sweetgeorgia

Simple.

I lurve Friday weaving. The six-yard 18/2 silk and wool warp is on the loom and I’m weaving the first half in Dornick twill with a darker purple weft. The second half will be “crystal” twill (just a different treadling) and a magenta weft. Say “yay” for daylight in Vancouver.

We’ve only gone a few steps… but I think I’m in love.

Mixed up.

Destash. I’ve set myself a bit of a laughable goal in wanting to use up pretty much every last drop of my yarn stash. The aim is to not acquire any new yarn until I’m done with the current stash. Jen, this does not include the lovely yarns I picked from your stash… you are going to London and it’s just not practical for you to take all your yarns.*

I’m attempting to destash by breaking up bags of yarns that were originally destined for full-on sweaters, because, really… when will I have time to sit and knit two sleeves, two front pieces and a back? Instead, I wanted this big, chunky scarf … I didn’t realize, however, that it was going to weigh about 200 lbs.

Ingredients for the knit scarf:

• 2 x 50g of dark eggplant alpaca from La Droguerie, purchased in Tokyo
• 2 x 50g of Rowanspun 4-ply in Rumtoft
• 2 x 25g of Rowan Lurex Shimmer in Bronze
• 1 x 25g of Rowan Kid Silk Haze in Splendour
• 3 skeins of Habu Tsumugi Silk, purchased in Kichijoji
• 1 x 100g of 5/2 bombyx silk, handdyed in cochineal

I’m looking to make this scarf about 10 feet long if I can manage it…

And this is destashing by handweaving with mixed warps… I used up the Saje and Golden Siam silk yarns that I purchased in San Francisco about two years ago. Plus, I added two strands of 5/2 bombyx silk… one pale lavendar (from cochineal with no mordant) and one pale cool green (from osage overdyed lightly with natural indigo). The dark green warp thread is cashmere and nylon. The weft is 100% silk… slubby and raw… and completely purple. I feel like this scarf might have been fulled a bit too much (my washer and I are still getting acquainted) but it is now wonderfully soft and warm.

Today, the 6-yard silk/wool warp is going on the loom.

*Aww yes, my friend Jen (of South African yarn tourism fame) is moving to London TOMORROW and has started writing about her adventures already … here …

Handwoven Rug

I’ve been quite infatuated with Peter Collingwood for a while now. Maybe it’s that he left medicine to be a weaver. Maybe it’s that he wrote the bible on rug weaving. No idea. Or maybe it’s just that fiercely beating a weft into submission is pretty darn enjoyable.

This rag rug was woven on the 45″ Leclerc countermarche loom at Place des Arts. The warp is 132 ends of plain ol’ white cotton butcher string and the weft is old jeans ripped or cut into 1/2″ strips. Sometimes, I cut the jeans with sewing scissors… other times, I got tired and started ripping the cloth… and other times, I used a fancy Olfa rotary cutter. There were a couple different colours of denim and they all blended together and created a bit of a mottled result. I wove for about one yard and cut the rug off the loom, finishing the ends on a sewing machine.

It’s such a good feeling. Save your denim. Recycle something. Get a workout. All at the same time!

I think it took only about three short sessions of weaving at Place des Arts to weave this up. At times, I think the loud banging from the loom as each shot was whacked into place frightened the other students in the class. I heard someone whisper, “Felicia Lo. She can beat the snot out of you.”

Stretching to grow.

Without a doubt, I love me some sugar-crazed pink and red. But lately, I’ve been going completely out of my element and dyeing colours that I absolutely love but are just so unlike me.

The weld and walnut are from Earth Hues in Ballard, Seattle. The indigo is Maiwa’s natural indigo. And the silk is all different weights… fine 20/2 silk laceweight, dk-weight silk singles, heavy worsted silk/merino singles.

I’m experimenting and just trying to work with colours that I’m not entirely comfortable with… I’ll grow into these. The most interesting combinations are actually the walnut dyed silks that are overdyed in indigo… the result is this earthy green, dark gold colour. It’s almost impossible to describe.