Plaid

I seem to be a bit behind with blogging again ( I love how Bloggers' spellcheck doesn't recognise 'blogging' ) Anyway, I nearly have a finished pair of socks, once I can decide what kind of cast off to use. I normally knit top down socks and don't have this problem. My Cabled Spiral 2 sweater was finished ages ago, and I forgot to mention it. I haven't managed to get any good pictures of it yet anyway, I'll have to try again. The crocheted top (Forest Flower top) is also nearly done. I just have to finish the edges and work in the ends.



These are a couple of the mats I made, using patterns made using the pickup stick. The yarn is a 4 ply cotton (8/4) sett at 12.5 dpi. I could have done with weaving the hems with a thinner yarn, but I didn't have anything that matched, so the hem on the top one is a bit bulky. The lower one I hem stitched, but I don't think it will be very durable. These are really only samples, which may come in useful as mats.


The plaid is done. I ended up with about 39" length,11.25" wide. The cotton is 4 ply and I used the 12.5 dpi heddle. This may be the raw material for a small zippered bag. I kept all the colour changes on one side and once it was off the loom I machine zigzagged along that edge before washing it.

Weaving

Here we have a selection of pick up stick patterns. What a great way to get some texture! I'll be dividing this length up into assorted mats and hemming them. My favourite so far is waffle weave and I want to try that with some warp stripes some time. Some of the warp threads get deflected and if they were in another colour, I think it would look way more complicated than it is.

I just got started on some plaid. Initially I warped with two heddles to try some double weave, which I managed okay, but the cotton was sticking in the slots and getting a clean shed was annoyingly difficult. I wove a few inches and abandoned the project. I then removed half of the warp and retied to try a few twill patterns, but the sett was wrong for that, so I abandoned that too. I removed the warp and measured some more to go with it, and threaded the 12.5dpi heddle for plain weave. I have had this 4 ply cotton for a while and it suggested a plaid pattern, so here it is. I'm aiming for a balanced weave, and so far the squares aren't too far off square.