More dyeing

Got another two batches of dyeing done tonight - purple and green. The green looks like it's pretty much exactly what I wanted, the purple may be a bit redder than I was aiming for. I'll have to see what they look like when they're dry (and take photos), but I may change my plans slightly. I had been planning to do the fourth colour as a burgundy, but if the purple is too red then I may pick something completely different.

Dyeing and ribbon

I managed to get some dyeing done this weekend. Wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it actually worked approximately how I had hoped. The yarn is a 2 ply, one ply is a pale brown linen, the other ply a dusty rose synthetic. I used Earth Palette reactive dye (blue), and as I had hoped the pink failed to take any of it. The blue is actually darker than I had thought it would be (I suspect because I used the weight of the yarn, rather than the weight of the linen for my calculations). I'm still trying to work out whether I want to do a purple batch too. I think I may have to dig out one of my other dye pots and do two batches at once next time.

The tablet weaving is progressing slowly - it works well when I can sit down and work on it uninterrupted, but it's not so good when I'm trying to do things like cooking dinner at the same time. It's about 50cm long so far. There are a few mistakes, and the tension is horribly uneven (both of these are at least partly because of not just working on it constantly). I still like the effect of the floats, and I definitely like my new cards (super-thin plywood, rather than playing cards). They're much easier to manipulate, and seem to tangle a lot less than the playing cards did.

I'm not sure how well the ribbon will photograph - I'll have to have a good play and see just how good my camera is at close-ups.

New weaving

I haven't managed to get any dyeing done so far, but I did start a new piece of weaving. Tablet weaving this time, it's just a small green satin ribbon to use as a lacing cord. It's made to this design (Third pattern here). I'm only using 14 cards though - 2 on each side for the border. I wasn't sure it was working to start with, but it's now about 10cm long and I'm quite happy with how it's working.

I've planned for it to be about 1m long, and it's about 5mm wide. It may actually be a bit wider than I wanted, but I'll see what it's like to use when it's done.

Weekend progress

This weekend I managed to get around to buying a notebook, with the theory that I'll use it for keeping track of weaving stuff. And it's kind of worked so far (admittedly I've only had it for two days).

Thus far I have done more planning for the next project than I had managed in the weeks of pondering that I've had until now. It's going to be a blanket with huck lace panels, woven double width. I managed a couple of pages of calculations, the result of which was me winding some skeins of yarn for dyeing. I'm hoping to get them washed tonight in preparation, and if I'm doing really well I'll be able to wind the warp in the weekend. If I'm not doing so well I may have to get some more (possibly different) dye.

And once I've done that I shall have to start collecting notes for the other things I want to try...

Photos (finally)

I took these photos last week, but only got around to uploading them last night. The photos showing a lighter blue are closer to the actual colour.

First tea towel:
Whole thing


Close up on front


Close up on back


Second tea towel:
Whole thing


Close up on front


Close up on back


Third piece (face cloth perhaps?):


Last bit - just a sampler to see how close to the end of the warp I could comfortably get.


My favourite pieces are the white cloth and the second tea towel. And I now have a better feel for my loom, which was the real point of the exercise.