woven in

i've got a lot of pictures to upload from the last couple of weeks - grandparents visit, tailgating in madison, more japanese screens, and a ton of food pictures from charlie trotter's - but i'm sleepy so the fast and easy post tonight will be on weaving.

here is my first wool scarf. not bad, eh?
warp: alpaca spun near charlottesville, va. used some to make a scarf and bike helmet ear warmers for my dad last christmas, and used the leftovers here. still a lot leftover.
weft: noro silk garden, 3 skeins.


i tried doing a headband with mini mochi but the threads of the warp kept breaking! then i went to Stitches and saw a scarf at the Yarn Barn woven with exactly this yarn. they were puzzled (and not very helpful) when i asked what my problem could be. i think it's because the yarn is not tightly plied. and using a size 10 heddle rather than the 12, and not trying lace patterns, might help with reducing the friction on the warp.

so i finally decided to cut it off - a decision more painful than undoing knitting, because once something is warped and threaded, you can't really reuse the yarn very easily. you now have a ton of yarn pieces that are about 3-5' in length. but loom wasn't creating anything while i was putting it off, and it's nice to be back in business.

now i'm back to trying dishcloths again. the previous ones i made shrunk a full 2" in the wash. a 6" dishcloth is a bit frustrating to use. fun colors! i love how the yellow really brightens it up. i thought it was going to be too much but i rather like it.