Yet another shawl: "Gentle Sunlight"

I think I'm getting the hang of these. If I have the time in my studio, I can get a shawl done in just over two days. That means I should be done boring you with triloom shawls by the end of the month...unless I get another order or two that is. But I'm still having fun with these. It is such a very tactile way of weaving. Each and every interlacement of the yarn is done by hand. I love watching the colors play, feeling the softness slip through my hands, getting into a meditative rhythm.

The shawl I pulled off of the loom this evening was suggested by one of the folks on my Facebook fan page. She wanted something in bright yellow. Well, I couldn't find Walmart Happy Face Yellow in this brand of yarn, but I did get a beautiful soft butter color for the main color of the piece. Then, I dusted off my color theory, and decided that I wanted a restful monochromatic theme. Yellow plus white gives cream, so I picked out a milky color for the big stripes. Those two colors were very close in value though, and the eye would mix them together unless I provided a bit of contrast. It is hard to get a dark yellow, though. Think about it. Dark yellow is still, well, yellow. And we already know they didn't have screaming happy face yellow. But, if you add black to yellow you get a warm greenish. If you reach across the color wheel and add purple, you get an absolutely beautiful warm golden brown--one of my favorite earth tones. Lo and behold, Lion Homespun had a color called "Bourbon" that was heathered between that warm green and golden brown tone. I snagged that for the small stripes between the butter and cream.

I just took "Gentle Sunlight" off the loom, and popped it into the wash. I wash these on warm/cold, with a bit of laundry detergent, on the "handwash" setting on my machine. The weave tightens up once the piece is off the tension of the loom. Washing the shawl nudges the threads into their final position. Since this is a soft acrylic, it doesn't felt down too much. The weave is still light and airy, and drapes beautifully.

Hopefully I can snag my daughter after school tomorrow, and get some shots of the finished shawl. It should be up in the shop tomorrow night.