Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The real thing

I have come to the conclusion that often I have to repeat something 3 times before I am totally confident with it, be it a weaving/knitting/sewing project, or a recipe. Each time I learn something new.
This is the third time I have woven this scarf and it is the second time that it is woven in exactly the same yarn as well. It had taken a few years to get to this point.
The first time, it was on my ashford table loom, in my second year of weaving. I was still learning how to keep my weaving balanced, how to beat gently and my selvedges neat.

Each time I threaded this pattern, I have made some sort of mistake. However, I realise that this often happens when I am in a hurry or if  I was distracted. I am learning to make better notes so that I don't do the wrong thing over and over.......


The second and third time was on the countermarche floor loom. Did I ever mention that she is named KaTe?
I practiced with some Bendigo yarn to get used to weaving on this loom. I think I have only had 3 warps on it previously. I did make a mistake with the winding of the warp but it came out fine.



I was surprised at how fast it was with the treadling compared to weaving this on the table loom, painstakingly manipulating the shafts for each pick. This pattern has a repeat of 50 picks. Of course, it took me a little while to get into the rhythm.
The pieces of red thread is there to help me check the measurements of each repeat pattern. This is a tip from Shipbuilding. In this case, I was on the verge of being obsessive as the pattern is circular and if it wasn't balanced, I would end up with ellipses. 

Finally, the scarf was washed, lightly pressed, boxed and gone onto its new owner.....

6 comments:

Valerie said...

It is beautiful!! All of that care paid off in a wonderful end product. What yarns did you use and what is the pattern? Curious minds want to know!

Meg said...

Breathtaking, Sampling. In addition to practicing many times, I also find that I need to do something often. So if I stick to my big loom, it takes a while to get reacquainted with my other looms. And then I never to squares because mine always come out rectangular...

Having said all this, I think you're practice really paid off, and this is one spectacular piece, as were the ones you sent to SSVE last year. Brava!

neki desu said...

the old adage seems to be true.this is perfection

WEAVEblah said...

Congratulations on the completion of your gorgeous scarf.
Can't wait to see what you will weave next.

sampling said...

Valerie
It was a pattern from Handwoven issue#132 but there is errata in the next issue. the yarn was a New Zealand product called `Dawn` 50%wool,50% silk but it now discontinued.

shipbuilding said...

beautiful. weaving is a life long apprenticeship...