I did some more designing this morning, producing this monstrosity:
It’s a patterned weave with all sorts of patterns (see the right side of the liftplan) with a 12-shaft network drafted pattern in the ties (left side of liftplan). Tabby ground.
Now, why on earth would I want to weave up a monstrosity like that? The answer is that I don’t, at least not this one. It was a gedanken (thought) experiment, to see if I understood how to generate complex tied weaves. I checked with Su Butler (who runs the Tied Weaves study group for Complex Weavers) and she confirmed that it does work as a tied weave, so I think I’ve got a decent grasp on it now. So it’s time to start warping up, and designing samples and/or the “real thing”.
So what to weave? Well, let’s start with the warp. I think I’m going to warp up with black 60/2 silk, as I’d like to use some of the jewel-toned 30/2 silks as pattern weft, and black will really pop out the colors. With that black warp I can weave 30/2 silk, and various slightly heavier cashmere and/or silk wefts, including some of the beautiful yarns I bought from Giovanna. I also plan to try that metallic gold yarn that I used in my wedding-dress, and some rayon chenille in jewel tones. (I’d have to dye the rayon chenille, but I think that would be fun!)
In addition, I want to try weaving with 60/2 silk in jewel tones as the tabby weft, to see how that looks. Which means I’ll need to dye some 60/2 silk in bright jewel tones, some time after I’ve warped. I’ve never dyed 60/2 silk before, which means another adventure!
And I have to design the various patterns I want to try, settling on a threading pattern, before I start threading. Fortunately, it will take me several days to wind on the warp, which gives me time to design.
Whee! What fun. I can’t wait to get started!
Dyeing wise, I managed to get the skein to dye with level color! This is a huge accomplishment. I skipped doing another dyebath today, but will tackle another tomorrow morning.