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If you are like me you have many, MANY skeins, balls, yarn-cakes, cops and other blobs of yarn. You spun it, you bought it, you stored it...sometimes for a long time.
I am finding that learning to weave is a very quick and easy way to use up odds and ends.
A while back I did an experiment with core spinning. I dyed a pot of alpaca - just squirted in three colors of dye and let it sit. When I was finished I had a bag of multicolored alpaca locks. I also had a cone of very fine silk 2-ply. I decided to grab bits of alpaca on the fly and spin it around the silk.
The results: 1200 yds of somewhat oddball, thick and thin, fuzzy and smooth alpaca multi. I knitted a swatch. I felt it was somewhat blah, so it sat in my bin. Until yesterday.
I warped my Cricket Loom with a store-bought bamboo-silk yarn and wove the alpaca right as it came off the ball. It took half an hour to warp the loom and about an hour to weave a 6 foot scarf. The MINUTE it was off the loom my husband claimed it. It is heavy, soft, drapey, and the bamboo/silk warp shows through enough to give the whole piece a nice sheen.
A yarn that was ugly when knitted is beautiful when woven. Weaving was fast. I didn't have to buy yarn. And best of all, I have at least half of the alpaca yarn left and will try it with another, finer warp.
I totally agree! I warped up in the morning and an hour later I had a dishtowel. It was great!
ReplyDeleteMy local Michael's was selling cotton at $1 skein and I was able to use it all up in one afternoon.
Woo hoo!
I am so used to knitting projects that take at least days (if not weeks) to finish. Weaving goes at WARP SPEED! (Pardon the old Trekkie...)
ReplyDeleteHow wide does your loom weave? It sounds exciting! Ahum, sold my old loom.
ReplyDeleteHi Hope! The Cricket Loom is quite small, portable and MANAGEABLE for a new weaver! It has a 10" weaving width but can take on quite a lot of warp - I've had 8 feet on it so far.
ReplyDeleteIt does look far better woven. Nice!
ReplyDeleteI'm going the way a lot of spinners are, to wit, to weave! I dug out an old 'school' loom I've dragged through my many moves and two countries. It isn't as pretty as it once was. It really hasn't been cared for. I think I've perhaps, used it once, a very, very long time ago.
But I'm going to give it some love, clean it up and find all it's bits - where did I put the booklet that came with it? I'll drag it to CO with me and see what happens this Summer! You've inspired me!
--elizaduckie
WENDY! You made my day. Thanks. I'd love photos of your resurrected school loom!
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