Another scarf; a postmortem

©2022 Michael Raven

I’ve finally gotten around to finishing the scarf for my second twin (above, before wet finishing). It took longer than the last for a number of reasons and, as frustrating as those reasons were, I consider them to be valuable lessons.

First, she had liked what I had done for her non-twin sister with the checkered patterns and insisted that I replicate that effect. No matter how much I tried to explain to her that using two batches of variegated thread would probably not result in that look, she insisted that I try. So I did. If you look closely, you’ll see bands of purple/blue/white that stand out in the patterns on the long edges and occasionally through the rainbow pattern. These are the colors she chose and wanted, so I worked with it as best as I was able.

That was the only the first challenge.

Next, I caused myself by a) trying to be too clever, and b) allowing myself to be distracted. Without going into the details of either cause, I ended up missing threading one of the threads of the warp through the holes of the heddle and didn’t catch it until I was about twenty-five wefts in. So, I undid my work and fixed the problem. Until I got ten or so wefts in and saw I had missed not one, but two, more holes when I set up my warp.

With tears in my eyes, and a few heavy sighs later, I undid my work again, fixed the problems and started weaving.

If you know how yarn is constructed, you’ll know that it is actually several threads wound together in most cases. Well, as I worked, several of the white/purple/blue variegated yarns in my warp showed signs of fraying and breaking on one thread. I was too far along to go back and replace those yarns, so I gave them TLC as I worked forward and prayed they didn’t have another breakage, which would necessitate in finding a solution beyond my skill level. Lucky for me, I was able to work past those areas and lock in the yarn so it was supported by the rest of the weave. Still… it was touch and go for a bit.

If you thought that was all, you’re funny.

I didn’t mention that, while I was warping the yarn under tension, my warping peg became unmounted, tossing all my yarn to the ground (and, therefore, no longer under tension). As a result, when I started getting to the end of my weave, the yarn started to overlap and cross itself in several places, making it a challenge to get the shuttle through the shed. I ended up making more progress than I might by using a second shuttle without yarn to widen my shed to allow the shuttle with yarn to pass through for at least twenty more weaves before it was too difficult to work with. Two lessons out of that — how to use other tools to assist weaving, and how to take the time to remove the overlaps as much as possible when I see them (and what to look for when it happens).

All kinds of issues with this one, although my technique is getting better with each project and I am learning new tricks and things to look for along the way.

Not the project I am most proud of for several reasons, but the project that proved to be the most educational — even though it was “just a scarf”.