Next scarf

Getting started with my purple scarf--warp is on the loom, colors picked out, and it's a lovely day...

La sciarpa è finita!

Ok so my 70's couchtastic scarf is complete! It actually looks really pretty now that it's off the loom. Whew!

Off the loom

My tan scarf is finished! Here are pics of the process of getting it off the loom.

This is the end of the weaving...

Then I have to add a few lines of scrap (the orange) yarn. It won't be part of the scarf, but is to hold the end of the weaving in place as I remove it from the loom.

Then I cut the ends off...

And unwind the weaving from the front beam.

All the ends have to be untied from the front beam.

Once the piece is completely off the loom, I tie the end threads in an overhand knots in groups of two. This is best done slowly and carefully. Last time I was in a rush and made a mistake, which meant I then had to try to untie all the tight knots without fraying or otherwise damaging the yarn...a fairly miserable process.

Edy is of course "helping" with the process.

Next, I comb the fringe as straight as possible (using the awesome special comb from my 80's Fisher Price toy loom).

Then I use a metal ruler to carefully measure off the fringe length--I prefer to use a 3" fringe on these scarves. It looks natural and isn't so long that it gets tangled.

And I cut the fringe using a rotary cutter--or as I call it, "rolly cutter." :)

After doing this on both ends of the scarf, it's done. I handwash the scarf at least once (it tends to shed a lot at first) and lightly iron it to finish. Hooray!

Supermodel Photo Shoot

Here they are--pictures from my scarf supermodel photo shoot with my accomplished and lovely model, Miss Glebby! She did a great job "putting in some more attitude!" and looking fierce in general :)

And what photo shoot would be complete without some clowning?

A good time was had by all :) And the scarves should be posted to etsy for sale tomorrow!

70's Couch-tastic

Well...the tan scarf is not coming out precisely as planned--unless I had planned for it to look like a 70's couch in your parents' basement with wood paneling. It's still pretty in its own way I'm hoping?

Sigh. I am now realizing this is almost the exact same colors as my parents' 70's couch.

Here are some pictures of the process of putting the warp on the loom before I started to weave. After securing and winding the warp on the back beam, the yarn has to go through the alternating slots and holes of the heddle. This is kind of tedious with 90 threads but not too bad.

My least favorite part is actually tying the warp to the front beam--it is tough with chenille to stop the knots from slipping, and to keep an even tension across all the threads. There are no pictures of that because there was much cursing involved in the process.

Finished scarf :)

Here are pics of the green scarf...I think it came out pretty good!

Detail...

Anyone have ideas for other color combos? I'm on a roll!  :)

Winding the warp!

Today I wound the warp for two more chenille scarves. Here's the tan one in progress. I wound 90 warp ends, which makes a scarf about 8.5" wide.

I wound the warp and tied it in two groups of about 45 warp ends each...the orange strings are ties to hold each group in place. Here's a view of the full warping board before I put any of the ties on.

The part (at the bottom of the picture) where the yarn crosses over itself in an X (before making a loop at the end)  is called the warp cross.

Here are some close-ups of it with the ties. One of the ties is to count the ends (in tens) at the warp cross and the others are to separate the parts of the loop and just hold the ends together in general.

I wound the warp for a second scarf in dark purple...that scarf will be purples and hot pinks :)

Yarn love!

So I finished weaving the sage green scarf...it's off the loom and just hanging to dry right now. Pictures to come soon! Gleb has promised to be my scarf model and I'm holding her to it!

I'm about to wind the warp for the next scarf...and have picked out my colors/yarns :) Don't they look pretty?

The colors are more muted than my last few and I think the stripes will turn out very subtle.

More to come soon!

Cleaning & reminiscing

I'm doing a lot of cleaning this week (yeah, trying to cram the last 3 years' worth of cleaning I should have done into a month). Today's cleaning project was the hall bookshelf, which turned out to be composed of:

40% fancy decorative papers and origami paper
30% blank sketchpads, bristol board, watercolor blocks, etc.
10% folders of inspiration and art projects/instructions from years ago
10% magazines and catalogs
5% games (so that's where the Mad Libs were hiding!)
5% stickers and stationery

Among the folders of old art projects, I found a folder from my Fibers I class in college (embroidery, beading, felting). This was a fantastic class--I got college credit for the kinds of craft projects I was already doing! Here's a picture of my embroidery stitch sampler from that class.

Yeah--check out those awesome French knots!  It definitely made me want to use more of a variety of stitches in upcoming projects. I think I could work a few of these into a felt purse.

Here's my finished embroidery project from the class, which I think sufficiently demonstrates my love of satin stitch. :)

Unseasonably...

Perhaps because it was so unseasonably cool out this evening, I felt like working on weaving a warm scarf :)

It's not a great time of year to try to sell scarves, but the colors and yarns for this one have been swimming around in my head for some time, so I thought I might as well seize the day and get started on the weaving.

Close-up!  I particularly love the brownish yarn, it has all different colors in it--rust, green, tan, blue.

Yay! Should be able to get at least a third of the scarf done by tomorrow :)

Mending

Since I'm sick (still!) and stuck at home, I thought I'd spend some time on a stack of neglected projects--mending! It is somewhat refreshing after working on more creative projects. Mending is nice because each project presents a clear problem and usually, a clear solution and clear, finite steps.

I finished removing some itchy metallic embroidery and sequins from a skirt I bought in Greece...and am now in the process of removing sleeves from several shirts. I hate those short little cap sleeves, they are so uncomfortable.

I do also love basting--such a stress-free task! There are no mistakes in basting. Well, except stabbing yourself in the finger with the needle, which I did yesterday.

100% miserable :(

So much for "a cold." It turns out I caught strep throat...so I'm up and NOT enjoying that. Also managed to expose my legs to the sun for something like 10-15 minutes yesterday and so they itch like hell.

I sense this is not going to be a good day...