Warp #4 in review

Here it is, the long awaited warp 4 in review!¹ Long awaited by me anyway - for some reason I've had trouble getting this one done. I didn't love all the scarves on the warp and then I had a little uboo when wet finishing them - I think they're okay but it made me drag my feet a bit. Some of you might be thinking to yourselves, "hang on now, I don't remember warp 3 being reviewed," and you'd be right. Warp #3 was the black sad trombone shawl that's still waiting for its fringes to be twisted. When I get around to that, I'll post after-finishing pics of it, too. I'll warn you now, though, this might wind up waiting until my dear ol' Mum comes in May. ;)

So here is warp #4, which covers scarves 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13:



And finally, here are the vital statistics for the scarves that I've been promising:

Warp: 4/8 cotton set at 12 EPI, 90 ends = 7.5" in the reed.
Scarf #9: weft = 4/8 cotton, finished dimensions = 64" x 6"
Scarf #10: weft = 8/8 cotton, finished dimensions = 67" x 6"
Scarf #11: weft = 6/12 rayon slub, finished dimensions = 59" x 5.75"
Scarf #12: weft = cotton chenille mill ends ~1450 ypp, finished dimensions = 72" x 5.5"
Scarf #13: weft = cotton chenille mill ends ~1450 ypp, finished dimensions = 55" x 5.5"

The 4/8 cotton I used for warp 4 is finer than the 8/8 cotton I used in warp 1 but thicker than most of the threads in warp 2. Scarves 9 and 11-13 turned out well: 9 is super drapey and 11 is like water, whereas the chenilles are a bit thicker and very soft. Mmm, yummy!

Scarf #10 was an experiment that had mixed results. I used the 8/8 cotton on a 4/8 warp since I've been so happy with a 4/8 cotton on an 8/8 warp. Ha. What I didn't account for was the fact that in the 8/8 warps I'm beating in the 4/8 cotton at about 9 PPI, whereas this 4/8 warp was set at 12 EPI. As a result, Scarf #10 is Pretty Stiff. I've given it a good hard press and might try cold mangling it as well, except that I've only got the usual wooden rolling pin so I'm not sure how I'd get a hard enough press. If I make the experiment, I'll let you know what I used and how it turned out. If that doesn't soften the scarf up a bit I might wind up using it as yardage and sew some tiny little things out of it. Or I might just bung it in the shop this summer rather than list it online anywhere - that way if anyone buys it it'll be because they love it just the way it is.

So, the upshot is that, if I use an 8/8 on a 4/8 warp again, I'll have to beat it much lighter. I think I'll just avoid doing that, though, since the 4/8 weft and a similar weight of rayon made such nice, soft drapey scarves.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the finishing uboo, it's just that I left them in the dryer longer than I really should have, so the rayon weft got a little bit over cooked. It's okay to leave the cotton ones in until they're properly dry but I've learned that it's best to take the rayon ones out while still slightly damp. I did that with warp #5, which I wet finished today and which is now drying on a rack in the yarn room - really should have taken it straight to the ironing board and pressed it while it was damp but I was anxious to take my warp 4 pics while the light was still good.

By "pressed" I really mean ironed, though I did give Scarf #10 a good, hard press this time round. I still use the word "press" to mean anything I do with an iron but I know that, strictly speaking, it should be reserved for the really good, hard press - with lots of, yes, pressure - that you can do to really seat the fibres and flatten them out and help them to find their place in life. Laura, if you're reading, you'll be rather proud to learn that I promptly went out and bought a new extra wide ironing board with stronger legs after taking your Magic in the Water course (twice) -- because I bent all the legs on my old one trying to press things hard enough. ;) I'm afraid I've since fallen off the wagon a bit in this respect but I haven't forgotten what I learned, really I haven't! I'm just a lazy bugger at heart is all. :)

So there you have it: warp #4! Warp #5 is already wet finished, as I mentioned, so hopefully I can review that one pretty soon too. It's my peony warp that I'm still so enamoured of so I don't anticipate any foot dragging where it's concerned. :)

And now I'd best go weave scarf #19. Holy cow - only one scarf left this month after today!


1. I'm going to review warp by warp from now on rather than week by week since the warps and weeks aren't synched up anymore.