Shawl with Edge Detailing in Silky Baby Llama Wool

I had dinner with a dear close friend of mine last month and her response when I told her that I had taken up weaving was to tell me that she would absolutely cherish a wrap in a dark charcoal colour.  Because I dislike making things for me and love making things for other people, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try a larger project.  Challenge accepted!

After much consideration, I chose Illimani's Silky Baby Llama (70% baby llama and 30% mulberry silk) in a dark grey that looks almost black.  The Nerd and I went to Romni Wools on an expedition to find wool for this shawl and their selection is truly awe-inspiring.  They almost had too much wool, if such a thing can be said, because although their breadth of selection was wonderful, the depth in any given colourway was a little shallower.  I was able to pick up the 10 skeins I thought I would need for this project, however, so they had enough for me (which is all that counts). 

I tried to estimate how much wool I would need based on the size of my finished project.  I planned initially on using a 12-dent heddle across all 32" of my loom with 100" warp to try and get a total length of 70" and width of 28" after draw-in and shrinkage.  When I got home with the wool, however, I ended up using the 10-dent heddle instead, so I ended up with some skeins left over (rather than requiring around 2100 yards I probably only needed about 1700 - 1800 yards of wool when all was said in done due to the change in heedle).

This was my first experience using the absolute maximum width of my loom (in a single heddle configuration), and it worked pretty well, with a couple of things learned.

First, the warp was long enough that it was quite bulky on the back beam after I tensioned everything, and during weaving some of my outer warp threads on one side "fell off" the mass thereby causing a minor sudden loss of tension in one warp thread.  It was easily manually corrected, however, and did not appear to compromise the finished work.

Second, I discovered that all of my pick up sticks that came with my loom (or purchased separately) were just short of the full width of my reed.   This I discovered early on because my plan for this project was to incorporate a 1 x 1 leno with a Brooks Bouquet near each edge - -trying to set up the leno with two pick up sticks for length was tricky.  This was only a problem for the leading edge of the work, because by the time I reached the far end the Nerd had made me an absolutely beautiful pick up stick in red oak that was the perfect length.  Now I suddenly want to do a lot of projects with pick up sticks for some reason. 

The actual weaving of this project was pretty quick even with the fussiness on the edges because the majority of the work was done in a simple tabby weave.  All in all, it took less than a week to complete this project, although I did do a very late night on my final night because the Nerd and I were travelling to visit family the next day. 

The finished shawl after washing netted out to 29" wide (slightly wider than the planned 28") and 70" long for the body of the shawl not including several inches of fringe - - exactly on plan.  In hindsight that 70" feels a little short and I may go a bit longer for my next shawl as a result. 

This wool wove up smoothly and well, and the wool is aptly named because it feels very silky to the touch, but it also sheds quite a bit, at least initially, so I am uncertain of the utility of using this wool for a different project like a scarf that requires more durability.  But I would love to work with this wool again, so maybe I will use it regardless, just because.

 

 

All in all I love this shawl and I hope my friend enjoys it too.  It was very satisfying to weave up because the simple weave meant that I could weave up several inches a night - - a far cry from my knitting days, for sure!  Given that it took a week to make it was not quite immediate gratification, but it was immediate gratification enough for me.