Term one finished with the twill sampler and Liz challenged us to design and weave whatever we wanted to over the holiday. I decided to try a twill scarf dyed in autumn colours – possibly fall color to you.
I had some undyed merino/silk yarn from http://theknittery.com.au/ and dyed the warp in five uneven stripes, a mixture of leaf colours with a glimpse of sky. Around this time I went on a week-long spinning course (part of the Orange fibre forum organised by TAFTA). Jenny Hopper was the tutor – hugely experienced and generous with information. So I decided to use some of my new skills by spinning some silk hankies and plying that with the commercial merino/silk yarn. The idea was to get some extra shine and texture in the weft, like leaves fluttering in the sunlight.
The sample was disappointing – I hadn’t got enough depth of colour when dyeing the weft and the silk hankies didn’t have the impact I wanted (another time I’ll try it again, but dye the component parts separately before the spinning and plying.) So I dyed up some of the plain merino/silk and sampled a couple of different twills, wanting something not too orderly and structured.
The scarf is 17 x 175cm including fringe, beautifully soft and warm. 20dpi, broken twill. I’m sure there’s lots that could be improved but I’m really happy just the way it is.
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