Windsor's orange & gray waffle scarf

I love this time of year.  I've dug out warm scarves and coats, and have been baking bread and making pots and pots of tea. It has been really lovely to see autumn unfold a bit more visibly here compared to the last apartment. The trees out my windows had an amazing display of red and gold leaves, although they're gone now. Yesterday I happened upon boughs of blue spruce, tied them to the back of my bike and made wreaths with neighbors!

I've also been weaving up a storm, and the latest is a waffly pumpkin orange scarf that is perfect for containing heat! It is next in the series that draws inspiration from squares. I made this scarf with a traditional waffle weave in mind, but created a different type of cell structure. It is made of wool and mohair, with yarn from NY and Russia. I made one for myself because waffle is my favorite weave structure, and have been wearing it around town. It is so warm and soft. I've put it the other up for sale here.

Creating Cloth

One of my favorite things about weaving is the drafting process- analyzing cloth and figuring out its construction. There are infinite variations of interlacements possible. Working in the fashion industry has a few perks- I work in the fabric department, so all day long I am looking at hundreds of swatches and sample yardage cuts- it's a fabric lovers dream in that regard, even if the fabrics themselves can be a bit... moderate and, dare i say, tacky? (I make my case with image 1A. Yes, that is a leopard's face on a leopard print- and it did not scan well, but they really took it to another level with a good hearty layer of silver foil.) And as I am one for beating my point into the ground, I bring you image 1B, a velour basecloth with animal printed foil in an animal pattern. Gorgeous! With this legging craze still going around and getting more and more outrageous by the moment (printed and solid sequins, back for another round of printed velvet), I would not be surprised to see this velour/foil made up in leggings in the near future.

1A: leopard face 1B: velour & animal foil

Ok, so back to the woven swatches with their intriguing constructions! In my pre-loom days, dreaming of weaving, I started collecting tiny swatches of fabrics so that I could keep my head in the construction of cloth- weaving on grid paper for a lack of a loom. I now have a box full of swatches, some drawn out, some still waiting. I am interested in them primarily for construction, usually not color or fiber. I love the possibilities of masking and enhancing structure by color layout or creating contractions and texture through adding wool or high twist yarns.
Here are two of my more recent ones:


I was happy to find that I could recreate this first one! It is such a simple draft, but the colors and plaid layout really make it nice. (please forgive the pen mistakes! this is why having a good pencil around is key)



This one is also just in my shaft range! I start out with graph paper so that I can draw these out on the go- the subway ride to work, or at lunch in Herald Square, but then I move to the computer for ease of catching mistakes and a clearer read when threading. I haven't had much luck finding Mac compatible software that is affordable and user friendly- and no, running Windows on my Mac is not an option. But I keep looking- and the joy of figuring it out pick by pick is well worth it.

More to come- how about Friday constructions?

maiden warp on the baby wolf

After a two and a half year hiatus on weaving, a soul-sucking job in the fashion industry, a long adjustment to city life and several apartments later, I find myself with a studio and an 8 shaft Schacht baby wolf. When one of my aunts found out that a loom was in the works, she came to our July family reunion armed with a two-pound cone of blue/green/turq yarn and a request for a shawl. After a lot of life organization, the test warp is on the loom!

I am happy to start with this shawl, as I need to start out simply and slowly so as not to throw myself into an insanely complicated project (which is quite typical) that will only end in frustration and multiple starts. The yarn is unmarked, but it seems to be a mohair blend: it is a three-color space dyed yarn. It has a great hand and weight, but I am not sold on the space dye. I am afraid of ending up with one of those striated patterns dictated by the color sequence, so I will try to use structure to evenly break up any chunks of color pattern that will result from the yarn. Thus, the test warp for choosing a construction: I will probably go with a straight draw twill or herringbone twill, but will keep experimenting to get to know the yarn in case I end up with leftovers.