my new hobby

this is my 2nd weaving project on the rigid heddle... much better than the first one - but still far from perfect. I had chosen handspun tussah silk, dyed blue, for both warp and weft. originally I had planned the warp wider, but of course I did no calculation for the yarn beforehand (nothing like on the spot weaving, eh?:)) and became slightly worried when the first ball of yarn diminished rather faster than expected when I started the warping! given that I had only two balls, I decided to change the warp width in the middle of warping. in hindsight - that wasn't the best idea. first of all it took me quite a long time and a lot of fiddling to move the whole warp into the right spot on the heddle. and then - it turned out that I needed far less yarn for the weft - so that I still have 3/4 of a ball leftover now:) well, I finished a rather narrow scarf, but that wasn't the only problem.
I should also have tied the warp differently to the teeth on cloth and warp beam. I tied each pair to one tooth, which spread out the warp wider on both beams than it did on the heddle! stupid, I know (now!)... well, anyway, I rolled up some of the warp close to the cloth beam without weaving and only started weaving when it looked nearly like the rest - which ended up giving me a slightly wider start to the scarf - the other end wasn't that much of a problem, because I couldn't weave down to the warp beam anyway! the photo shows most of the scarf finished and rolled onto the cloth beam.

this is the start of the scarf - where I put in some stripes of handspun silk noil. the same pattern follows close to the end of the scarf of course.

this photo shows both ends - I knotted the warp threads for finishing. it's obvious that the start is wider than the end, but other than that - it's wearable:)

this shows the main part of the scarf and also another mistake with the warp - the tension on both selvedges is too loose in comparison to the rest of it! (at least that's what I think the reason is for the "wobbly bits"!) which led to a loose weave on the loom - and slightly wavy, loose edges when I took it off. not ideal, because the weft yarn slides a bit on the warp if handled, but there you go - I hope to learn from my beginner mistakes!

I should also admit that it would be a good idea to follow advice like this: do take notes during weaving, when you add patterns - or count rows etc.! it's not easy to find out again how many stripes you wove at the beginning - when you roll up the rest of the project on top of it:) I assume anyone with more weaving experience is "lolling" about now:) but at least I admit that I made mistakes... I don't think anyone would believe me, if I said that the design was planned that way - and the loose selvedges are special lace?

I have to take a break from weaving for the moment. there is just too much to do in the garden - and the weather is good! of course I still keep knitting and spinning, where I can, but I need at least a few longer nights, where no loom waits on the table and lures me into late-night stands when passing by:)