Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Babies, Babies, Babies

It doesn't look like it but I have been busy weaving some this year.  After finished a run of towels for my daughter, I started on baby blankets.  Lately for some reason, people are asking for them.  I did one set of three blue ones and started on a set of three pink ones. 

I use whatever cotton yarn I have - lots of it is from knitting stores - and kind of design as I go.  I do have a general striping sequence that uses Fibonacci numbers to determine the width of the stripes in inches.  I also wind two different yarns at a time.  My original idea of doing this (started over 20 years ago) was reminiscent of log cabin - one dark and one light thread paired together.  Nowadays, I may use a light and a medium color or a light and a lighter color. 















The warp is threaded in a straight draw on 8 shafts.  The blankets are usually woven in plain weave but I have woven them as a twill.  These blue ones are all plain weave.  The sett is 10 epi.


Because I use a lot of variegated yarns, I get a lot if interesting effects and color transitions.  The weft makes a difference too.  I like to use variegated or textured yarns in the weft.  In the picture above however, the weft was a light blue yarn that was one color and a fairly smooth yarn.  I use synthetic yarns for the weft - usually an acrylic or acrylic blend.

Here is the blanket above after it's off the loom and washed.

Blanket 1

Blanket 1 detail
 

Blanket 2

The weft of this blanket was variegated with a fairly short color repeat.  You can see the narrow bands of color formed by the weft. 
 
The last blanket was woven with a darker yarn.  This blanket is intended to be a lap robe rather than a baby blanket.  The yarn is a chunky acrylic in blues and greens.  I was afraid the darker weft would overshadow the delicate warp colors but it has helped bring those colors out.