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.
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.
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| Blanket 1 |
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| Blanket 1 detail |
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| 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.
2 comments:
Your blankets are perfect color schemes. I love using two strands together too; I do crochet and am intrigued by the way the colors combine and make patterns that I never expect.
Thanks Lynda. It's good to have a large stash of possible yarns to pick from for these blankets. I am interested to see how the colors turn out - and especially like variegated yarns.
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