This week I've been continuing with my Bluefaced Leicester/silk laceweight. This yarn was dyed in the spring with Comfrey, creating this gorgeous lemon colour which is slightly lighter than I would usually choose. It could be a good experiment to dye with comfrey again now to see what a more mature plant would produce.
I've chosen this yarn as I know through previous weaving it gives a gorgeous drape. I've used it in a weft faced and also a balanced weave and so I know I love the feel of it. This project, which I would like to be fabric to make a top from needed to be weft faced and so the warp I've used is a very fine cotton. As I purchased this years ago I'm not sure of the actual weight but it works out at 42/43wpi and as the laceweight is 31wpi it's the perfect combination to give me what I want
Many types of fabric you'll see produced with rigid heddle looms will be rustic and chunky and I just love creating fine fabric and these looms are so versatile that they do it all. So I used a 12dpi heddle and just threaded up with one end giving me 12epi and as the weft is thicker and also I've beaten closely it's given me 34ppi so completely weft faced - perfect!
Of course, this is all to do with Sett and we have a You Tube episode about sett if it's something that you've not come across before. Take a look here, it's at the 11 minute mark
The 24" loom is just the right size for this project as I want to make sure I can piece the fabric together in as few sections as possible. I'm using a boat shuttle which is making the process run smoothly too. I purchased this one from the Threshing Barn and it's great size - it's the 29cm one and has worked really well.
It's a slow weave as the yarn is so fine but I've really loved getting lost in the weave and an audio book. Will keep you posted as I work through the weave
