Big and Burly Woven Alpaca Throw Finished

 Big, Burly & Beautiful Alpaca Throw

Kit purchased at Yarn Barn of Kansas

Just finished this last weekend, and made myself cut it off the loom and finish it properly this weekend.  Just a few small repairs -- completely do-able.

There were a few sections that needed to be evened out.  This was easy to do as I worked along on the top layer.  Much harder to see and re-distribute on the bottom layer.  So I had to wait until it was off the loom to even things up again.   Easy enough to do with a blunt chop stick.

I did this as double weave, since that's what the loom was set up for the last project.  This time, there was no lump at the fold (unlike last time).   This was a much looser weave.  There was however, 2 warp strings at the fold.  Not sure how that happened, as I didn't have any extra warp strings, and none broke in the process of weaving / warping.  This was easy to fix.  I just took my long afghan crochet hook and pulled through a new warp strand--after it was off the loom.  In the photo above, you see the new strand already woven in in the gray part, and still needing to be done in the taupe section in the top half of the photo.

I used a very simple temple hack -- 2 jumbo paper clips tied to a string tied to an empty Penzy's spice jar hanging over the side.   This helped keep the edges straight and neat.  Worked great!

Twisted Fringe
Something new for me on this project was to twist the ends.  I had purchased a cheap twister -- made for hair.  But I couldn't quite figure out how it worked.  Save that for another project.  This alpaca yarn is soft and thick enough, that I didn't mind sitting out on the porch, listening to The Celtic Music Podcast, as the snow melted twisting these strands together.  (We got a foot of snow last weekend in a freak spring storm.  Not unwelcome, since we didn't have much snow all winter.)  It didn't take long, and they actually look nice!    If I'd have known better, I probably would have left more of the warp strings allowing for a longer twisted fringe. These are pretty short!

Wet Finishing
Next came the wet-finishing.  Fill the washing machine up with water, melt the Quilt Soap (I get it at Fleet Farm, made for washing the coats of sheep -- wool).  Put in the woven, push it down so everything is submerged.  Then let it sit for 20 minutes -- NO AGITATION.   I had to pull it out while the washing machine went on to the wash part of the cycle.  And put it back in when it started the Spin cycle.     This gives the fibers a chance to set into their new positions, to get comfortable, and to come together as a cohesive fabric.  Once it dries, the alpaca fibers tend to "bloom."

I did put in in the dryer for about 4 minutes to help steam it a little, and bring it together a bit more.

According to the directions, it was supposed to be 3.5 lines per inch for weaving.  That amounts to 58 lines per 16 inches.  The white sections came out to be almost lacey.   In the photo at the top of this post, you can see some "thin" parts in the white color blocks.  I spent a fair amount of time re-distributing the weft strands already.  Looks like I could do a little more.   I may even need to fill that in, and add a few more weft strands by hand.  We'll see how it comes together.  I'm glad I stuck by my instincts and wove the rest of it more densely.

Detail of the weaving.  Some parts could be pushed together more, spread apart more, to even it out a little more.  But still--this is great progress for me! 

Overall, I'm really happy with the way this came out.  A little sad summer is coming, and that I won't be able to use it much until next winter!

Now the question is what to do next?
     > Rugs, I think.
     > Gotta get some more cotton warp for the duration at Great Northern Weaving Supply.  And dye up some of the wooly worms from Pendleton Woolen Mills.

Just because those little pig tails are so cute!

 And here is my sweet husband holding up my woven goods for photographing.

It kind of makes me sad spring is on the way.  This would be perfect for winter snuggles!

Here's a previous post about this project:

Sing a Sleying Song Tonight