I had planned a spectacular project, to be given as a wedding gift. I haven't started the actual weaving, but I think I have run into a problem. The plan: an afghan, using Harrisville Highland as the warp, my handspun as the weft, the pattern an undulating twill so that the multicoloured handspun would be prominent. I've made an afghan before, using the Highland for both warp and weft, and it fulled beautifully. BUT - unthinkingly, as I finished spinning each skein, I followed my usual method of soaking it briefly in warm water and Eucalan, wrapping it in a towel, and then hanging it to dry with a light weight. The Harrisville Highland cones are not washed, my handspun is - so what will happen when I try to full this afghan?? Obviously the shrinkage rates are going to be different.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Frances Gualtieri
Vankoughnet, Ontario, Canada
Well, I think you are in for a surprise, unless you make a sample first. Your handspun can still full. But it sounds like you don't know what the fulling potential of your handspun is. Of course, it will vary from one kind of handspun to the next. Merino will full very differently than Romney, for instance. If you have the same breed of wool as the commercial brand, the fulling rate will be similar, but still not exactly the same. Anyway, sample if you don't want a surprise.
Just go ahead and finish the project. To remover the oil from the Harrisville(after weaving is completed), let the fabric soak in soapy water and rinse gently - THEN start any fulling process you had in mind and your yarns should mesh nicely.
Wool is quite forgiving and you should get a nice product.
With one yarn in the warp and the other in the weft you should not have any problems. Rather than soak the cloth, I suggest rinsing the web in a light soapy solution several times until the oil is completely removed. You will know the oil is gone when the bubbles stop disappearing and some remain on the surface of the water. :) Full until 'done', rinse and lay flat to dry.
The reason I suggest not soaking is in case of fugitive dyes - soaking will let the fugitive dye 'run' to other areas in the cloth.....
cheers, Laura
I agree with Sara, just do it! You may get some differential shrinkage but, with all the warp in one type of yarn and all the weft in the other that shouldn't be a problem. Lindsey woolsie has been made for hundreds of years with a linen warp, which hardly shrinks at all and a woolen weft, which shrinks a lot.
Thanks for the tips and encouragement! And I will sample (my weak point). The weft is Polwarth, by the way - Caribbean colourway from Rovings, in Manitoba.
I'll post a photo whenever the project is done. Fortunately the young couple doesn't seem to be in any hurry to formally tie the knot!
