Wednesday 11 May 2016

A Happy Scarf

I did a semi-organisation of my stash last week, partly to try and get it a bit more ordered but also to remind myself of the yarn I've got.

Whilst going through it, I found one of my early hand-spun yarns and also the leftover part balls of King Cole Merino DK that I'd used to make Lucy hats for my Mum and older sister.  I got the yarns out and put the King Cole next to the hand-spun to see which colours went best as I had in mind a woven scarf.

Yesterday I got out my loom for the first time since last November or early December and used the King Cole yarn to make a striped warp:


I ran out of the warp yarn before I could finish the last stripe of the olive green, so put in an extra bottle green one, because I decided it wasn't the end of the world if it wasn't completely symmetrical.

Then I got weaving.  And I wove and I wove and I wove, using the handspun for the weft:


By the time the girls went to bed, I'd got to the end of the warp, so hem-stitched it and cut the scarf off the loom.

After dinner, I settled down to watch an (old) episode of Midsomer Murders and decided to do a twisted fringe.  It was a bit fiddly (there are machines you can buy that make the job a bit quicker and easier) but wasn't too bad to do once I'd got into a rhythm and then I snipped the ends off so it was all even and then dunked it in a basin of warm water to soak while I had a cup of tea.

After squishing it in a towel to take out the excess water, I folded the scarf and put it in my airing cupboard overnight and mid-morning today, I took it out, smoothed it and snapped a photo:


Done!!

It could do with a press to smooth it out, but I wasn't going to get out my ironing board and iron just for one scarf, so that can wait.

I'm rather pleased with it.  Can you tell?

I've got another of my earlier hand-spun yarns, plus two 50g balls of a blue DK yarn (Sirdar Balmoral, I think) which will probably get similar treatment, although I might use my bigger (8 threads per inch) heddle to make a drapier fabric.

I've also made two more hedgehogs and am being badgered to make another one (my orders are to knit a gold one next, with a white face and feet):



I feel like I'm on a production line with these!  After the gold one, I've only got one ball of tinsel yarn left, so hopefully I'll get a break (although they don't take that long to make).