Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Fringe and a New Braid

So close! I finished weaving on the Sea Shawl today. Now I'm down to the finishing work. Tomorrow if I find the time I'll trim and twist the fringe. I'm trimming the warp about 6 inches from the edge of the weaving, then making twisted fringe. That shortens the fringe up to about 4 inches long, and makes sure that my yarn won't unravel itself in the wash. It takes more time, but given the fact that I've put in over 2 years on this project already, one more day won't hurt anything. And I like the look it gives.

The scary part comes after the fringe is ready. I need to toss this in the wash. Eep! But a project isn't finished until it is wet finished. Washing the fabric gives the threads the opportunity to move into their final positions. And since this is wool, things will full and bloom and shrink. I'm kind of nervous. I don't exactly know what I'm going to get. Crossing my fingers.

I was looking at my stash of yarn today,
and a cone of blue caught my eye. It is a sky blue, with white bumps and a metallic sparkle. I got to thinking, and my kumihimo disc just kind of jumped into my hands. And then a batch of smooth white cotton thread just seemed to want to come and play too.

In my mind's eye, I pictured a braid where the blue gives me textured blue diamonds against a smooth white background. While I had the image in my mind, I wound up the bobbins with 4 yards of thread each. It took one false start--I had the bobbins in the wrong starting position--then I was off and running. A couple of inches later, and the braid I pictured was in my hands. Magic!

I like this one. The blue diamonds kind of poof out, but it is subtle. It gives a nice texture, without being as outrageous as the last braid. This will be my take-with project for the next little while. I think I'll enjoy working on this one. The blue and white combination is one of my favorites. (I suppose you could guess that, looking at the pictures.) So clean looking. With this yarn choice, it is peaceful yet playful at the same time. Sounds like a good combination for summer time.

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