Saturday, March 03, 2007

Off the Loom!

Friday was a good day. I was alone at home for most of the day and finished my socks (no pictures yet) and finally sat down by the wheel and plied the singles (2ply, after all - no pictures, the yarn is drying) and in the evening finally cut off the fabric from the loom. I steamed the fabric very thoroughly and tied the ends. And took it outside for pictures today.

The pattern - as already mentioned before - is from Finnish handicraft magazine, Taito, from issue 1/2006. There the pattern is called Nougat-shawl and is done with white and two shades of brown. The yarn I used is Pirkka (all wool, tex 125x2), it is not a soft yarn but I would imagine that this shawl would wear well. The size of the shawl is 86 cm x 202 cm (abt 34" x 80"). The reed size was 50/1, which is a sort of gauge in weaving I guess, and means that there are 5 yarns/cm (would that be size 12 in US?). (This is a bit difficult yet, I know the knitting terms quite well in English, but the weaving terms are all new to me. Correct me if I don't seem to have a clue of what I'm talking about...)
This fabric reminds me of Chanel jackets somehow. Its both sides are totally different from each other. I'm not sure which side I like the best, the stars or the chains. Really, I like them both and am very very happy with both sides.

51 comments:

  1. Lene, this is wonderful! I hope it has restored your faith in yourself.

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  2. It's absolutely, amazingly beautiful!

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  3. Anonymous17:58

    That's really, really lovely. Great work.

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  4. Two shades of brown, or blue? Looks blue on my monitor. Beautiful! So glad you didn't pitch the loom into the lake.

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  5. Anonymous18:05

    Absolutely gorgeous! I'm so glad to see you have your confidence back.

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  6. Anonymous18:18

    Really gorgeous! And if you like both sides, it means you have two new shawls. :)

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  7. Anonymous18:32

    Beautiful !!! I am delighted to see these soft colors...
    For the reed, I' m not quite sure, the one I'm using now is call 16 because there are 16 teeths(or space for the fiber, called "peu" in French) in 1 inch.I have 4 threads of fine cotton in each space but only 2 in each harness draft. I also have a reed 12. I've not made the comparaison with the cm(1 inch is about 2,54 cm), I'll ask someone on a forum " Le forum du filage", a French forum, maybe I'll have a better answer.
    Glad you succeeded so well with your loom and your shawl, keep going !
    Esther

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  8. The shawl is just lovely. I really like the way there are at least two different fabrics depending on which side you look at.

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  9. Anonymous18:49

    so gorgeous! wonderful job.

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  10. How beautiful! Tempts me to go to the dark side of weaving :D

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  11. Lene - I just found your blog and I'm excited to read more because I'm a beginning weaver too! Though I don't have a loom in my home, I'm forced to use the jack looms at the craft center at school. Ironically, the pattern I've been working with lately is called Finnish Bird's Eye. I use the camel colored cotton yarn that they provide (because it's free) and dye it rose and purple colors. It's coming along quite well, the last thing I did was add some copper colored metalic floss into the warp to make a table runner for my aunt for Christmas. Rose, camel and copper are a surprisingly good combination of colors.

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  12. I love both sides too!

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  13. Anonymous19:49

    The shawl is lovely! I love the mystery (to me) of the emerging fabric that evolves from some colored yarn or string. You had a very productive day!

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  14. Lene, it is lovely. We all knew you could do it. But how did you do it so fast??? I'm guessing you don't sleep a whole lot. . . beautiful work, and thank you for showing us.

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  15. are you the same woman who was going to lock her craft door and become an accountant or something.

    Hahahaha. You Back!

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  16. Anonymous20:20

    Amazing beautiful, Lene. To quote Churchill: Never, never, never, never give up!

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  17. Absolutely gorgeous! I'm so happy that you didn't give up! Thank's for being back on track and giving all of us beautiful pictures and inspiring ideas.

