others are auctions with yarn that has not been previously listed.

I am also trying an experiment- I have listed 31 ozs of handspun, hand-dyed self-striping, 2-ply bulky Romney wool yarn. I'm selling it, but it's not a *sale* item, and this yarn won't be discounted if it doesn't sell. I'll just keep it.

The yarn itself is slightly darker than it shows in these photos, but these will give you a good notion of what I'm offering.

Leftie #3 Progress

If you count up from the bottom, after the 7th *feather* you can see where the natural white handspun cotton changes into a less white natural handspun cotton. I intend to segue through darker and darker shades for the spacers throughout the shawl. Whether the feathers stay green or not, depends on how long the green lasts and whether I want to spin more or not. I'm playing it by ear.

In the meantime, I really love how this is knitting up.

Wordless Finished!

Wordless mittens and the beginning of a top-down hat...

Finished Scarf

 All done with the weaving (I wanted plenty of warp left over for the fringe).

 Pulled off the loom.

 Washed and dried (though not yet ironed). It's 70" long (excluding fringe) and 6 1/4" wide. I am very pleased with how even my selvedges are- I'm getting better at that. I love the gentle color variations.

I learned one important thing: if you're going to combine different weights in your warp thread or yarn, distribute it throughout the warp. When the outside edges are heavier, the weft doesn't pack as tightly, and therefore the lighter/finer inside section gets a little crooked. The crookedy parts aren't horrible, but I did struggle with it a bit throughout.

Even though the blue/green yarn was soft and squooshy, the finished fabric isn't as soft as I thought it was going to be, so this scarf won't be next-to-skin. It'll have to be worn over a collar or turtleneck. Or it'll be a table runner. Tables rarely have sensitive necks.

More Wordless because tonight is American Idol, and I'll use plenty of words then

Wordless Weaving

Second Verse, almost the same as the first...

I was thrilled with my first woven bit of plaid cloth- sure the edges weren't perfectly even, and there were obvious crookedy parts in the weft, but for a first time, I was pretty proud. Unfortunately, pride notwithstanding,  I still didn't have enough fabric for the bag I envisioned making. I had plenty of that handspun cotton yarn left, so I decided to warp the loom again, this time with much longer ... warps? Weaving words are complicated...

I still don't have a warping board, so I improvised. 18 times around the chairs for each color section (once apiece for blue, white, and dark brown, twice for the mottled brown).

 I underestimated the tangling capacity of long cotton strands. They were a mess by the time I got the heddle threaded. It took me over an hour to straighten them out and chain the sections. Won't let that happen again... nosiree...

 My friend Helen suggested using drinking straws or strips of paper to help the first rows stay neat and even. I love Helen.

 Look at how nice this is coming out! I'm thrilled with the even edges and fairly straight rows.

Oh no! Disaster! The warp was cut from handspun cotton yarn, which has thick and thin spots. One of the thick spots frayed with the repeated motion of the heddle, and it broke. Now I know that broken warp threads happen to everyone eventually, but I panicked a bit anyway. I tried several solutions to replace the thread and none worked. Since I now had enough plaid fabric for my project, and it wasn't necessary for this piece to be *all of one cloth*, I wove in a few spacer strips and advanced the warp past the break (I advanced enough past the broken spot for the warp tension to be restored,). Then I went to Facebook to whine, which is what I should have done in the first place because Helen and Connie both told me how to fix broken warp threads. I love Helen and Connie.

But, as I said, I already had enough plaid fabric, so I decided to weave some stripes, just for the hell of it. I Used up the last of the mottled brown yarn, and am now weaving up the rest of the blue in stripes.

Stripes are pretty too, no?

I should finish this piece today- I have *plans* for the next project.

Oh, and the correct heddle is on the way. Woohoo!