The Great Big Green Blanket Project
A couple weeks ago, I dyed a giant skein of brushed adult mohair (980 ypp) in shades of robin’s egg blue, pale turquoise, pale greens and chartreuse. I left it sitting out in the living room, trying to decide what to do with it — my living room is a warm, apple green colour and it wouldn’t match, really. But Michelle was over and really liked it, so I offered to weave her a blanket. Her living room is a cool, pale green colour with super dark chocolate brown furniture, so a big, fluffy green blanket would be perfect for keeping warm while knitting during the fall or winter months.
Now that my fuschia silk scarf is nearly done, I started warping for this blanket. The warp is Briggs & Little Regal, a soft and cushy 2-ply wool from New Brunswick. This is their “Bleached White” colour that I’m going to dye to match the mohair. The colour samples are from a binder I borrowed from Place des Arts. The binder is full of Kiton Acid dye formulas and samples — the closest thing to the WashFast Acid dyes I’ll be using. I don’t expect the results to be dead on, but it’s nice to have a rough guide.
I got to use a warping mill during class last night. Very fun and much faster than a warping board. The warp is approximately 450 ends and 3 yards long. It will go on one of the 45″ Leclerc looms (must be a Nilus?) at the school. I prepared the warp in five groups — 75, 75, 90, 90, and 120 ends each. This way, I can dye each bundle a slightly different shade… some pale green, some pale turquoise, etc.
Hopefully this won’t be overkill — handpainted weft in mohair, solid dyed wide stripes for warp, and plain weave throughout (10 epi). Either way, I’m very excited as this will be my first time using the big floor loom…
Tags: blanket, mohair, place des arts, warping mill
Very nice project! I also have 500g of mohair that I intend to dye, and I don’t know yet what to do with it…
oh that yummy yummy green. It is just too fabulous. Where do you get mohair to dye yourself? It looks like a big pile of fluffy cotton candy right out of the machine!
A comment from a lurker here…
I don’t know the first thing about dyeing, spinning or weaving, but I enjoy your beautiful pictures and following your “dedicated self-study”. I like that term! Watching your self-studies make me wonder what Richard is doing during these adventures…
BTW, looks like you need to update the catch phrase at the top to “knit. spin. weave. shoot.”
Fun project! Watch out for those floor looms! They are addictive! Ask me how I know… (I have three.)
I’ll be following your progress. I’ll live vicariously through you before I make the investment of a floor loom, Li
Wow, that seems like a daunting task. How large do you expect the blanket to be?
My favorite weaving project was a double-wide 5-huck overshot blanket done in a robins-egg 8-ply cotton. Absolutely gorgeous! Sometime when you have the yarn and the patience you should try a double-wide blanket, in other words, one that could be used as a coverlet for a bed. I know you can do it on 4-harness looms, so long as you use a 2-harness weave pattern.
Those colors are drop freakin’ dead gorgeous! And perfect for my house too……hint, hint.
Oh. My. God. You are amazing. I swear, you are my hero, the amazing trip you’ve been on with knitting and spinning and dyeing and now weaving. I’ve been looking to get or make or knit a mohair blanket myself, I’ve been buying 100 gm bundles from Jane Stafford http://www.janestaffordtextiles.com/ - she’s another inspiration. I wish I lived back in B.C., y’all are amazing out there. You go, girl!
So so yummy and lovely!
Love the green on the mohair. Reminds me of Brooks Farm Fiber in Lancaster Texas. They were a hit at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. There is a write-up in photos and sounds on Knitters Review. I did put the link up on my blog. It was awesome. Also have you seen Tina’s Blue Moon Fibers Socks That Rock (STR) yarn. All 800 skeins were sold out at the Maryland show. The Fold carries them and they’re almost always hard to get. They’re an inspiration just like you are.
Arianie
Be careful about big green blankets… have you read Yarn Harlot?