Weaving on the Emilia

During the shop (Yarnorama)'s  holiday party, we set some new fiber goals for 2010. Geesh... 2010! something about those even numbers makes the time passing seem to fly at jet speeds. Anyway, I had done really well at meeting my 2009 goals, which seemed like stretch ones at the time (make friends with my 8H BW loom again, getting comfy spinning tailspun yarn and knitting 3 pair of fine socks). I was really proud of myself, because I also finished 50+ projects over the year, not counting any handspun I had made. 

But, for this coming year, I was ready to set some goals that weren't such a stretch, like make a doubleweave blanket, crochet a pair of socks and something else I don't even remember now until someone pointed out that I have bins and bins and bins of handspun created from 1984 forward. What was I going to do with it all?  Silly me... I decided then and there that a goal for 2010 would be to all but eliminate that stash of handspun, one way or the other (no, throwing away those beauties is not an option!). No problem, I figured... I counted the skeins, and there are nearly 200. Definitely doable, right?

So on Thursday, I warped up the new little Emilia RH loom for an 11-1/2" width of handspun alpaca, merino, silk, 3yd length for a scarf. This was a newly spun skein from fiber that I acquired at SOAR this year, so it doesn't really count. But then I found a nice skein of cotswold singles spun in maybe 1988 and handpainted earlier this year. It was a nice match and off I went.

Here is the resulting scarf:

I really, really love the crispness that the Cotswold wool gives it and the luxurious softness from the alpaca, silk and merino.

Had almost no takeup or shrinkage, which was unusual but, again, I think this combo of cotswold weft and high percentage of alpaca resulted in this lovely drape.

Joke is on me with this, as I did not even use one whole skein of my cotswold singles (and I have many more of these).

I can see it's going to be a very busy, busy year!!