Finished scarf - based on the Snow Queen Snood

My scarf is based on the Snow Queen Snood and in a couple of previous posts I showed the process of making the Zoom Loom squares. The creamy-white is handspun from some fleece which I believe was a gift. The teal is Norfolk Horn from Jenn at fibreworkshop.co.uk that I sent to Freyalyn for dyeing. I made 48 squares altogether which makes a nice large scarf. I chose not to join the ends.

Some of these are two-colour. This turns out to be easy. You usually make four layers with the Zoom Loom so all you need to do is to change colour so that you have 1 and 3 or 2 and 2. I made some squares 1/4 blue and 3/4 white, and some 1/4 white and 3/4 blue. 

I enjoyed cross-stitching the snowflakes using a design I found online. This could have been a little larger but hey. Cross-stitching onto pin-loom squares works extremely well and is something I want to explore further. 

Previously I have made a blanket by crocheting the edges together. This makes quite a heavy join which is effective, but in this case I wanted it to look more continuous and I chose a stitch that's like mattress stitch. 

It was quite puckered after stitching but flattened out after a soak. I didn't go to the trouble of getting out the blocking mat and wires (I was also concerned about pulling loops out all the way around the edge) so I simply pulled it flat and let it dry.  Pressing it flat between two towels (just by walking on it, not using an iron) was very effective at flattening it. 

I haven't (yet) fulled it at all, just soaked it. I do feel that it needs a little more softening so I may give it the 'waulking' treatment to see what happens. I'm also tempted to add a faux fringe.

Hello, old friend

 The title applies to both my spinning wheel and my Zoom Loom. It's been too long since I used either.

I finished spinning the white mystery fleece. It's not as consistent as I'd like and parts of it are a little thin but it's OK and I do have around 200yds which I think is what I need.

I did enjoy doing the longdraw. It's a fast way to spin and when it goes right it's very satisfying and produces a nice bouncy yarn. I began by pulling handfuls from my nests but I found it went better if I took the trouble to pull it out a bit and roll it around a 1" rod to make rolags, then pinch off sections as I spun. 

With the white finished and wound into balls, it was time to reacquaint myself with the Zoom Loom. The instructions are clear but the first square took a little longer than I remembered. However, I did remember to wind the first layers with no tension at all, because the weaving tightens them up and can get difficult when you reach the end. I'm sure I'll get faster at making them, but with 48 to produce, and learning how to use two colours, I won't be wearing my scarf until the Spring!

'jelly roll' placemats finished

 I fell in love with this project when I saw it:

Schact's pattern is here.

I'm not a sewer and wasn't familiar with the term 'jelly roll' but the idea of weaving scraps of fabric cut into strips with a thin cotton warp appealed to me.

Mum had been given some cotton which she had tried to crochet. I felt it was perfect for my project and the quantity seemed about right, so she was happy to pass that on. After a rummage in my rag bag and not finding the colourful fabric I thought I might find there, she also sent me some scraps including a skirt which was perfect.

I'm not one for following patterns to the letter. I used the heddle that seemed most suitable which I think is an 8-dent. My rigid-heddle loom is the smaller (12") width. These pictures show the warping and the cotton.

I had to learn to hemstitch and I'm glad I have that skill under my belt now.

I wasn't particular about cutting the strips of fabric. The pattern gives 5/8" as the width of the 'jelly roll' strips, so I tried to bear that in mind but in reality it varied a bit. Of course it was going to roll so I didn't think a rough edge would matter, and it didn't.

I enjoyed the weaving very much. My selvedges became neater and the pull-in became less as I got through the four placemats that I'd planned. When I lost track of whether the heddle should be up or down, it was soon obvious, as you can see in the picture above, and was easy to backtrack.

The palette and pattern in the skirt played out nicely in the weaving. Most of the time it was compliant and rolled nicely so you see the right side of the material whichever way up the mat is.

More by luck than judgement, both the warp and the weft lasted almost exactly for the four mats, which 13.5", a size I decided on when the first one looked about right.

Here they are finished and in use. 

