Woven Shibori Scarf

I love this scarf - I love everything about this scarf!



1. I love the weaving.
This was the scarf I made in Syne Mitchell's "Shibori Weaving" class at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. The process is like traditional Shibori - creating a resist by stitching and/or tying a pattern into the cloth, and then overdyeing - except that in this process, you weave the pattern threads (that will later be gathered up tight and tied) into the cloth as you weave the cloth! The background is plain weave, with Shibori shots created by pick up sticks.


When the heddle is down, the pick up stick behind the reed is up on its edge, and a clever little shed pops up above.


When the heddle is up, the pick up stick is scooted up flat behind the reed and a secret little shed drops down below! It's so cool!
Here's what it looks like from above - the white threads are polyester kite twine!



2. I love the yarn.
I used superwash merino sock yarn hand dyed by Lisa of Dicentra Designs. The colors were so vibrant and created such a fun plaid-like effect, that I was sad to think of throwing it in the dyepot! (It's OK, I went back and bought some more. But now that I've seen what can happen, will I weave it plain or Shibori dye it again?!)



And the finished scarf has such a soft, sleek feel and such a lovely drape that it seems like a luxury fiber.

3. I love the dyeing.
Here's the poor thing all tied up tight and ready to slip into the dye pot for a black over-dye.



I even knotted the fringe several times to get some random color splashes there. The tied scarves went into the pot at the end of class, so we didn't get to see the results til the next day, but next morning I took my sad little black bundle, sat down and snipped the ties, and was stunned by the spectacular results.









4. I love wearing this scarf!
It's beautiful, it's comfy, and it makes me feel fabulous. Thanks Syne for a great class, and thanks to Suzanne and Cornie for the fantastic Madrona Winter Retreat.

finished another scarf!

Finally posting last week's scarf - Painted-Skein Warp:Random Colors - woven in class at Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. The warp was hand dyed by our fabulous and fun teacher, Syne Mitchell.





I highly recommend her classes - her instructions are clear and well organized, her style is supportive, relaxed, and encouraging, she's fun and funny and just plain nice (as well as being very knowledgeable and skilled and talented).

Weaving tech - 2 and 1/2 yard warp, 8 dent reed, plain weave

The trick with the painted warp is to choose a weft of a darker shade so the eye will be drawn to the colors in the warp. Then beat loosely so there is a bit of space in the weave (and a bit of drape as well). Pretty cool effect. Now I want to try some of the other ways of warping painted yarns and do color blocks or stripes - so much fun to be had!

Spaced Out Felted Scarf is finished!

The scarf is done! It never got much smaller, so it's a wee bit too long for me, but it works if I fold it in half and thread the ends through - Janet Dawson style (though it will need a very cold day!) - or perhaps one of my taller family members will want it?



Felting tech - looking closely at the yarns, I realized something that I already knew (doh!) - loosely plied or unplied yarns felt much more readily than multi-plied or tightly plied yarns (that's Cascade 220/warp on top and Crystal Palace Taos/weft on the bottom)


And some close-ups of the felting (no, my wefts were not packed that tight - the yarn just shrunk that much!)


It was a fun experiment, and I kind of like the scarf, even if it makes me feel really short!

So now I'm packing for Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat where I will be taking classes from Syne Mitchell and weaving my next two scarves!