Monday, July 26, 2010

Black and White

Can you believe that it has been 5 months since this warp has been sitting on my loom? Yep, since February! This year is flying by and I honestly am not sure where the time has gone.
This is a colour and weave (yes Kaz, it is black and white - they are colours!?) practice warp (and it has become a full scarf sample) and I had actually forgotten how long the warp was when I decided to stop weaving. I should have checked the blog post! If I did, I would not have gone into a panic and thought that I had not allowed enough for some other bits of sampling I really wanted to do! 
The woven length prior to finishing was approx 150cm. I was happy with that, but I had forgotten to allow for the shrinkage after wet finishing. It shortened to 140cm...... Well, it is still long enough to wear but not enough to loop around twice nor to double up and thread through.

It was great having this project on KaTe (the 8 shaft coutermarche floor loom). It gave me a chance to get to know the loom, to try out something that demanded a balance weave and to admire the overhead beater that almost does the work on its own. The beautiful solid piece of timber that carries its own momentum in its weight makes the beating a breeze.
The foot treadles also made this 50-pick repeat so easy compared to the table loom, and so much faster!

I love my fringe twister gadget from Leclerc. I would not have been able to bear doing all those twists without it. It helps with consistency and speed.  

6 comments:

Meg said...

Goodness, Sampling, get a hold of yourself! Two posts in one day!

Hee hee, nice to see you're weaving.

sampling said...

Meg, never know how long you will have to wait for the next post!? I have another warp on KaTe and that needs to be done by the end of August so........

Dianne said...

Great scarf. Have you thought of placing a few rows of tabby at the beginning and end of your fabric to hold your precious weaving in place before twisting the tassels.
Cheers.

Leigh said...

Color-&-Weave is always a delight to the eye. Your black and white contrast looks stunning.

sampling said...

Thanks Dianne and Leigh for your comments.
Dianne, I have been examining a lot of scarf to see how other people do it. Usually I actually hem stitch first to secure the weave before I do the twisted fringe. I have used tabby in other instances but this threading does not give a true tabby, so I thought I will give it a go without it. I am interested to know how other people approach this!
Leigh, I do like this high contrast with the B&W. I just wished I made it longer! I will have to do another one!

c u r i o u s w e a v e r said...

Amanda - I don't think that black and white are colours! There is no purple to be seen.....:)