Charleen's Fiberblog

Doubleweave Blanket

Happy New Years! And Happy Anniversary to us! DH and I just celebrated our 30th anniversary. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday, but then I look at our four kids, 27, 26, 24, 20 and I can easily see where the time went :-)

This is what I'm working on now.I finished threading it and tieing up and gave it a good spray of starch. Someone at spinning recommended spray starch for sticky doubleweave warps. She said that all the starch will wash out, and that it really slicks up the yarn and allows it to gide past each other.

I was a little worried about the fold, but I really didn't want to use a fishing line floating selvedge as I was afraid I would mess up the over/under thing. One of the hints in the Handwoven Doubleweave Issue (J/F 2002) was to thread the last two ends on the fold with 25# fishing line and tie it to a 2# weight. I just happened to have the foam covered weights that you can strap over your hands (haven't used them for working out in ages) so I put them right to work. Then I suppose I just slip the line out when I'm finished. I'm hoping that will keep the fold even.

After some help from the Weaving List, I've got my Idiots Twill doubleweave worked out, so with any luck I'll get to that next week. Pretty high goals considering I'm back to school on Thursday, huh?

December 26, 2002

We had the first White Christmas since my freshman year in college. It was beautiful, even if it was messy driving into Mom's. We had a wonderful morning - grown children mean that you can open presents at 11:00! I made baked French toast and a breakfast casserole the night before so when everyone woke/arrived I popped them in the oven and they were ready for brunch when we were finished.

SPINNING

I love the BEAST!! I ordered 3 pounds from John and I'm having so much fun spinning it up. I was thinking of a blanket with Lambs Pride as a warp, but both of my sons have fallen in love with it. They want a big bulky sweater. It is incredibly soft, despite looking like it would be coarse and scratchy. (close up picture)

I spun a bobbin on Christmas Eve and another one last night. I spent less than 2 hours spinning and about an hour to ply it all. I think they call it Tiger Cat too. It has streaks of brown and black, along with gray and white wool and mohair. It's great for immediate gratification!

WEAVING

I've brough down bins of yarn from the attic and I'm sorting through them today. I know I have enough for a few blankets, so I'll get them divided and in bags according to projects. Tomorrow I'll start winding the warps so they will be ready to go.

I've done one doubleweave, but I didn't use a floating selvedge on the fold. It was a little tight, so I pulled out two warp threads and it looked pretty good. (I also forgot that I needed to put another stripe right on the fold so it looks a little funny spread out - however, it is usually bunched up on the sofa so that's not a problem) This time I think I'll try fishing line, but I'm worried that I will have to pay too much attention to going over and under it. I guess it's worth a try.

This afternoon we do another Christmas celebration at my sister's. If I eat much more I won't be able to get in my loom to thread!