Sunday, September 21, 2008

Guild Exchange

Yesterday we completed our guild's yarn exchange. Each participant had brought a bag of yarn to exchange. Then we had to weave something for whoever supplied the yarn we used. I got Nancy's huge grocery bag full of yarn. It was hard to decide which to pick, but some brightly colored variegated slubby rayon silk blend kept calling out to me. There was also a cone of purple zephyr that looked nice with the slubby yarn. I really liked the results I got when I used an advancing twill with a slubby rayon earlier this year, so I decided to use the same draft. It didn't work with these yarns.

In the sample above, I wove sections of twill and plainweave with a single strand of weft and a double strand of weft. There was so much going on with color, texture, and pattern in the twill areas that I didn't really like them. I wound up choosing the plainweave with a single strand of weft. It turned out OK, and Nancy seemed happy with it.


I had brought some bambu 12 and some 20/2 handpainted silk for the exchange, and Sue wove them into a beautiful scarf. Here is the front:


And the back:

Both sides are lovely, but I think I prefer the back. The scarf has such a nice drape and hand. I'm looking forward to wearing it.

2 comments:

Peg in South Carolina said...

I do like your second piece. Working with variegated and handpainted yarns is very tricky for weaving, but you certainly how to handle it. Knitters sometimes do this kind of thing with fair isle. Plain weave and twills are not nearly so successful!

Alison said...

I appreciate your kind words, Peg, but I can't take credit for the second piece. I only supplied the yarns. The scarf was designed and woven by Sue. I'm afraid I still use handpainted yarns in twills and plainweave quite often! :) But this gives me something new to think about!