Warped

For my recent birthday my husband bought me a loom.  When I say "bought", I mean he gave me some money for the Ashford Rigid Heddle loom I had already ordered from Forest Fibres.  I find presents work best like this: no hassle for him and the thing I actually want for me.

At the last meeting of the Weavers, Spinners and Dyers guild we were shown how to warp up our looms in a process called direct warping.  There were about fifiteen people in the workshop and every person then went on to weave a strip of fabric.  There was an incredible variety of work in progress by the end, with one person actually finishing a complete muffler.  I experimented with a variety of textured yarn in the same colour range, and was very pleased with the result.  The dark grey warp tones down some of the cerise.

And this is the beast in question.  I chose a 20inch version on the advice of an expert weaver - more flexibility in the long run.  It fits neatly on a tabletop.

This is my second effort, in a more neutral palettte.  This took only a couple of hours start to finish, but the result is disappointing.  This seems to be down to the yarn, as it has an overly rigid handle.  I liked the idea of stripes in subtle variations, using up odds and ends.

I was gifted some lovely tweed fabric by a friend in the Guild.  Her mother had stashed it away some years ago.  The labels for Strone House show that it came from the same merchants as my blue handwoven tweed from e-bay. 

I like to highlight a colour in the tweed for my top, and so I was delighted to spot a ribbon knit cardigan in a charity shop.  It was just the right shade, but had a loose floppy flounce all round. A few pulled threads and several feet of applied i-cord later and it should match up nicely.  Now I am thinking: brown leather boots...