Blanket scarf in real Shetland

 The idea for this came partly during team HSN's visit to Haworth Scouring earlier in the year. I must also give credit to Knitbug Valérie and aureliantownsend for inspiration.

The real Shetland fibre is a delight to spin, I spun some during last year's Spinzilla for my Ardelise and some more in April for my Riddari. Previously I'd spun from the end of the top (after splitting and pre-drafting) and from the fold. Here I tried making 'fauxlags', which turned out to be very quick, and spinning those unsupported longdraw with the high-speed kit on the wheel was some of the fastest spinning I've done.

The yarn was 2-ply, perhaps a little thinner than DK.

I wanted to use mostly natural colours; white, fawn and a little dark grey. With a little dyed colour. This is white shetland dyed with Ashford acid dyes; blue with a small amount of yellow for a 'peacock' blue. Not as blue as it looks in this picture.

 Before warping I sampled with some similar handspun yarn, and settled on 6 ends per inch.

On the computer I'd mocked up a more symmetrical plaid pattern, and a more random pattern, which I settled on.  I used the same sequence in the warp as for the weft, for a certain symmetry.

Walking woven fabric

I'm thrilled with the finished houndstooth fabric. Along the way I discovered how much woven wool cloth would fit on the back roller of my knitter's loom. As you can just see, I undid that back cross-member and moved it in order to keep weaving and avoid cutting off and tying back on. 

 At this point the fabric feels like strands of yarn woven together. To fill out the weave a little bit and make the cloth feel a little softer and more like a single piece of fabric it's 'fulled'. It's pounded in soapy water with hands or feet. People used to be employed to do this and it's said to be the origin of the surnames Walker and Fuller.

I'm not sure whether I walked it for long enough but it certainly feels beautiful. The 7.5dpi reed was just right. There is no openness to the weave now but it feels so soft and drapey.

Perfect for my skirt. Over to my friend who's agreed to do the sewing bit!

Woolly Wednesday for January 2014

I finished Jane GreenHowe's Christmas Crib just before Woolly Wednesday last month. It ate up so much time, it has been really good to get back to some of my other projects.

I had nearly finished these wonderful socks last Woolly Wednesday. With a bit of commitment they joined the finished projects pile and I've really enjoyed wearing them over Christmas.

The fibre was from Picperfic's luxury fibre club - a mix of yak, merino, silk which seems perfect for socks. Pattern is Piccole Onde. It's a painstaking pattern (those are real cable crossovers) but the resulting air pockets make the socks very cosy. More pics here.

I've made a little progress on my Glacial cardy. The fleece was from a woolly pet of a family friend, washed, dyed and spun before Christmas.

I didn't intend for this next project to be as addictive as it has, but I needed a 'pick-up-and-put-down' project to carry with me over Christmas so I cast it on just before the holiday and have touched very little else.

Once again the fibre is from Picperfic's club, this time merino, cashmere and silk. It's going to feel lovely against my neck and I'm so pleased with the way that the colours have worked out. It's my first go at fractal spinning. I'm surprised at the strength of the stripes, but this is a good thing. I loved the small amount of green in this particular fibre and didn't want it to be lost

Finally, something I've just started but has really absorbed me over the last few days. Since I first saw the 'Town and Country' skirt in the Ashford Book of Projects years ago I've wanted to make one. The houndstooth pattern is surprisingly easy to weave - I've already made a purse a while ago. The skirt I have in mind is a 4-panel straight design and so the fabric can be made on a 12" knitters or rigid heddle loom. I've not spun for this one - yarn is Ashford Tekapo wool - which means I've been able to get straight on with the warping and weaving which have been very fast and I'm pleased with the neatness of my fabric.

I'm less confident in my sewing skills and so have asked a friend to do the dressmaking bit for me!

Woolly Wednesday - yellow, green, blue, red

it's Woolly Wednesday again and a great opportunity to once again show off my finished bathroom curtains project.

