Scarf #4

Using a couple of my initial photographs I developed this warp design, concentrating on bold stripes of dark grey along side blue to red dip dyed stripes, all of equal width.

INSPIRATION

 As you can see on the image below, I originally planned to dip dye the light blue wool with a coral/peach/pink colour:  

(poor quality image is due to lost memory stick - disaster - and having to scan in my work that has already been printed off)

I misjudged the calculations in the dye lab which resulted in such a garish red colour that I would never normally go for. Despite this I think that the colours work well together, and the daring red (albeit out of my comfort zone) is a great contrast to the dark grey stripes.

 In an ongoing attempt to perfect the scarf making process I tried out a new technique: the leno end. This was a disasterous mistake causing hours of painful mending of ends and even resulted in a slight (very) teary meltdown in the weave room. The leno end is created using a yarn which is stronger than the base cloth yarn and acts as a barrier to the edge of the woven fabric to prevent fraying/displaced ends after removing from the loom, aiding to create a lovely fringed edge for my scarf. The leno end caused so much havoc with this warp that in the end, I decided to chop it out because my usual fast pace weaving had become a living nightmare. 

Other than "Leno Gate" I am pleased with the way that this snood has turned out. The combination of Satin and Sateen weave structures across the fabric have achieved an alternative check-like look. 

As mentioned previously this is a snood - not a scarf. Throughout the weaving process the issue of time was ever pressing, culminating in not weaving a very long length. Having a snood included in my collection is great because they are a very current style across the high street stores. I see the snood as a unisex piece. 

DEVELOPMENT

The drawing above helped to inform weave structures used. Each stripe of colour was split down the middle and threaded on separate blocks to allow me to create large chevrons with two twill structures. I made the decision to split over two blocks rather than to thread up on a pointed draft because I was eager to create larger, bolder chevrons that I did not believe could be achieved over a large pointed draft.