Ahhh

This is more like it! I didn't get a chance to get back to the tangles until tonight. After an hour or two I got it straightened out and started weaving. I only had one thread pop on me so I consider myself lucky.



Watching the colors interlace and the design building never fails to delight me. The magic continues when I take a peak from the side.

Autumn Blanket

What a wonderous sight ...



until you look on the other side!



I could have sworn they said this was Donegal when I bought the cones at WEBS last spring, but their website only shows a 2/6 Donegal and this is definitely a single. After winding back to front for the last year or two I decided to wind separate colors and use front to back. Yikes! The singles were wrapping themselves around each other and made quite a mess. But it's only a three yard warp so the tangles will be easy enough to work out. If I decide to use this yarn for a longer warp I will be sure to wind the it in threading order.

Jackie asked if I had done other doubleweave blankets. I have woven 5 or 6. I switched some of my old blog posts over to Movable Type so I could search more easily and I found pictures of a few. My first doubleweave blanket was done following Chandler's suggestions. It was the second thing I ever wove and I used leftover yarn from two sweaters. I thought it was a little tight at the fold so I just pulled two warp threads out.

For my second I tried using fishing line as described in Handwoven's Doubleweave Issue (J/F 2002). That worked well as you can see here and it's what I've used ever since.

Indecent Exposure

Except for the boundweave sampler warp that I casually draped over the castle, the loom has remained dressed in only its birthday suit for about two months. With cool weather blowing in this weekend I decided to wind a warp for a blanket in warm autumn colors.



It will be 2" blocks woven double width (10 epi, sleyed 20 epi). 40 ends green (the yarn in the foreground is more green than it shows in the photo), 40 ends gold, 40 ends brown, 5 times, then 20 ends green at the fold. I wanted to do a plaid but it was taking me too long to figure out how to do it in doubleweave so I went with something easier. I'm still trying to work out the plaid, there's plenty of this yarn left.

So, what do you think this is?



Give up? It's polar fleece lined with flannel and this cool elasticized fold-over binding around the face opening. 1" elastic around the bottom holds it over the car seat. All that and it's reversible too. After I get some feedback from the new mom, this may end up being my default new baby present. I'm Wallaby'd out and this little gem only takes about an hour from start to finish.

Knitting Updates

Here are the two finished Claudia sweaters from the yarn that followed me home during the Excellent Adventure last March. I had my son take pictures because everytime I take them on timer mode I have the stupidest look on my face. So now I have weird coloring and the same stupid look. But Whitby looks good!



Here's another view showing the underarm gussets.

It was knit in Cascade 220 and was actually finished early in the summer but I never bothered weaving in the few ends or washing it since it was too warm to wear.



This is Northcott Rib knitted in Peace Fleece worsted weight. It was made in one piece with no seams to sew or stitches to graft. The only thing I had to do was sew on the buttons and weave a couple ends in. This will probably serve as a jacket until the temperatures really drop. Both patterns (and yarn) are from Countrywool and are easy to follow and were a joy to knit.