How Much Rug Does 2 pounds of Pendleton's Woolly Worms Make?

Woolly Worms from Pendleton Woolen Mills dyed by me.

 

A fellow weaver / reader asked me the following question:

You posted on your blog about buying woolly worms and seeing how much rug you could make for 2 pounds.

What was your result?  Thinking of buying some.

Linda in Tucson AZ

 

Dear Linda, 

Thanks for your patience:  I knew I answered this question on my blog a while back -- Just had to find the post!  Here it is:

Rugs Rugs Rugs

Your mileage may vary, esp. if your loom allows you to weave a wider width, or you are packing the wefts in tighter.

When I ordered my first batch of woolly worms from Pendleton, the bigger issue was how much to get to make the postage worth while.  At that time, 2 pounds seemed like a good starter batch. I'm not sure how that would work out now, though, as far as the economics.  I'd say 2 pounds is a good amount to start with -- It will allow you to make a decent sized rug, and decide if you want to continue working with with Pendleton's woolly worms.  I thought it was worth it ...  One of those rugs greet my happy toes every morning when I get out of bed. ;-)

My other limitation was with the dye pot -- I could only fit 1-1/4 pounds in my biggest dye pot. So that's how much I used for a decent sized bed-side rug.    If you get 2 pounds, you can make a longer or wider rug, too.  Whatever works for you!

 

For my first order, I got 2 pounds of the woolly worms and 2 pounds of the merino strips, which are a little more expensive because there's more to them.  At the time, it was 4 pounds of fiber for about $10 shipping.  I'm sure shipping is much higher these days.

 

 

Woolly Worms:  1-1/4 pounds of fiber wove into 28 in x 44 inches on the loom.

           Finished size : 27 in. 40 inches 

 

It's a wonderfully soft rug with a lovely feel on bare feet. ;-)

 

Check out the previous post for stats on the merino strips.

 

If requesting them by mail order, you can't pick colors.  You get what you get with the luck of the draw. 

All this talk of woolly worms, and the slightly cooler weather makes me want to warp the loom to do a batch of rugs.  They weave up relatively fast, too.