Doubleweave sampler

Late last year, I worked on this sampler from the book Doubleweave by Jennifer Moore. I used no.5 pearl cotton sett at 30epi (15 per layer). The sampler covers all kinds of 4 shaft doubleweave, and I enjoyed weaving it. Above are assorted small sections, some open sided, some tubular, some using colour and weave effects. Below is stuffed horizontal ribs, quilting, leno and brooks bouquet.

This is doubleweave pickup which takes a long time, but is very satisfying to do. Once the current towels are done, I'm planning another doubleweave project.

Still busy

Blogging hasn't been at the top of my to do list for a while, but since it is a really good way to keep track of my crafty projects, I thought I'd better start posting again. I'm going to start with current projects and work backwards. Whether I'll get through the backlog is doubtful, but we'll see.

On the loom is the third tea towel of this warp of 3/14 cotton.


These are the first two off the loom. I had to re-beam the warp because of uneven tension - when I originally beamed it, the lease sticks were continually causing snags and tangles. Maybe next time I'll warp front to back. The draft is from Twill Thrills p79, Alice Schlein's network drafted twill on 8 shafts.

On the needles is a Norah Gaughan design, Drift. I don't have pictures yet, one sleeve (swatch) is done, and the back is started. I'm using Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit in a reddish colourway.


On the hook is a ripple scarf in Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. There have been a couple of knots which has been a nuisance, but so far I've managed to maintain the colour sequence.

A recently completed item is the Girl Friday cardi from Knitty. I altered the neck shaping so that the neck width was wider, and the shoulder seams sit correctly. However, the sleeves are narrow, so if I was to knit it again, I would make them wider. All the same it is a lovely cardi.

A gentle nudge

I'm still here, just not very active blogwise. A dear friend emailed me yesterday to ask if I was alright because I hadn't updated for so long. So, here I am.

I can't even remember everything I've achieved in the last few months, but this post will include those things that I have pictures of.

This is Haruni, knitted with my own hand dyed and hand spun merino and silk blend yarn.

I only just made it...

The shawl isn't very big, but it makes me happy.

Cubist socks by Cookie A. These were a free pattern from Knitting Daily. They look better when worn, since the stitch pattern causes them to look distorted. There have been a couple of other pairs of socks, but they didn't make the photoshoot yet.

Stash enhancement has been going on. This is some of the Araucania multy sock yarn I acquired to knit some lightweight sweaters. Sadly I'm back to the beginning again, since my swatch lied, and the twisted rib was indeed twisted/biased. I suspect that working in the round is the culprit with the rib, worked back and forth it usually looks fine.


I hadn't tried tapestry crochet before, but this is a Mukluk in progress. The pattern is from an Inside Crochet magazine. I had to go up several hook sizes to get gauge, finally settling on 3.5mm with DK yarn.

I had a play with Huck lace, and had great difficulty with getting the ppi even. Maybe I should have made the sett more dense. I do better when I can beat as opposed to pressing the warp into place gently.
On the loom at the moment is a very narrow warp in no.8 pearl cotton for bookmarks in various twill patterns.

Weaving whenever I can

I've been making some better progress on the towel warp lately, the fourth and last is about a third done. These pictures show the transition between numbers three and four. Weaving on a table loom isn't terribly fast, but it's very versatile, since an eight shaft floor loom usually has only ten treadles, and the networked twill needs more. I'm able to weave the more complex pattern easily. As a comparison, I used the floor loom 'treadling' for the third towel, but I prefer the cut and paste liftplan shown in the article by Alice Schlein.

This is the inkle strap I made for hubby's neckstrap. Mission accomplished!
Having got the inkle bug, I've branched out into tablet weaving too. My first sampler is still on the inkle loom, and I'll take pictures once it's off.

I rough blocked the back of the Printed Silk cardigan and it grew as expected to almost exactly the desired size, so I've now cast on for the left front knowing that the small size should be big enough. The first attempt with a ribbed band was ripped when the ribbed edge was longer than the stocking stitch. In a floppy yarn like this, it was going to look awful. Now I'm knitting it with a garter band and will alter the pattern to a V neck. The low round neck isn't really me.

Purple yarn and Inkle loom

This is about 660m of two ply merino. I thought I would have had more length, but no. I think this will make a nice lacy scarf or small shawl sometime.


This is what happens when you let your hubby loose with felt pens and graph paper. Two inkle bands which are now joined together to make a neck strap for a model helicopter remote control unit. The loom was built earlier this year, but I haven't mentioned it until now. The frame is white oak with hardwood dowels. I finished it with Danish oil and it's very nice. The bands are made of DMC Petra no.5 cotton, each thread yields about 0.5mm width of band. This is the third project I've done, and it really goes very quickly once you get the rhythm.

Slow Knitting

The Printed Silk cardi has grown a bit. I'm now on the twisted stitch pattern for the yoke and the knitting is slower. The yarn is very splitty, so I'm having to be very careful working the twists.


It's been a long time since I did any spinning, but I haven't quite forgotten how. I finished the purple merino and the pinky merino singles which I dyed last July and have plied them. I have about 180g which is now drying. I'll measure the skeins and calculate the yardage tomorrow.


Weaving has also been happening. I'm about two thirds through the second towel now which has a red weft.

What looks like an error half way up this picture is due to me not beating hard enough at that spot. I didn't even notice it in the actual weaving at the time, but it shows up in the photo.

Snow Queen

It's finished and blocked. The finished size is 50" across. To summarize, I used the I-cord circular start with 3.25mm needles, changing to 3.5mm for most of it, and 3.75mm for the last 25 rounds. The clear beads are 8/0 Crystal AB Matsuno seed beads, and the blue ones are Frosted light blue AB Matsuno seed beads. I used 97g of the beads in total and 140g of the white 2 ply botany wool (no idea of the yardage).