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Friday, April 9, 2010

Weave It Away - Super Stash Reduction!


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.

6 comments:

  1. I totally agree! I warped up in the morning and an hour later I had a dishtowel. It was great!

    My local Michael's was selling cotton at $1 skein and I was able to use it all up in one afternoon.

    Woo hoo!

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  2. 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...)

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  3. How wide does your loom weave? It sounds exciting! Ahum, sold my old loom.

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  4. Hi 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.

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  5. It does look far better woven. Nice!

    I'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

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  6. WENDY! You made my day. Thanks. I'd love photos of your resurrected school loom!

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