more on colour choices

Like Taueret, I too am a sucker for rainbow warps! When I ordered the yarn sample chart from Rowan I didn’t particularly have a rainbow in mind, although I knew I wanted stripes/squares in different colours. However, the scraps that I had gathered did lend themselves rather well to this arrangement and that is what I have found myself playing with….

The range that they offer in cotton glace includes both pastel and bright colours - and some darker colours as well which I haven’t used before - but neither pastels nor brights has quite the full spectrum. In my sample the red appears to be about ten times as loud as everything else, but there really isn’t an alternative. And if I am going to make a rainbow then I absolutely have to have red. No debate. Going the other way and aiming to brighten up the rest, the problem lies in the blues. That blue in the middle of the bottom row (the one which I have pillaged!) is the boldest, but in real life it is actually quite dark and that is not what I want.

After much fiddling with inch-lengths of yarn and double-sided tape, I have (pretty much) settled on the arrangement in the top-right of the photo. The blue-green section is lighter, but I plan to compensate for that in the design. Rather than one big rainbow, I’m going to repeat the spectrum several times beginning and ending with the blues. The boldest colours - red and yellow - will be in narrower stripes than the others and will centre the design. A spreadsheet mock-up looks like this (click to biggify):

So it’s big, bold rainbow checks for the colour-and-weave baby cloth. And I haven’t even finished my sample warp yet.

 

first attempt

I got so excited about the way this was looking on the loom that I had to stop and photograph the first inch!

Continuing a little bit further I tried out all the warp colours in the weft before I cut it off for washing. My feeling was that I needed to re-sley the selvedge a little bit wider as it seemed to be bulging somewhat, but in fact now that the sample is finished it looks about right. Anyway, I am going to try another sample at the new sett just to be sure. I am also going to try using a white Rowan cotton as weft, although I do like these cheerful colours.

On the ‘right’ side the little white boxes outline squares with a single warp colour and a single weft colour. On the back, however, the grid is offset so it creates some boxes with mixed warp/weft. Both are fun, I think.

 

colour-and-weave

Our second project on the Bradford curriculum* was based on colour-and-weave. In my case, this was not a wildly successful project, although I enjoyed the ‘colour’ part. The object I used as inspiration for my designs was this little painted sugar bowl from Zimbabwe.

Among my many attempts to have fun with these bright colours and geometric designs was this sample in wool:

The black wool is a 20/2 and the coloured wool is a 6/2 which I have used doubled - though in fact I gave each doubled end two heddles because I wanted to keep them nice and flat.

This little pattern is rather a neat one which I found in Ann Sutton’s book “Colour-and-Weave Design“. Most of this book is laid out like a huge sampler of colour-and-weave possbilities, but this design is not one of those. Right at the beginning (pages 14 and 15) there is a double-page spread of swatches and one with little greeny-brown squares outlined in red caught my eye. Ann Sutton doesn’t give a draft for it, but it is easy to work out and can be done on four shafts.

So why do I mention it now? Well, it popped into my mind as a possible idea for a baby cloth. (I’m calling this future gift for niece Abigail a ‘cloth’ at the moment, because I’m not sure whether I’m aiming at a blanket, a shawl or something in between.) To test it out I have been scrounging around for leftover bits of Rowan’s cotton glace as I have woven with this before and it comes up beautifully soft, plus it is available in lots of yummy colours. My plan is to use a rainbow of cotton glace outlined in a fine white cotton (16/2) and see how it comes out.

As my eight-shaft sampling loom is free at the moment, I’ve decided to spread the draft out over six shafts, which will allow me to try a bit of ‘pure’ plain weave for a hem and at the selvedges (on the other two shafts).

I’ve begged and borrowed just enough for this little warp (yet to be threaded). The range of colours I’m using is very much what I could scrounge so I’ll be thinking as I weave about which shades work well and which need substituting.

* now, I suppose, it is the Old Bradford Curriculum - that’s a bit scary.

 

colour reflections

I’m now on my fourth warp and weaving my eighth scarf in this series so, as I treadle away, I’ve been reflecting on the choices I’ve made.

My starting point was the desire to mix my favourite cottons with other yarns and see whether I could achieve some attractive results with differential shrinkage. A limiting factor was my small — and rather eclectic — stock of the wool/silk which I wanted to use. Of course, I could just order up more, but as it needs to cross the Atlantic the costs are quite high.

Warp no. 1: red into blue by way of a little bit of purple

Red and blue warp

I really wanted to put reds and blues into one warp to see whether it would work. The yarns do not vary a great deal in value, and I settled on a scheme whereby the cottons change colour in one direction and the wool/silk does the opposite.

Warp no. 2: turquoise into purple by way of blue

Purple and turquoise warp

There were two main motivating factors in the design of my second warp. One was to make the winding simpler. Instead of having little highlights of lighter/darker colours as I did in the first warp, I went for a very straightforward winding plan. Each cotton stripe here is a consistent combination of colours for all of its 24 ends (48 strands of yarn). The other factor was simply to use two colours that I really like and see how they fit together! There is a little more variation in value this time, but I stuck with the idea of changing the cotton and the wool/silk in opposite directions.

Warp no. 3: blue and turquoise going from dark to light (or light to dark, if you prefer)

Blue and turquoise warp

I really liked the scarves that I wove from warp no. 2, but decided that, after all, I would rather have the fiddle of winding a more complicated warp and the pleasure of occasional colour surprises. But this time I wanted to see whether I could match the cottons and the wool/silk to give a harmonious one-way colour change. Well, it nearly worked. I struggled in the middle with the turquoise cottons since I didn’t have a proper match. And then I went and wove two non-shrinking scarves so I could have done it without the wool/silk at all!

Warp no. 4: pink into purple by way of some red

Pink and purple warp

Another attempt at colour harmony from one side of the warp to the other, but this time — with four shades of wool/silk to draw on — it was a bit more successful (notwithstanding that little blip of my own making). And I have actually woven the shrinking-scarf this time - pictures to follow, once I’ve released it from its drying apparatus.

Overall, even within the constraints I had on my yarn supply, I’m pleased with the variations I’ve managed to accomplish. And I feel quite good about being pleased! As well as learning (somewhat painfully) about differential shrinkage, I’ve been exploring minor variations on the dornik twill I started out with. I’m amazed at how much I have enjoyed this simple structure, which is an important lesson in itself.

 

pinks get deeper

Warm, dry thanks go to Bety and Jane for planting the idea of Moroccan silk in my head…  that is exactly the image to carry me through a wet weekend!  Let’s hope it clears up before Tuesday or we’ll really be in trouble.

I’m onto a deeper shade of pink now, and half-way through the weaving, so the lighter side of the warp is starting to show a bit of pattern:

In spite of my system for keeping track of colour changes, the last couple of days have seen me do quite a bit of unweaving.  One really annoying bit took me three attempts to get right.  Could I possibly be a bit tired?  Yes, I could.