After a week's worth of waiting (I can't believe how spoiled I've been by USPS!) my wonderful new loom finally arrived. It actually showed up this past Friday, but I didn't do a thing with it until Sunday. First, I needed to finish up spinning last month's Spunky Club fiber and then we had a small task to accomplish at a semi-local winery.
So, Sunday morning finally came along and I just had to dive in and get started. I followed the excellent advice of my Spunky and Weaver friends on Ravelry and used Tofutsies as the warp (96", 10epi, 11" on the loom) with the intent of using it as the weft as well. Nice, balanced weave - that's the ticket.
I started warping at around 10a on Sunday. By the time I had to leave for Book Club at 3p, this is the result:
Amazing, isn't it? Like LIGHTNING this stuff is. I kept going and going on Sunday night, then again yesterday. I ran out of the Tofutsies about 2/3 of the way through but I couldn't bear cutting it off and wasting all that weft. So, I dug into my old crochet cotton stash and found a nice ball of ecru cotton. I grabbed that, along with my pickup stick and kept going. And going. And GOING! Then, around 9p last night, I finished. Gave it a quick soak and popped it in the dryer (!!!!!) with the rest of the laundry. A quick press and tying up the ends and voila:
Can you believe it? Isn't it FABULOUS! Wow. WOW. WOW!! I'm totally in love. The cotton is an excellent foil for the Tofutsies and the more-open weave gives it a somewhat similar drape. It softened up so wonderfully in the wash that it's like silk against my skin. Oh, here are a few more:
So there you go. The loom's folded up and stowed under the couch (Chris appreciates this added bonus) but it's likely coming out again tonight. I have this idea for another scarf, but this time I'll be doing some color changes in the weft ... assuming I can figure that out.
Yep, I'm hooked. Absolutely. LOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
(oh, and who else is up for the Tour de Fleece?)
3 comments:
Congrats on the loom.....
And I'm with you for TDF, since the tendons in my arm are cooperating this year....
Will I see you at Spinning on the Farm in Healdesburg?
Ba
Yep, I think you will. Glad to hear about your arm!
Hope to see you Saturday.
Me me me!! I should be done with my mom's shawl by then, I'll be able to do some serious damage to my stash.
Love the shawl, you're making me want to pull out my loom now too but I'm waiting till I clean out the room it's hiding in. That's no longer forever from now, it'll have to be clean by the time we find a house and move. There's hope.
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