It’s always good to have several projects going at once. Currently I have two weaving projects and two spinning projects! Here’s what I’m weaving…
Progress on my current big loom project is slow. I’m weaving fabric for sewing – about 40 inches wide and 5 yards long. The thread (remember that blue cone in my earlier post?) will be woven at 30 ends per inch. 40 x 30 = 1200! Well, actually there are 1221 warp ends (to accommodate the width of my pattern). The fabric will be huck lace in solid blue.
So… The first step to the project is to measure out 1221 warp threads. I’m up to 360. It’s going really slow as I have only one cone of yarn, so I’m measuring out each end separately. Time to figure out how to speed it up! Enter the cone winder. QSWFA purchased one of these in the original Kickstarter and it arrived just before Christmas. Last week we finally opened it up. Looks like it will be just what I need to divide my yarn into two cones so that I can measure 2 threads at a time and cut the remaining warp measuring time in half. One slight hiccup, though – since it’s an American product, it came with a US power cord. I should have an adapter someplace in the house, but I can’t find it. I’ve ordered a replacement power cord, which should arrive tomorrow. Then it will be full speed ahead!
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on an experimental scarf on my rigid heddle loom.

The warp is hand spun merino – spun about aran weight. It was part of a challenge at QSWFA to spin thicker than normal – and it is thick, for me! I want the hand spun warp to be the star of the scarf, so I’m using a very fine (18/2) wool yarn for the weft, and the scarf is mostly warp-faced. Originally I thought the yarn should be woven at 5 ends per inch – but after measuring it out and starting the weaving it was clear that the warp needed to be closer together, so I re-threaded it into a 7.5 epi heddle. Almost done with the weaving – this goes quickly! The resulting scarf is much thinner than I had planned, but will be a good proof of concept. Once its washed and pressed, I’ll see if I like the fabric enough to weave a wider scarf. The current warp used about 25% of the yarn, so I should have enough for two normal width scarves.