Weaving the Sea Shawl

Ok, that was rather nerve wracking. Today I wound up my bobbins, and actually got started weaving on the Sea Shawl. I quickly found that I needed to add a couple of floating selvedges, because the twill pattern didn't always extend all the way to the edge of the fabric. And, my yarn was too thick for the end feed shuttle I had planned on using, so I had to switch over to a more traditional boat shuttle.

Other than that though, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I haven't broken any warp threads yet. (Knock on wool.) The yarn isn't shredding in the reed. The pattern is showing up well. There isn't too much draw in at the edges. There don't seem to be any threading errors. The treadling pattern is dead simple, especially compared to how challenging it was to thread the heddles. And since my yarn is relatively thick, the weaving will go fairly quickly. If I devote time to the project over the next few days, I could conceivably be done weaving by this weekend, and be able to twist the fringe at the SCA event on Saturday.

Actually...maybe I'll twist the fringe as I cut it off the loom. Since the yarn is handspun singles, if I cut just a few threads at a time, they'll pretty much twist back on themselves. All I'll have to do is add the knots at the ends.

I am still worried that I'll run into trouble during the wet finishing. Wool shrinks and felts, and if I let it this might turn into a itty bitty fuzzy board.

Crossing my fingers.