Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Ah, Spring, every year you tease me! [Scarf 30]

You can take a girl out of the Pacific Northwest and transplant her to the Great White North but you can't take away her hope each year that maybe, just this once, Spring will come early. This year it really seemed like it might happen, too. This was our walk in the park on Sunday:


Chickadees and buds on the trees...


squirrels and bird feeders and green plants in the background...


and snow receding into pleasant memory.



That was Sunday. This was today:


I just have to face facts: Spring in Cape Breton is the third week of June. Sigh.

Oh well, it may not be Spring outside but it certainly is inside! Last Friday I finally wound that blue/green/brown warp I've been alluding to for some time now and today it went on the loom. This is a colour combo I came up with last fall:


I've woven this with brown, blue, tan, yellow and even a bright chartreuse but this time I wanted something that said "Spring" so after considering a few other options I went with a soft, light green (the top spool):


This warp is all 4/8 cotton rather than the 8/8 I've been using so much lately. I've been itching to do something besides the standard scarf of the past few weeks, so I'm trying a new experiment: I've got this sleyed at the same 12 EPI that I generally use for 4/8 but I left big gaps in the reed, which account for the extra texture that you see in the cloth. I'm not sure yet whether they're going to work as they are, so I may cut this scarf off and wet finish it before weaving the next and then fiddle the gaps or the threading around if need be.

The hope is that the finished scarf will be open and airy and that, even though it's wide (15" in the reed), it will have enough drape to be comfortable gathered up round your neck and worn as a scarf. The fear is that it'll just be sleazey. I can't get too anxious about it though since, if that does turn out to be the case, it'll just mean I get a new scarf for myself rather than the shop! It's a win-win. :)


I tried to weave this without a temple but the draw in was just too much for the weft to pack in well at the selvedges without it, so I added it after about 15". This made the weaving slower than usual but was well worth the extra trouble.


I finished it up while chatting on the phone with my dear ol' Mum, which gave me a crick in the neck from clamping the phone to my shoulder but was also well worth the extra trouble. Big news from out her way: two of the pieces she's got in an upcoming show have already sold, and the show doesn't even open until Friday. Huzzah! Huge congrats, Ma!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

That's a serious snow dump for the 1st of April -- which it is at your house, if not here. Looks like it did on New Year's Day! No daffodils for you yet, I'll bet.

Will be interesting to see how the gaps in your warp turn out. Please show us an "after" picture!

OXOXO Mom

Beth said...

We had a snow like that in Virginia six years ago on March 30th. Really late for us in the mid-Atlantic. Again, love the colors! I'd also like to see an after photo.

Unknown said...

Would you believe that it snowed this morning on Vashon, my dear! Didn't stick, but it SNOWED! On April 1st! Ridiculous.

OXOXO Mom

Anonymous said...

That's a rather cruel April Fools joke for the weather to play!

I'm also interested in seeing and hearing your report on how the gaps in the warp turn out after wet finishing.
Fun color combination!

Janet said...

I got mail from a couple other PNW weavers who mentioned snow this morning and did a double take - had to check my facts and make sure I didn't hallucinate that they lived in the Seattle area. I feel your pain, ladies.

Happily, it's above zero today so the snow is melting; should be 7 degrees tomorrow so it all might be gone before the rain comes on Saturday. Seriously hoping so, since we still haven't gotten the chimney fixed...

Life Looms Large said...

Snow.... I was almost afraid to read your whole post because I could tell it would have snow pictures in it.

Hopefully it will melt quickly and spring will resume!!!

Sue