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  18. Anonymous21:01

    The term in English for each warp thread coming through the reed is "end" (and the spaces in the reed are "dents"). In Canada, the newer reeds, or ones which come with European looms are metric--30/10, 40/10 & 50/10--are equivalent to 8 dents, 10 dents & 12 dents per inch.
    Your shawl is gorgeous, what a stunning weave structure & colours. Keep it up

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  19. It' so beautiful. Great work :-))

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  20. Lovely! What an intereting weave structure.

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  21. Anonymous21:57

    It is just GORGEOUS, no other words for it!

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  22. Oh, I love it! The best part is that it's reversible. You can't often say that about knitted shawls! ;-)

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  23. Anonymous00:10

    So so beautiful!

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  24. It is a lovely shawl. Your colors are delicate and seem perfect for a baby. It has a cool and clam feeling to it.

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  25. That is completely gorgeous. No ifs, ands, or buts. :)

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  26. Beautiful, and I certainly can see the Chanel jacket fabric - will it be a shawl for you?

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  27. I'm delurking to say "That's gorgeous!" I'm also very glad you didn't pitch the loom into the lake.

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  28. Anonymous03:58

    Well, you certainly had a brilliant Friday. All those beautiful creations worked on and finished. Well done, Lene, for the stunning work, and the equally fine photos.

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  29. Wow, it's turned out really gorgeous. I like both sides too, but I think I may be partial to the stars. :)

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  30. Oh my goodness. That is so beautiful. I love the colors, that pattern, all of it. Just lovely.

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  31. This is absolutely gorgeous,I am being strong but I have wandered into looking at looms,your efforts in learning a new skill is lovely to see!!! Have fun!

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  32. Anonymous07:37

    Thanks Granny Purple for the right terms, I'll learn !
    Esther

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  33. Ohhhh my gosh. You might feel like a beginner but you are the type who sets the bar high. I'm not a weaver but there's just no way that this is a "beginner" level project. Thanks for sharing your beautiful and inspiring work with us Lene.

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  34. Anonymous14:37

    It looks gorgeous. That was fast work too!!

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  35. Really lovely, beautiful!

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  36. Anonymous16:22

    Stunning :) What a beautiful piece of work!

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  37. How absolutely wonderful that looks! I love the colors and everything about it!

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  38. Anonymous19:52

    Your weaving is lovely! I'm so glad you are happy with the results this time (but really I thought your previous effort was good too.) I can't wait to see those beautiful socks.

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  39. Anonymous20:10

    Those are beautiful!

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  40. Anonymous22:11

    Lene, I so happy you finally mastered the weaving! Those are so much your colours. I love it!

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  41. Anonymous22:44

    As my husband likes to say, "If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer."

    Or was it, "Nothing succeeds like trying"?

    Anyway, it's a nice weave in nice colors for a nice purpose - goodness knows you need another shawl.

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  42. Anonymous01:45

    The shawl is beautiful. So are your words.

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  43. Wow. How lovely! :)

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  44. Anonymous03:51

    it's magnificent lene! i am very admiring of your weaving, since it is something i cannot do myself. i'm happy to see it is a wonderful complex fabric, with "plusses and zeros" in it.

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  45. Everyone has said it already, but I will say it any way. The shawl is just stunning. Sooooo beautiful!

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  46. Anonymous14:38

    your shawl is beautiful, lene! well done!

    i have an old loom but unfortunately no clue as to how it's used - will have to find a class soon.

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  47. Ooohh, that shawl is so, so beautiful, it deserves delurking. I'm reading your blog for a while now, and I adore your crafts and skills.
    Ursula

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  48. This looks fantastic! I see the similarity to Chanel too. I'm so glad you pushed yourself to go through with it. Hopefully next time you take on a weaving project you will not hit any rough spots.

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  49. It's good to come out with beauty on the other side of pain. I'm so admiring.

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  50. Such beautiful work! I am mystified by how it is made!

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  51. Very beautiful! I like the colors and that you can wear it with either side showing for a beautiful look. Congratulations!

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