Friday, July 13, 2012

Scary slow progress

Usually my slow progress is because life gets in the way of weaving.  For my current (and first) diversified plain weave project the slow progress is because I found I needed to slow down my weaving.

I am probably about average in weaving speed.  Since I am a hobby weaver, I can go at a consistent pace that is not overly tiring.  With this project I need to take extra care with my beat and advance my warp more often.

I am very happy with the look of the piece as it takes shape. It really looks like fiber pixels.  I love the oversized design in chenille.  ( You may recognize this as Susan Poague's  project from Handwoven Mag #160) And so far tension has not been an issue.


Maybe I will have this done by Halloween!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Scary Warp

diversified plain weave
No this is not the scary warp because of the halloween colors.

This is my first attempt at a diversified plain weave.  I warped using chenille as the thick fiber and 20/2 cotton as the thin fiber.  I tend to be a perfectionist and the process of winding the chenille with the unruly 20/2 pushed me to my limits of maintaining order.  Not only is this my first diversified plain weave, it is also my first time using 20/2 in the warp.

A friend and I decided that our summer study would be diversified plain weave since neither of us really understood the structure.  Once we realized that it creates a stabilizing grid, the chenille project seemed a natural.  My friend B does a lot of chenille weaving and is looking for a way to ... well, diversify.

The project will produce two scarves.  The black and orange color choice came from school colors for scarf one.   So the same colors will be used for weft.  For the other scarf I am thinking of using something much redder with the black to tone down the halloween look.

Although as I begin the weaving process it is nice to be thinking of the cooler days of Fall!