Snail Spirals

I had a quick weaving project on the go over the past couple weeks, to put in my Etsy shop.



Quick in terms of time actually spent working on it, that is. I did most of it (measuring the warp, sleying, threading, beaming, and weaving) in two days during the week before Sock Summit. I just got around to twisting the fringe yesterday. So it was a three day weaving project, spread over three weeks.



The warp is Jaggerspun Superfine Merino 18/2, and the weft is my own handspun; the Strawberry-Rhubarb laceweight that I spun from top purchased from the Zarzuela's Fibers Etsy shop last year.



Warp: 18/2 merino, used double (4 oz, plus 0.6 oz loom waste)
Weft: handspun merino laceweight, bought as hand dyed top (45 wpi, used 1.7 oz)
12 epi (remember the warp threads are doubled)
on the loom measurements: 14" x 75"
finished measurements: 13" x 70", with 5" twisted fringe



The pattern is one from A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns. I quite like the way it came out.



I do like the "right side", the side I was looking at as I wove, more than the reverse, though. It's the one on the right in the picture above, and looks like a diagonal basketweave, while the reverse is a very subtle zigzaggy pattern. They're both nice, but the basketweave pops more.



I also really like the way the weft works in the piece. The marled yarn and its long sections of subtly shifting color intensities is really pretty.



And it's long enough and wide enough to be worn as a stole,



as a regular scarf,



or (my favorite) as a doubled-and-looped-through scarf.



The fabric is lightweight enough that even folded in half width-wise, then doubled and looped, as in that last picture, it doesn't feel overly bulky, just snuggly and cozy.

Using my own handspun is incredibly satisfying.