Scarves During a Pandemic

Finally for this phase of the pandemic, scarves are really the true story.  In March, I wove a silk merino scarf in colors that weren't really my thing.  This yarn was 50-50 merino and silk blend.  I used it in the warp and weft, weaving an extended point twill design.

  

Coral-Green Merino Silk

Coral-Green Merino Silk - detail

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When we went into self-isolation, I thought it was finally time to start using the good yarn.  I had been promising myself for about five or six years to do that.  I was headed to the silk yarn I have but on the way got a bit diverted by tencel yarns.  I really thought it might be a safer choice on the way to using silk.  

Over the years, I had bought several (read many) skeins of Just Our Yarns 10/2 tencel yarns.  They had fabulous colors and encouraged a mix and match approach to weaving with them.  Sadly, the company is no longer in business, but there were those skeins in the yarn bin.  

I approached the first scarf in tencel with a bit of trepidation.  I hadn't woven with it before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  After a little research and discussion with other weavers, I sett the warp at 36 epi.  I chose a fuchsia yarn for the warp and blue for the weft.  These yarns are all variegated, so there is lots of variation in the yarn colors.  The warp was threaded in a fancy point twill and the tie-up was a 2-2-1-1-1-1 twill (as all of these scarves use). 

I found that the scarf almost wove itself - so effortlessly.  I was amazed.    

Fuchsia Blue

Fuchsia Blue - detail

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I was so happy with the results of the previous scarf and how easily it wove, I decided to weave another one.  The second scarf used a green variegated warp and a rust var. weft.  It was threaded as an extended point twill.   

Green-Orange

Green-Orange - detail

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Things were moving so smoothly, I kept weaving scarves.  The next one was a different green variegated warp with a fuchsia variegated weft.  

Green Fuchsia

Green Fuchsia - detail

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I kept going - it was May and I located the blue 10/2 tencel yarn I had.  This scarf had both a blue warp and weft of slightly different colorways.  It was threaded as a point twill.  

Blues

Blues - detail

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It was getting to be summer and a friend asked me if I ever wove scarves without fringe.  No, I hadn't because it was harder to get a good edge.  but this did get me thinking about doubleweave hems - a good way to have a nice clean edge without the extra bulk of a folded over hem.  For me details about that adventure, check out a previous blog post:  https://foothillweaving.blogspot.com/2020/09/scarves-with-doubleweave-hems.html .

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I wove two scarves with doubleweave hems.  This second attempt had twill hem as well as a twill design for the scarf itself.  For this scarf, I used the leftover yarn from the previous scarves as the warp.  I alternated two colors until I ran out of one or the other and added a new color when that left off.  Since there were similar colors in all of the yarns, they all went together.  The threading was a straight draw on eight shafts and the tie-up was a 2-2-1-1-1-1 twill.  Although it only needed eight shafts, in order to create the twill doubleweave hem, I needed 16 treadles, so I wove this on my dobby loom.  

Blue-Fuchsia w/ Doubleweave hem 

Blue-Fuchsia  - detail

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Having gotten really comfortable with 10/2 tencel, I decided it was time to weave a scarf with silk.  I chose a pink variegated 20/2 silk for the warp and purple 20/2 from Redfish Dye Works for the weft.  I used an advancing point twill on eight shafts for the threading and a different one for the treadling.  After consulting sources and weaving friends, I sett the warp at 30 epi. 

 

Pink Silk Drawdown

Pink Silk - Detail

Pink Silk

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The next scarf was in tencel.  I chose an orange-green variegated for the warp and green-blue for the weft.  The threading and treadling was the same as the silk scarf above.  

Green-Orange

Green-Orange - detail

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The last scarf came off the loom this past week.  It was woven with two color ways of blue 10/2 tencel.  The threading was an extended point twill and the treadling an advancing point twill.

Blue-Maroon

Blue-Maroon - detail

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I've enjoyed delving into the use of tencel and a little exploration with silk.  I am sure there will be more scarves like these in the future.  I had been weaving scarves exclusively with wool and wool blends.  Here are a few examples of wool scarves. The orange is a blend of sock yarns.  It was threaded as an extended point twill with the 2-2-1-1-1-1 tie-up.  In addition to teh twisted fringe, I added some beads.

Fire 1

Fire 1 - detail

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These two scarves were woven using yarn that was dyed by Vice Yarn while it was in a knitting blank.  The yarn is then unknitted and wound in a cake skein.  The yarn is crimped from the process which gives the finished scarf an interesting texture.  These two scarves were threaded as undulating twills.  

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I'm sure we will be in self-isolation for many more months, so I'm looking forward to more exploration and more scarves.

Shawls of the Pandemic

It's been a long eight months so far.  I've taken the opportunity to use up some yarn.  I usually think that shawls are the best way to really create empty spaces in the yarn tubs, but it doesn't seem to work out that way.  

