Weaving project from the snow

I also call it the guild leftovers project. The wool warp came from a guild sale about two years ago. The alpaca weft came from another guild sale about a year ago. I finally did something with them.

green warpThe warp was from four different shades of green, warped in a consistent order of darkest to lightest. It was a nice, thin laceweight. But because it was leftovers, I only had one small amount of each color, so I warped it long and thin. Had I thought through the amount consequences, I probably would have done something shorter and wider, but — oh, well. The alpaca weft was a lovely tweed green that blended nicely with the greens in the warp. (I like green.) Alpaca green weft

So, next comes the result, which is a long, narrow piece of cloth that I’m not quite sure what to do with. The original warp was about nine yards long. What’s produced is more like 8 yards long, but only six inches wide. Challenging to do anything with. I’m thinking a skirt, but I’m not quite sure there is enough material. I might be able to make some complementary fabric to go with it and use as inserts and/or a waistband. I still have plenty of the alpaca, and some of the original wool leftovers as well. I attempted last weekend to do a waistband on the inkle loom, but that was a signal failure, due to the extreme stickiness of the wool. I’m frustrated enough with that that I am inclined to cut it off and call it a learning experience. Though, I’m not exactly sure how to make wool on an inkle loom work. I’ll have to ask the ladies in the guild if they have any experience with laceweight wool on an inkle loom — does it work at all?

But anyway, I thought I’d show you the finished product. It was a lovely quiet project to work on during the snowbound week in February. I had already started it before that week, but most of the weaving was done during those quiet days at home, and I very much enjoyed it. I’m already setting up the next project and planning something else in my head.

Finished green warp

The long warp in all its glory.

Ignore the mess behind it, please.