This is the third in what seems to be my Summertime Band Series. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say I wound this warp for our elderly cat (he may be deaf and nearly toothless, but he sure does like to weave!) -- but I also wound it for me. I loved the colourplay in my previous summertime band, and I followed the same general colour arrangement in this warp -- but with wildly mixed yarns.
The Navy and Chartreuse-yellow are thick(ish) knitting cottons. The sparkly Fuschia at the borders and accenting the central stripe is a glittery blend of (I think) rayon and lurex, not super-fine, but not thick, either. The Teal yarn is a shiny gossamer-y ribbon yarn sold for knitting. It's odd stuff, this ribbon: solid (and fine) at its edges, with what are basically fibres spanning the distance between those two selvedge structures. In use, it tends to fold its edges together, creating a loopy, softly textured effect.
In warping, I used a technique I'd heard people talking about, but had never tried: warping by pulling loops through the heddle and stacking them on a post placed a distance away from the loom. It worked beautifully! Granted, all my fussy little stripes slowed the warp-winding process considerably; but beaming-on was amazingly easy to control, and threading was an absolute breeze!
The first few picks of weaving made me a little nervous, because these wildly varied yarns all respond differently to being woven. The knitting cottons are cushy. The 10/2 cotton, created for weaving, is firm and steady, as one might expect. But the ribbon...! It stretches, folds itself, sags, and buckles... and I was worried that I'd just put a nightmare warp on the loom.
But a few picks later, all was well. The ribbon figured out what it wanted to do (and I like what it's doing very much!), so the cat and I are weaving along happily.
The next big test will come in the wet-finishing!
