HKF - sort of

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I must admit, I'm not wearing any hand knits today, but I have a handwoven item that accompanied me to work. That counts, right?

When I first got Dorothy, I didn't know anything about warping a loom. Did that stop me? Not at all! I took a hank of Socks That Rock yarn and started creating a warp between a mic stand and a chair in the living room. Believe it or not, that worked. But when I put it on the loom, I didn't know that I needed warp sticks or paper to keep the warp thread tension even on the back beam. Weaving was going swimmingly for a while, then the warp tension on the edges was much tighter than in the middle. I was weaving a big potato chip. You can see where the black weft threads are getting closer together towards the fell in this photo.


First weaving project

By then, my weaving class started and I realized what I had done (or what I hadn't done). So I took the warp off the back beam, combed it through my fingers (CRINGE!) and wound it onto the back beam as best as I could with paper between the layers.

The end result was a long scarf with about 2-1/2 feet that was messed up on one end. I cut that piece off, fringed one end and hemmed the other, and now it covers the center console of my car. The potato chip bulge has flattened out, but you can see the tension problem in the dark area where the weft is packed together.


Center console cover

But the fringe is nice.


Ahhh, fringe

I'm fond of this piece. It was my first project on a 4-shaft loom and I'm able to put it to good use. Some day I'll show you a photo of the scarf... maybe on a Friday this winter.