The scarf is done, fringed, and wet finished.
Fancy Twill Scarf
The tencel was lovely to work with, but near the end I found my selvedge ends kept fraying and snapping. And I didn’t see a lot of my treadling mistakes until after wet finishing.
After doing some more reading, I have found out that tencel does not like high tension (which I tend to use), and is stronger when wet. So for my next project I will use less tension and try dampening the threads.
The loom is warped and I made a start on my scarf.
Fancy twill scarf – this is the reverse
The tencel is lovely!
Now that I have more time I’ve warped up a scarf in an 8/2 tencel. This is a learning project for me, as I’ve never worked with tencel before. It’s a man-made fibre that has a lustre and dye retention similar to that of silk.
I was going to do a batch of scarves for Christmas presents, but since it’s too late for that I’m going to just do one. I mostly want some experience with the fibre as I’m hoping to use it in another project and I wanted to familiarize myself with how it handles before tackling the other project challenges.
I have to say, so far it’s been lovely to work with. We’ll see how it goes once I actually start weaving.
Now that my tea towels are off the loom I can start my fancy twill scarves (read more about the plan here). I’m warping up the pink and blue to start, and then will tie on additional warps to preserve my threading.
They require a sett of 24 epi, which would usually be space 2 ends per dent in a 12 dent reed (which I don’t have). I’m going to try it with a 10 dent reed with 2 ends in some dents and 3 in others. I’m hoping it will work out okay.
I also ordered more tencel for the project I am planning to do after this (which I’m hoping to use as part of my pent. entry next year). And some wool, for experimentation.
The next project is to weave some shawls for Christmas presents for the family.
The pattern is a fancy twill, based on a draft from one of Handwoven’s Design Collection ebooks. I fell in love with the changes to this pattern by Susan Harvey, so I’m using her pattern (with permission) which modifies the small block of the original draft to fill the whole shawl.
Computer-generated drawdown
I have a number of cones of 8/2 Tencel, and am hoping to try for iridescent effects.
8/2 tencel cones
I’ll be pairing pink with light blue, black with cherry red, green with cherry red, yellow with orange, and tomato red with orange.
A Day in the Life 