While I've woven several shawls this year during lock-down, there aren't as many as I thought I had.  Most of these shawls are primarily wool.  Some have nylon and others alpaca/silk blend.  They are all woven on eight shafts in some sort of twill.  The tie-up for all of these is a 2-2-1-1-1-1 twill. 

The warp of this shawl is Mt Colors Mountain Goat in Hummingbird and Wilderness, alternated.  The warp is a 70/30 alpaca silk from a local alpaca rancher.  The design is an extended point twill.

Mt Colors Greens -Purples

Mt Colors Greens -Purples - detail

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This shawl was woven using Mountain Goat yarn as well from Mountain Colors.  The colorways Yellowstone and Gold Rush were used.  The weft was a yarn from Madeline Tosh in a red.  It's an extended point twill.  

Mt Colors Gold - detail

Mt Colors Gold

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The following are shawl's I wove before the shut-down.  This one is grays and charcoals is made using 70/20 alpaca silk from a local alpaca rancher for both the warp and weft.  The structure is an undulating twill.

Gray-Black Alpaca - detail

Gray-Black Alpaca

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For last year's County Fair, I wove a shawl inspired by the ground of our county.  There was lots of gold taken out of the earth hereabouts.  The warp and weft was yarn from Madeline Tosh: Tosh Sock in Ginger (merino wool) for the warp and Madeline Tosh Twist Light in Stephen Loves Tosh for the weft.  It was woven in an extended point twill.

Nevada County Inspiration

Nevada County Inspiration - detail

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This colorful shawl was woven using Malabrigo Arroyo yarn (Camaleon 684) for the warp and Madeline Tosh DK (Mandala) for the weft.  Malabrigo is interesting yarn.  They have beautiful colors but each skein can look very different - all of the same colors but in different proportions.  This shawl was woven as an undulating twill. 

Green Chameleon Malabrigo - detail

Green Chameleon Malabrigo 

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This very autumn colored shawl was woven using Berroco Ultra Alpaca in various browns and rusts for the warp and Ultra Alpaca Light for the weft.  For this shawl, I chose a fancy point twill on eight shafts.

Alpaca Autumn - detail

Alpaca Autumn

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This last shawl is woven from Mountain Colors yarn - River Twist (Spring Creek) for the warp and Mountain Goat (Harmony Plum) for the weft.  The 8-shaft twill was a very extended point twill.  

Mt Colors Purple

Mt Colors Purple - detail

There are bound to be many more months of self-isolation this winter, and there is a lot more yarn.  I will most likely be weaving more shawls.  

Pandemic Towels

Having been in lockdown for eight months, I thought I would review what I've been weaving during the time of COVID-19.  I have a few towels that were woven before March 2020, but most of these were made since then.

All of the towels were woven using 10/2 mercerized cotton in both the warp and weft, sett at 30 epi.  Each set of towels were woven as some sort of point twill - most of them were different - on eight shafts.  The tie-up for all was a 2-2-1-1-1-1 twill.  

I am still using pictures as color inspiration and creating random stripes as the color design.  An online random stripe generator is very useful when designing the stripes, although I do tweak the color order and stripe size a bit.  I work toward proportion of values across each warp that emphasize the medium value colors and use less of the high intensity and dark value colors.

The latest towels off the loom, I called Lupine towels - inspired by a picture of a mountainscape with flowers.   

Colors for Lupine towels

Lupine Towels edge

Lupine Towels

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The Golden Gate towels were inspired by a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge over the Bay.  

Golden Gate Towel Inspiration and Yarn

Golden Gate Towels

Golden Gate Towels - edge

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The Beach Towels resulted from work I did to put together a presentation to my local fiber guild.  I talked a bit about my process for designing these striped colored towels.  To give an illustration, I chose this picture of Honolulu.  I liked the colors so much that I wove towels using the color choices.

Beach Towel Inspiration and Yarns

Beach Towels

Beach Towels - Edge

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The Mountain Meadow Towels were an attempt to use more green - not my favorite color.  It wasn't a lot of green , but more than I normally use.

Mountain Meadow Color Inspiration and Yarn

Mountain Meadow Towels

Mountain Meadow Towels - Edge

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I have a few random towels left over from various warps.  The Candy Box towel was design with the same striping as the others above.  The inspiration was a box rather than a picture.  The Turned Taquete was the result of a group study of the weave structure.  

Candy Box Towel Inspiration

Candy Box Towel

Turned Taquete

I have always loved natural bleached cotton yarn as a basis for towels.  The Russian Cloth Towels are woven on 4-shafts using a fancy 2/2 twill pattern.

Russian Cloth

Although the pandemic has been catastrophic for so many people, it has given me a chance to weave more than usual.