Woven from merino wool / silk, spindle spun. I drum carded the dyed merino with white, well blended but there's still some variance in the colour which is nice. Warp is commercial cottolin, woven on a 4-shaft 32" loom. Pattern is a herringbone twill, more photos including the draft on Flickr

Finishing the curtains means that I've been able to officially start this sock project. I've now finished spinning this really lovely fibre from Yummy Yarns, it's BFL / Bamboo dyed in 'Water Sprite' colours (I especially love the bluey green). This time I've spun really fine, again by hand spindle, and navajo (chain) plied to concentrate the colours. I have two skeins of reasonably fine 4-ply (which *should* be identical, I split the fibre down the middle) and I'm looking forward to seeing how the colours stripe when knitted.

Another dormant WIP  may see some action soon is my Tatiana pullover. I'm not spinning this one but using Ashford's Tekapo 100% wool in dark red (looks brighter in the photo than it really is). I'm dipping my toe in the crochet pool, I'm relatively new to it. This jumper has a lovely 'shell' pattern made from puff stitches, which I'm enjoying.

Bathroom curtains finished

I've posted about this project so many times while it's been in progress, but at last I can say that it's finished!

Woven from merino wool / silk, spindle spun. Warp is commercial cottolin, woven on a 4-shaft 32" loom. Pattern is a herringbone twill, the draft is among the photos on Flickr.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/shieladixon/sets/72157631870368704/

loom warped

I feel as if I've hit a milestone with this project - I have all 480 ends of the warp on the loom and threaded through the heddles. Plain sailing now? Hopefully. Time for a round-up of pictures so far. The warp is cream cottolin, the weft is the merino / silk mix that I'm spinning by hand spindle.

Weaving with a harness loom - 6 things I've learned

I've been doing more weaving recently, and with a bathroom redecoration 'looming', this article has inspired me to make a pair of curtains for the smallest room.

It also contains some good easy-to-follow guidance about calculating yardage needed for warp and weft.

Much experimentation with yarns and patterns has yielded some results I really like. The ideal colour came from handspun made from my gold-ish 'fairy wings' blend in merino and silk (warp is cream cottolin). For the main part of the curtains it's going to be this herringbone weave, and check out the 'waffle' weave! That will make a great decorative border!

One really nice surprise is that the work is translucent! Light behind this sample brings out the patterns and the gold colour.

That surprise has inspired a matching lampshade too!

(Yes, you guessed - that second picture is cropped because the edges looked really untidy!)

Here's the promised list of lessons learned along the way:

1. Warping takes time and is intricate work, and when you want to weave a different pattern it generally means threading up differently. But with a little application and a good audiobook, it's relaxing and enjoyable.

2. Care taken when threading can save lots of time re-threading.

3. Once warped, the weaving process is very quick and rewarding

4. Weaving with singles is perfectly good and the work doesn't bias as knitting can.

5. There are many permutations of similar or different warp and weft (colour and thickness) giving a wide variety of fabrics.

6. Repairing broken warp threads is possible but it's a bit of a pain and far better to take care and not break them in the first place.

So - a secondhand four-shaft loom of a suitable width has been procured - pencil is in hand to calculate my number of ends and yardages, and then it's carding, spinning and warping. Most interesting redecoration I've ever done!

looming large!

It's been a very long time since I warped this loom and started learning to weave using an 8-shaft loom (to be honest only threading 4 of those 8 but that was taxing enough). This afternoon felt right to pick up the shuttle and do some more.

I warped using one colour so that I could experiment with plain and twills. After a while, I'm very pleased to see that my edges are coming nice and parallel. This 2/1 twill seems to be a great pattern for showing up unevenness, but the diagonal stripes are becoming straighter with time.

Above is a mostly-warp 3/1, moving back and forth to create a chevron

And here are some more variations - swiss twill, alternating (really not quite sure what went wrong there!) and a zig-zag

less than warp speed

I'm warped up now. It took a whole afternoon and some of the evening, and I've only used a part of the width of this slim loom (96 ends) and four of the eight shafts.


I can't imagine getting to grips with this if I wasn't already familiar with warping up my knitters loom, and it's difficult to imagine how long it would take to fill the width of one of the wider looms.


The few passes of chunky yarn is a heading - to spread the threads out evenly after the knots. This is also useful to test whether the warp ends are all threaded properly (they weren't) and give you a chance to sort any problems out before you go any further (I did).