Tag Archive | weave

Not what I started but…

Aug7

I think it worked out okay, tho a more simple garment. I know poncho’s haven’t really been in style since Martha Stewart got out of jail but I’ve never had one and thought it might really work as well as a shrug for those coolish times of the day when you don’t really want a sweater. For one thing, sleeves are difficult in the shop. The sleeves either catch on the nails or sweep them off the work table, then I have to get out my handy dandy magnet on a handle and get them up off the floor. And same thing just sitting and weaving, they get hung up on everything. Not sure this garment will work any better but I’m going to try it. After trying it on again, I think I might end up adding a couple more rows to the neckline to raise it a bit, but I might wait until cooler weather to decide if I need that. I fitted a 12″ triangle at the back neck to raise the back a bit.  I just about had a heat stroke wearing this for Himself to take the photo. lol What with the smoke from the fire and the thunder storms, the heat and humidity are trapped at ground level here and it gets pretty uncomfortable. But here’s what I came up with. I’ve had some suggestions for the shrug and I have more Jiffy so it is still a possibility. But next on my to-do is tending to the peach crop!

front2back 2

Okay, scratch that.

Aug3

Added 8-3   Shrug is not working. Wanted to warn you here so you can rethink if you are following my examples. :-0      Not sure if it’s the plan or just my size. Plan rather simplistic, I agree. But it seemed like a good idea. Too short in back and too tight under the arms. tho the sleeves were plenty big.  I could probably  weave more squares and then cut and sew but I think I’ll just try something else this time. Stayed tuned!

But I do have a couple things to show you, meantime. This 14″ square was proving a little unhandy as a lap loom the other evening and I remembered I had this table easel over in my painting stuff so went and fetched it out. It works pretty good for this. My middle sister made one for me that sits on the edge of the table that would also work but I’m not sure where that one is at this point. But you might want to consider something like this if you’re having the same problem. I have it set on a dining chair to put it to the right height for me to work on from my chair.

DSC02345

The other thing is joining. You can do a russian join, which is what I have been doing, or if you have wool, the ‘spit’ join. But I just sewed the yarn into the new piece without the russian loop and it holds really well in both wool and acrylic. It may make a bit thinner lump that the previous type join. You could probably thin it by cutting plies before you stretch the join out, but I haven’t tried it yet. Sew the yarn into next strand, pull the last end flat (after you take the needle off) then work the first end flat. If you have a little lump at the beginning you can work that out with a needle and trim it.

join

Okay, I’m going to weave another 14″ twill square and think about what this is going to become since it’s not, after all, going to be a shrug.

 

What’s next?

Aug2

Added 8-3   Shrug is not working. Wanted to warn you here so you can rethink if you are following my examples. :-0      Not sure if it’s the plan or just my size. Plan rather simplistic, I agree. But it seemed like a good idea. Too short in back and too tight under the arms. tho the sleeves were plenty big.  I could probably  weave more squares and then cut and sew but I think I’ll just try something else this time. Stayed tuned!

 

I was thinking of trying another shawl, maybe a little bigger but the yarn I pulled out of stash proved to be insufficient for that but I think it’ll make a nice shrug. It’s, Lion Brand Jiffy that I bought when our Five & Dime went out of business some years back. Got a nice price for it. I could buy more but I’m trying to use stash. It’s a bulky yarn, acrylic. Soft, a little fluffy so that you have to open the shed each time to avoid tangles, but it weaves fast enough. I also have a skein of charcoal LB ‘Homespun’ that I might use to assemble or for some accent. I’m using the 14″ square this time and my squares are coming out about 12 1/2″.

DSC02337 weave sample

Here’s the plan. So far.

It’s a twill: Weave 7 rows plain.

Start pattern;

o1, u1,*o2, u1* end o1, u1.

The thing is that it is going to change at the ends every other row, just go with the pattern. And this might not work if you’re using another size looms but I’m sure you can figure it out. You just want to keep the edges neat. You can work a couple o1, u1  at each side if that works better for you.

This is what I more or less envision. You could use a couple more big squares on the sleeves if you have enough yarn to make them longer. I think these are going to be about 3/4 sleeves. Maybe even less. Humm….. Well, no point worrying about it now. I have a few more squares to weave.

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