Monday, April 14, 2008

Lots of Weaving, Very Little Finishing

Finishing a project in weaving is the equivalent to sewing in all those pesky ends or seaming up a sweater in knitting. It takes forever, isn't fun to do, and everything shows if you rush through it.

So, even though I've taken several projects off of the loom in the last month, I've haven't gotten around to completely finishing them. I've still got a doubleweave table runner that needs me to weave in ends and wet finish, and a hand painted warp scarf that just needs to be hard pressed. I've also got zippered bags to finish sewing (many thanks to Sarah for volunteering to teach me how). My sewing skills are woeful!

I'm participating in a bookmark exchange later this year, and am in the process of weaving samples to test patterns. I'm always amazed at how many different variations a single warp can yield - below are two of my favorite samples. Although I don't think either of these will be the winning pattern, they were fun to weave (although I'm not sure what possessed me to use 14 colors of yarn in an inch and a half wide warp). Since I am a big reader, I'm sure they won't go to waste!