merrileemakes: A very tired looking orange cat peering sleepily at you while curled up on a laptop bag (Default)
[personal profile] merrileemakes
I know I just started weaving placemats, but I always make sure I have a queue of weaving projects. Having planned projects waiting to go is a good strategy to avoid decision paralysis and to keep making things. I often get asked how I have the time to make all the things I do. One of the answers to that is that I usually have things planned and ready to go.

So here's my next weaving plan. I'm going to make another V cowl for this unassuming ball of sock yarn.

blog29a


Just this yarn, nothing else, in a simple plain weave. It doesn't sound too exciting, but I think it will weave up really nicely. I think that when the little blue sections of yarn cross each other in the warp and weft they'll make crosses, L and J shapes. Kinda like this:

blog29b


I actually drew that with actual markers. When I was working out how to capture that image I was deliberating if I should use a digital image program or some of my new acrylic paint markers, and for the first time in my life I chose the analogue option over the digital option. I feel old now.

For this project I'm trying Liz Gipson's Project Planning Sheet, which is more of a project calculator than a plan.

blog29c


Unfortunately I decided to fill this sheet out after I'd warped up my loom and was about to start weaving. While I was winding my stick shuttle to begin I got the sneaking suspicion that I didn't have enough yarn. Should have done the planning first so I could have done something about that before now!

I did some quick weighing and measuring and yep, not enough yarn.

I was sure I could weave a whole V cowl with one ball of sock yarn, but apparently not. In the past when I did that I must've done a smaller cowl with no loop around the neck.

So I'm going to run out of yarn, but that's okay. There's plenty I can do about it at this point. I can:

  • go back and tinker with the warp and make it narrower, or add some stripes of another yarn and use that saved yarn in the weft
  • add another yarn to use as weft so I have stripes
  • use a different yarn completely for the weft
  • chain the warp off the loom and save it for use in a different project
  • cut the warp off in a huff and put it in the bin

All of these options are valid, and all of them teach me a lesson. But as you might be able to tell from my math, I've decided to add another yarn to the weft to make stripes. I worked out I have 63% of the yarn I need, so I need to add 37%. So if I come up with a stripe design that's approximtely 2/3rds of the black and blue yarn and 1/3rd something else I should be fine.

Time to rummage in the stash!

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merrileemakes: A very tired looking orange cat peering sleepily at you while curled up on a laptop bag (Default)
Merrilee

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Acknowledgements

Written and published on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country.
Sovereignty was never ceded.


credit: CrazKawsay



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