November Wrap

As soon as November rolls around, I start to think about a nice cozy wrap to keep the chill away.

My colors of pumpkin orange, walnut brown, moss green and teal were all hand dyed merino/bamboo, fingering weight yarn. This size yarn is perfect for the 10 Dent Heddle and the 16″ Harp Forte was the perfect width for my project. Of course the 16″ Presto would also do the job.

Plaid can be a bit daunting for some. So many colors – each with their own shuttle! And then there is the issue of remembering the pattern repeat! Well, in truth, plaid does take a bit longer than a solid weave, but in my opinion, it is well worth the effort.

Here are a couple hints to help manage the colors on just 3 shuttles with all 5 of the colors presented in this wrap. I wound the white onto its’ own shuttle since it is used more frequently. Then I wrapped two colors onto each of the other two shuttles, keeping one color on each side. The problem with leaving it like this and then trying to weave is that the color that is not is use tends to unwind along with the color that is in use. A simple solution is to place a clip on the unused yarn to hold the end in place. Below is a photo with some different yarn so you can see the idea. Plastic sewing clips work well too.

Although there are many apps available for pattern tracking (and they would work quite well in this situation) I prefer to keep it simple. A small piece of card stock with hand written notes and a paperclip is all it takes. It’s small, portable and does the job quite nicely.

Bury your ends as you weave by drawing them into the following pass. Then trim them neatly after wet finishing the completed project.

I hope you will try your own version of a plaid soon!