Washed and dried

Finally, it's dry!

Finished size of the second practice piece: 16cm wide by 28cm long. It didn't shrink much, width-wise, but quite a bit length-wise. Will have to try and remember this when I make another item out of this yarn. It's still a bit rough (maybe it needs to be tumbled briefly) so I think the yarns will be utilised for things like table mats, placemates, table runners, bags or pillow covers.

Still pleased with the results, yes.

More about that second piece

Hurry up and dry already! *pouts*

Anyway, I've washed the piece in very soapy water and then let it soak for about 20-30 minutes to help the soap flakes get in to the fibre and get the oil out of it. Thorough rinse and it has bloomed considerably. The brown that had practically disappeared while weaving is now more visible. The gaps in between the warp and weft have definitely closed up and it doesn't feel very stiff while it's wet. I hope the drape/hand doesn't change too dramatically once it's dry.

I've got a wall radiator downstairs that puts out a lot of heat (and it totally ignores the thermostat settings, too...) so I'm going to hang the piece on the drying rack in front of the radiator.

Now I get to search through my stash for what I'll do next. I really like (though it's fiddly) the 12.5 dpi heddle, but I haven't tried the 10 dpi the loom came with and I haven't tried the 7.5 dpi. I know I want to continue (for now) working with wool/hair yarns and perhaps mixed with other fibres too (silk or cotton).

Second practice piece

Second go on my RH loom. I'm rather pleased with this attempt, I was very much afraid that I'd set up the loom to be too short, but this was long and wide enough to have worked out very well. The yarn wasn't specified for warp or weft just 'suitable for weaving', I wanted to find out if the yarn was robust enough to be used as a warp and it is, if used double; I had no snapped threads. It does stretch a little on the loom and the nature of the yarns meant that they tried to cling to one another frequently when moving the heddle up and down and when passing the shuttle through the shed. My selvedges are still a bit wonky but getting better. Better pictures will of course, be available on my picturetrail in the 'Ravelry Projects' folder.

12.5 dent reed (50/10cm)

Warp: Texere's Silk Heather (40% silk, 30% wool, 30% cotton) two strands, one oatmeal colour, the second "Moss Mix" (brown). Both yarns are a tweed (9/1nm -- whatever that means).
Weft: two strands together of Silk Heather oatmeal and two strands held together of Texere's Enigma (50% silk, 50% wool, 10/1nm) in "Spruce" (blue), Enigma is another tweed yarn. All yarns come on cones, spun in oil.
Measurement: I haven't washed the test piece yet, so it hasn't bloomed, shrunk/grown or done anything. It's been off the loom for an hour or two now and the size is 17cm wide and 31cm long. I will try to remember to measure it again after it's been washed and dried.

I'm torn on whether to take my chances and put it through a machine wash or just handwash it in soap flakes.

I am so satisfied with the results of this piece that I want to use it here in the house, perhaps as a small mat for something or in the display cabinet.