The Language of Love

Today is my son’s 5th birthday! How has the time passed this quickly?! I hope you are celebrating something wonderful this summer, too!

My dear friend Katrina recently released a line of yarn to honour her friend Ann, who is currently battling cancer and just finished receiving a round of chemo in the States as part of a trial that isn’t yet available in Canada. When Katrina released the colours, sending them to me in terrible iPhone camera photos before she launched the official photos on Instagram and her blog, I immediately called her and asked if I could weave up two of the skeins into a large stole. Whether this will remain a stole, I don’t know, but for now, the large piece of fabric will hang in our living area until I am struck with some sort of genius about what to do with it! She (obviously) agreed and I set to work, quickly realizing I needed a third skein to finish the length that I had warped on the loom (I’m still learning and learn so much each time I start a new project).

CraftyJaks Boutique Amour (Merino/Cashmere/Nylon) in colours Daydream (Left) and Coastal Waters (Right)

The finished stole is about 3 feet long and 28 inches wide. I used one skein of Coastal Waters for the warp and added a section of Daydream in that creates a bit of interest in the fabric. If you were to glance at the fabric, you’d never notice there was another yarn in the warp – it takes a second look. I really like the subtly. And the weft is all Daydream, which is why I needed the second skein. I have about 25 grams of that skein left and plan to make something for Norah – it would be perfect for a toque for her.

I was really torn about how to finish this because after handwashing and attempting to full it myself, it just wasn’t effective after working on it in hot soapy water. Mostly, my arms were getting worn out! Due to the superwash content in the Merino, I decided to throw it in the washer to see what would happen – worst case, nothing would happen … right?! I had to try and my washer is very gentle – most of the kids stuff comes out the same way it went in: Dirty (hint hint cough cough ** new washer please ** cough cough hint hint). It came out beautifully! I used a warm water wash and rinse, following with a delicates setting on the dryer but it was dry in about 10 minutes in there. It fulled beautifully! I’m thinking it was the cashmere.

And while my selvedge is not perfect, they are definitely improving. I used a boat shuttle this time, rather than a stick shuttle, and had really good results. I definitely prefer the boat shuttle now that I have used it on the last few projects and hang gotten the hang of ‘throwing’ it. I said to Katrina that I think every project on my loom is slightly improved to the last – slowly, I am getting better. I am still not super happy with my joins when I need to add yarn, but I’m going to look up some pointers for the next project and again, I’ll keep improving!

I’d really like to sew something with this fabric eventually and I’m thinking about something like this in time. I told my mom when I was showing her this latest project that I am going to hoard and store these pieces of fabric over the next few years until both the kids are in school, at which point, I’ll be able to start thinking abut pulling out my sewing machine and serger, and working with these fabrics. While I don’t want to wish time away, I look forward to those days when I can plan and play with these fabrics because hopefully by then, I’ll have lots to play with! Soooo exciting! In the meantime, I’ll gaze at this wonderful specimen and dream!

Alright, it’s getting late and I have to get some sleep! Off to bed I go! Have a wonderful week, everyone!