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Scarves

Scarves

Just before the end of last year, I made a few scarves that I didn’t get chance to post about. The first one was a present for my sister’s birthday. I took the inspiration for the colours from a previous scarf I made, which was blue and purple. I blended up equal amounts of blue, purple and green 18.5 mic Merino on my drum carder. I can’t remember now how many times I put the batts through, I think it was only once because I wanted random variegation. This is the back of the scarf:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI added some silk top to the front:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd I just like the way this photo looks 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI used what was left of the batts and added some more blue, purple and green, with a lot more green so I could make a scarf for my dad. You might remember the batt. I used some to make a nuno sample (which is now my nuno collar which I wear when I go out, though it looks more like a foppish cravat!) When I weighed it, there wasn’t enough for a scarf, so I had to blend up some more Merino. Even though I only needed about 10 grams to be on the safe side, I had to recreate the stages of the other one to get a similar blend. I think it’s my favourite one so far:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHere’s a close up

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOne thing I noticed while carding the batts, was that the more the wool/batts were carded, or re-carded, the more I got soft little nepps appearing. I did pick a few out, but it wasn’t easy so I left them, hoping they wouldn’t be a problem since they were so soft. It might be my imagination because I certainly can’t feel them, but there definitely seems to be more texture on this scarf. I think the light here caught it just right:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI liked the way this photos looks too, I’d just casually dropped the scarf on the table and it folded like this:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Batts, a Rainbow and a Scarf

Batts, a Rainbow and a Scarf

Firstly, I’d just like to say thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and offer their suggestions on my last post, they were all really appreciated and have given me lots of ideas for the future.  After a lot of thought about Social Media, especially after Leonor‘s comment and advice, I caved in and made a Facebook page   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Felt-by-Zed/867287306648868  There’s nothing there yet, I’m still trying to work out how to follow people etc, so if you have any tips, helpful hints etc, they are very welcome. Also, what’s the ‘etiquette’ on groups, can you just ‘join’ ones you like, or follow or whatever it is, or should you be invited?

I wanted something soothing and relaxing which didn’t require much looking after doing lots of sewing, so I thought I’d make some batts. I made them all a bit different, some with just different shades of Merino and some matching fibres, some had a lot of texturey wools blended in and I made a couple with lots of different fibres , shades and textures.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI also made some single colour textured batts to use on rainbow pieces, these didn’t photograph very well because there wasn’t much colour difference and it’s been really dark here the last couple of days. I did use them on this piece though, I’m going to add a little more green to where the yellow blends into the green, I don’t think the band is quite so defined in real life, but it does look like it needs more green on this photo.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI finally got around to making a scarf yesterday. It took all week to ‘prepare’ for it as I had to do it on the hall floor, so cleaning the hall floor, working out shrinkage, drawing out the template, etc. When I did get around to it, I was regretting it an hour in. 2 hours in I was regretting ordering 4 more packs of 18mic Merino last week thinking I’d get into scarves for a bit. 3 hours in I just wanted to curl up on the pillow I was using for my knees and have a nap. Today, every time I look over at my scarf and think ‘Ooh, it was worth it though’ every muscle in my body disagrees 🙂  I do like it though. I couldn’t get a very good photo, I’m afraid. Like I said, it’s really dark here, and the blue and purple are quite dark, and my camera seemed dazzled by the shininess of the silk. So, this will have to do for now:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI started with a template 25 cm wide and 200cm long (roughly 10 x 79 inches). I did alternate sections of purple and blue for the first layer, then the opposite colours on top for the second layer. I then added some matching colours of silk to the top, then contrasting colours:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt finished up being  19 x 176cm or 7.5 x 69 inches.