I finished the blanket and it has turned out very well. I am quite happy with it in all respects except for the fact that I have a decent amount of the bulky Lopi-like yarn left! I may be able to make a shawl or even a small rug with the remnants. Oh well. At least there is less.
That is how much is left. I need to weigh each color so I know approximately how much yardage there is. There is one full skein of the magenta.
The blanket panels are joined by linking the loops on the sides. One loop from one panel is pulled through the corresponding loop on the other panel. Then you alternate that up the sides of the panels. The last loop is secured by pulling part of the fringe through it. When the fringe is knotted, the loop is secure. It is an easy way to join. In the photo above I had just finished joining the three panels. It goes fast.
This is a closeup of the join before finishing.
After washing, the join flattens out. I fulled the blanket because it was a loosely spun yarn. As you all know, Lopi-like yarns full very easily. One trip through the handwash cycle on the washing machine and it is a nice fabric. This is one side of the join.
This is the other.
The fringe took forever. I thought I could twist it with my fringe twister but with 90 ends on each panel, I had to pick either 2 or 3 ends in each fringe section. 5 is the other factor of 90 and I thought 5 was too big a number for twisting or braiding as this is bulky yarn. I decided on 3 and thought I could make a nice 3 ply twisted fringe. But it wasn't working. I have no idea why. Instead of wasting time trying to figure out the problem, I decided to just braid the fringe. Since it was knotted in 3's, that was easy. Except that a couple of the ends had frayed and come apart. I had to secure those by adding a neighboring end to strengthen it. So some sections are 4 ends. So much for my exact mathematics!
It took 30 mins per panel end to braid and knot the bottom of the fringe. I didn't time the removal of the waste yarn and the knotting of the fringe at the top but that was a lot less per section.
I also used a technique I learned from one of the videos I have. Instead of knotting 3 (or however many) adjacent ends together, which leaves a portion of the weft exposed, one exchanges ends between groups so that they cross after the weft and that prevents those little gaps between fringe groups. To do this with an example:
First group: Ends 1, 2, 4 (3 and 4 change groups)
Second group: Ends 3, 5, 7 (6 and 7 change groups)
Third group: Ends 6, 8, 10 (9 and 10 change groups)
Fourth group: Ends 10, 11, 13 (12 and 13 change groups)
etc.
This is the finished blanket on a queen sized bed. It looks much nicer after finishing. I am going to cut the knots off the fringe as the braids are fulled and shouldn't come apart. I am just wondering if I should send it through the wash one more time. I can still separate the warp and the weft if I push with my finger. One of the finishing videos I watched says that woolen spun yarn should be fulled till the warp and the weft become a single cohesive fabric. I haven't decided whether to wash it one more time or not.
I started Grapevine. As usual, I have to increase the depth to the armhole. I don't know why but every pattern i've followed has about a 7" depth to the armhole. I feel that is too tight and I feel constrained in moving my arms. I guess I just have wide shoulders and a bigger upper arm.
I have about 18 more rounds to the sleeve/body separation.
Now on to the waffling.
The rigid heddle weaving group in Ravelry has a monthly theme for weave-alongs. It is good because it gives you ideas and allows you to explore new things. The rag rug resulted from April's Weave with Fabric theme. June's theme is Weave a Color Gamp. A color gamp is a way to explore how colors interact with each other. You warp with a set of colors and then weave with the same colors in the same order. But the weft pattern can be different - different widths of color, interspersed with other colors, etc.
Since I am weaving to use up my stash in useful ways, I picked a selection of Shetland jumperweight yarns that weren't earmarked for a fair-isle project. I am having real difficulty deciding the order of the colors.
I also decided to look at the values. Sequence C has them in a gradual color shifting order where I am picking up the tweed colors in the next yarn. Sequence D has them more in an alternating value order with the higher value yarns more evenly spread across the warp.
I am still in 2 minds about which one to warp. I only have 1 ball each of the gold and the green so I was happy to see that there is enough in one ball of each color to do a scarf. I have 1 extra ball of the blue and the rest are the duller colors in the sequence except for the burgundy. I have a lot of that.
I think I will do a color in weave pattern sampler with the remaining yarn exploring how patterns look when you alternate light and dark colors. Here is one example.
But first I have to decide on the order for the gamp.
That is how much is left. I need to weigh each color so I know approximately how much yardage there is. There is one full skein of the magenta.
The fringe took forever. I thought I could twist it with my fringe twister but with 90 ends on each panel, I had to pick either 2 or 3 ends in each fringe section. 5 is the other factor of 90 and I thought 5 was too big a number for twisting or braiding as this is bulky yarn. I decided on 3 and thought I could make a nice 3 ply twisted fringe. But it wasn't working. I have no idea why. Instead of wasting time trying to figure out the problem, I decided to just braid the fringe. Since it was knotted in 3's, that was easy. Except that a couple of the ends had frayed and come apart. I had to secure those by adding a neighboring end to strengthen it. So some sections are 4 ends. So much for my exact mathematics!
It took 30 mins per panel end to braid and knot the bottom of the fringe. I didn't time the removal of the waste yarn and the knotting of the fringe at the top but that was a lot less per section.
I also used a technique I learned from one of the videos I have. Instead of knotting 3 (or however many) adjacent ends together, which leaves a portion of the weft exposed, one exchanges ends between groups so that they cross after the weft and that prevents those little gaps between fringe groups. To do this with an example:
First group: Ends 1, 2, 4 (3 and 4 change groups)
Second group: Ends 3, 5, 7 (6 and 7 change groups)
Third group: Ends 6, 8, 10 (9 and 10 change groups)
Fourth group: Ends 10, 11, 13 (12 and 13 change groups)
etc.
I started Grapevine. As usual, I have to increase the depth to the armhole. I don't know why but every pattern i've followed has about a 7" depth to the armhole. I feel that is too tight and I feel constrained in moving my arms. I guess I just have wide shoulders and a bigger upper arm.
Now on to the waffling.
The rigid heddle weaving group in Ravelry has a monthly theme for weave-alongs. It is good because it gives you ideas and allows you to explore new things. The rag rug resulted from April's Weave with Fabric theme. June's theme is Weave a Color Gamp. A color gamp is a way to explore how colors interact with each other. You warp with a set of colors and then weave with the same colors in the same order. But the weft pattern can be different - different widths of color, interspersed with other colors, etc.
Since I am weaving to use up my stash in useful ways, I picked a selection of Shetland jumperweight yarns that weren't earmarked for a fair-isle project. I am having real difficulty deciding the order of the colors.
I think I will do a color in weave pattern sampler with the remaining yarn exploring how patterns look when you alternate light and dark colors. Here is one example.
But first I have to decide on the order for the gamp.
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