Phone Sock and On the Loom

Today I have taken a short break from all the big projects that I am working on. A friend who shared dinner with us last night, asked me to make her a phone sock and as she is leaving here tomorrow, I got straight to it. I found some left over stash and cast on.

It grew very quickly.

Soon it was done, ready to be handed over this evening. It was great fun to just knit something quick and easy, making it up as I went along. I know it will be loved and enjoyed. That is the best part of making something that someone would like.

I spent Wednesday dressing my loom for a new project. The new heddles arrived on Tuesday, a 10 dpi (dents per inch or strands of warp) and a 12.5 dpi. I was impatient to work with them and to try a very fine weave.

I am not sure what I will do with the fabric but I wanted it to be ready quickly as I was having a treatment on Thursday after which I am not to move around too much for the first week. This limited the size of the fabric I could weave.

I chose the finest heddle as I want to work with a silk and cashmere laceweight yarn that is in my stash. I love the colour and have wanted to use it for some time.

As I dressed the loom, it took so long as the warp is fine and has 120 stands for 23cm of fabric. I could not help getting a little frustrated and wondering if all this work was really worth it. I am still so ham-handed and it takes me a long time as a beginner. I am sure that this will change with practice.

The warp must be set up with a good tension so that the weaving is easy and flows.

In the end it was all worth it and I love the fabric that is being produced. It is an even weave and is soft, silky and fine.

I love every minute that I sit in front of the loom. It calms me as a meditation of presence, placing each thread of the weft in place and then beating it down, and repeat the process again.

The weaving enchantress is waving her wand and weaving me into the wonders of creation and I am delightfully captivated.