Just a few of the miscellaneous projects that I've been working on lately.
(wadmal/valmal - woven fulled wool cloth).
Mioget/light moorit Shetland blanket - the header/start. Bulky weight handspun yarns. Started weaving in Oct - would have finished quicker but had to spin up a couple more bobbins for the weft.
The random strip pattern.
Almost done weaving. Notice how big the roll is on the front beam. There is probably close to 9 yds here!
Off the loom, folded 3 ways and almost read to pin the markers to sew between the panels. Weight is 7.25 lbs.
Cutting between machine stitched panels. Close up of the weave structure before the fulling process.
Panels handsewn together with hems pinned and ready to hand sew.
Fulled Shetland wool blanket / wadmal. Notice how much smaller than the above picture.
Big and plain but what a feeling of accomplishment. This blanket is thicker than the first one I made so should be even warmer.
Shetland Gansey Stockings
Shetland millspun UTS light grey sportweight yarn, novel pattern based on a few patterns from the wonderful book Country Weekend Socks. Turned cabled kilt hose top, with gansey diamonds done the front and bars down the side. These are so warm!
Cake dyed Shetland white mixed with white mohair.
Batts from above - 2nd pass. Hmmm . . . what to do with this? Probably felt would be good as this particular fleece had some second cuts in it. Or, a bulky spun yarn.
Yum! This is hand flicked, drum carded shaela Shetland neck wool blended with black Angora (which is actually a grey color as shown by the light color) and bay black Alpaca (off black). First pass (did 3 to blend well).
One finished skein of pure softness and warmth of the above blending. Over 500 yds. One more smaller skein to finish spinning. Kelly said "Cowl". Sounds good to me.
Typical fine fleece Shetland - 5" unstretched. Notice the deep crimp for good elasticity.
Flicking the locks.
Flicked. This was then drum carded and pulled off as roving.
One could say I'm never bored . . . on the other hand, one could say that I'm overwhelmed with all that I have to do and the possibilities of what I could do!
Oooooh, you really need to share with me the specifics of your wadmal blanket. I know some re-enactors that would love to get their hands on something like that.
ReplyDeleteI wanna come help!!!!
ReplyDeleteChristine, there isn't much more than what my pictures show. I think there are several reasons that you don't see more of these blankets or fabrics made, 1) it takes a whole lot of spinning (easy, but a lot of it, and the weaving is easy too), 2) you have to , GAAAHHH, cut the fabric (not a lot of people like to cut their handwoven fabric), and 3) you have to, GAAAHH, throw it in the washer (or hand full it which would be insane for this size unless you had access to a huge roller mill).
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy every part of the wadmal/blanket making process except winding this much warp on. That is the hardest part (but quickest comparitively).
Great work!! Lovely, lovely stuff. Makes me want to get motivated and put down the quilting for a while.
ReplyDeleteSo do you have a sectional warp beam on your loom? Were you able to fit the whole piece into your washer? I seriously want to try this but I might try the first one with commerical yarn to get a head start.
ReplyDeleteChristine, no sectional. Yes, it fit in the washer. Try a small lap size blanket first before scaling up. You can always learn to double weave to save some time stitching panels together (but I'm not convinced that double weaving is any time saver, especially if you get the "seam/middle" edge wonky or cross threads on the bottom - I'll sticking with sewing panels). I would use either the thick Brown Sheep commercial yarn or something similar. Expect to pay out the nose for commercial yarn though.
ReplyDeleteSlept under this blanket last night. Serious comfort and warmth. No wonder the Shetland islands used wadmal as currency!!! I'll defintely be making more Shetland blankets in the future . . . and my 'good' rating Shetlands will have a place on the farm!
Inspiration! A woven Shetland blanket has been on my wish list for years! What was the ypp of your yarn? How did you hand sew the panels together - thread? more yarn? stitch?
ReplyDeleteOutstanding! Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Franna - ypp was 320-400, a very bulky weight to make for fast weaving. This blanket is extremely warm. Yarn was used to sew the panels in the standard matteress stitch. Can't hardly tell where the seams are in the fulled blanket.
ReplyDelete