Cold Front Fever

Every time I finish a weaving project, I'm in love! The whole process is magical for me, from the planning, to the warping, the weaving, and the finishing. In the end, I've created a beautiful textile that no one else has, I've learned more about fibers, weaving, techniques and I get to experience the wondrous transformation that occurs between the time the fabric comes off the loom and it's final finished state. Then there are times when I'm just over the top excited. The Cold Front Scarf is one of those projects!

I finished the weaving of it today on the little Cricket. Weaving was straightforward and easy, without a single broken thread, though I did have a couple that fuzzed up along the way that I had to tame. The 8-dent reed was just right. Not much abrasion on the threads and it produced a very balanced fabric. On the loom, it was 8-3/4" wide and there was virtually no takeup along the way. The wensleydale singles needed help staying in place because it was as though they just wanted to spring into some form of their own. I worried about the selvedges because the yarn hugged them, but never really laid flat. So I did more than my regular amount of fussing to make sure they were as nice as possible. It was clear that the handspun irregularities were going to have an effect on straight edges, and I decided that would be just fine with me.

When I took the scarf off the loom, I was surprised to find that the width was 8-5/8" and that I had only about 2" of loom waste, not including my fringe. The edges had rather round loops that hugged the edge thread. The yarn was just super round... I mean really, really round!

I tried twisted fringe, but decided that it took away from the scarf, as the handspun looked really nice on it's own. So I knotted the fringe, thinking I would just trim off the frayed edges once I had wet finished it.  Then, into the warm, soapy water it went. I rubbed the scarf a bit because I wanted the nap to come up and then I did it!! I was so wanting to see this beauty finished, I popped it in the dryer for a few minutes.

When I took it out of the dryer, it was still slightly damp, still 8+" wide, but it had even rounder edges that look like I have badly woven edges. The selvedge warp thread is there, hugging it tight, but the weft are just big loopyloos. I decided to love them.

The next thing I noticed was that the nap was wonderful... fluffy and soft like those luxurious mohair throws you find at designer showrooms. And then I saw that tracking had occurred! Now this is my very favorite plain weave occurrence that happens sometimes. It makes the fabric look so much more complicated and beautiful.

Finally, this most amazing thing happened with the fringe. It reverted, through the wet finishing and the dryer, into the form of the wensleydale locks. They actually look just like locks. So I decided not to trim the ends, but leave all the soft curls hanging loose.

How cool is this? Fun and funky, the colors are great, I love the stripes that happened as a result of stiping the top and the feel is oh so much softer than the singles were. So, yes, this can now be worn against the neck. 

I so much love this one!