Farm Friends Friday - A Sample For My Very First Farm Friend

Now that all the Punkin yarn has been spun and I've stewed and stewed on what to make with it, I've settled on a weaving project. A small throw. I toyed with adding in some gray Jacob stripes to pad my yardage a bit - sort of tying in the old with the new - but realized Punkin didn't really like any of the new sheep when they moved in (because he obviously wasn't a sheep... ;-) and therefore probably wouldn't like to share me with them even in a blanket.

Just as in knitting, you should sample in weaving as well. Especially when it's an irreplaceable yarn. I didn't have any Punkin yarn to spare, so I dug through my stash and found something very similar - some beautiful Shetland I'd spun from a roving sample from Michelle at Boulderneigh. My main concern was how I'd like a white on white pattern. This would be perfect.



My favorite pattern book is the classic A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Davison, commonly refered to as "the Davison book". I picked this pattern - one I'm always drawn to when I'm turning pages.



Because I think it's fun, I did a short draw down - marking the pattern as it would weave off using graph paper. This later came in handy as I started weaving because as the pattern changed, I ended up with a unusual float (one warp yarn traveling over several weft yarns) that I thought could not be right, but sure enough when I checked the draw down, it was correct.



The best part of weaving is watching the pattern start to develop.



Here is the finished sample, just off the loom. I wove this on my Baby Mac, but the Punkin throw will be woven on the big Macomber loom, which sadly has not been used one time since moving to the wool house. What?!?



If you look back at the just off the loom shot, you can probably tell that the fabric is sort of stiff, not something you'd want to drape around your shoulders. That's because even more than a knitted piece isn't truly finished until it's been properly blocked, woven fabric isn't finished until it's been fulled.

In this case, I took my tiny sample and soaked it in a pitcher of hot, soapy water. After it soaked for awhile I added a lid and shook the container to agitate, sort of like a washing machine. I stopped every 30 seconds to check my progress - you can always add 30 more seconds, but you can't take them away if you go too far. I ended up shaking a total of 2 minutes.

I was worried if it shrank down and fuzzed up too much that the pattern would lose it's soft definition, so I stopped maybe just a little short. Maybe not. I've got the sample sitting on the kitchen counter and I play with study it almost every time I walk past.



I love the subtle pattern. Sometimes you can barely see it, from other angles, dead obvious.



I also used two different fringe options. I think I like the messy loose fringe best. What would you choose?

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