Another Wool-Alpaca Blanket

A new blanket, A203, is posted on my Picasa page of wool blankets.  All my wool-alpaca blankets include 50% handspun alpaca from Heritage Valley.  It is beautiful fibre and a dream to spin.  And I've just been invited to the shearing in late May which should be really interesting.

This blanket has three alpaca colours - dark brown and two shades of caffe latte or cappuccino, depending on your taste.  I'm really pleased with this one.  Thanks to my special young friend for contributing a length of spun fibre to help me out - you made all the difference.

I'm finishing the 10 (maybe 11) wool blankets and have begun warping the small loom for some wacky towels (wacky = bright colours).

More Wool Blankets

After the challenges of the green blankets - and some did turn out quite nicely, I have to admit  - I am back to my forte: wool blankets in a mix of charcoal, grey, cream and a plied grey and cream.  I wove two blankets yesterday and finished in the evening with the third well underway.  It is so nice to feel the rhythm of the shuttle popping back and forth with the yarn streaming out smoothly.  I've woven one blanket in all commercial wool (B118) and two of handspun Romney weft from the local Wenger Sheep Farm.  Here's the first blanket:

Now to post the green cotton blankets on Picasa ...

Jane

Finishing the Green Blankets

Sunday was beautiful out, and I washed four of the blankets and hung them out to dry in the light breeze. I always like to stand back for a moment and look at my work ...

One blanket is fringed and the other three are machine hemmed. Five more to hem but I've been diverted by warping the next wool blankets in charcoal, light grey, a lovely cream, and plied grey and cream.  60" wide on the loom and ten blankets to weave once I'm ready to go.  Can't wait!

Green Blankets

The green blankets are off the loom and in various stages of finishing. It is always exciting to finish the weaving and unwind all the cloth onto my lap and then haul me and the roll of cloth off the bench.  And then ... unwind it on the floor and see it lengthened out!

Weaving always brings me surprises, surprises of all types.  There are the wonderful surprises of experimenting with a new weave structure, or combinations of colours, or something often unplanned that proves to be amazing. The other types of surprises we call experience.  In this case, the chenille blankets include some fatal flaws that make them unsellable in my opinion, and the lovely mousey taupe chenille looks pinky against the luscious and alive green.  A colour specialist probably could have predicted that. However, the cloth itself has a lovely weight and I have some ideas for other projects for the herringbone twill with one-quarter chenille, and I can't wait to get to that and put some of my new experience aside.

Here's a cotton blanket on the loom:

And here's the part-chenille blanket:

Well, good luck on this Friday the 13th!

Jane

Happy Easter

In the last week, I've received a lot of much-appreciated interest in what I'm doing ... this is all kind of hard to believe!  Thanks, everyone.  I've really enjoyed all your ideas and support.

My friend EM was intrigued by the "alive greens" I'm weaving and I sent her this photo. I'm weaving big cotton blankets in twill variations and this one is about 25% chenille.  The chenille weft alternates with regular spun cotton so that it's not too heavy a blanket, but still soft and cozy.  I've never done this before!

Handwoven fabric always turns from intersecting fibres on the loom into true fabric when it's washed, and this is another example of a potential transformation during washing.

I'm almost finished this warp of about 25 metres.  By this stage, I think many weavers are dying to finish up and get onto something else.  My next project will not be predominantly green!

I'm always open to ideas and feedback.  Have a great long weekend.

Jane