Vigil Wrap

A dear friend is sitting here vigil to be elevated to the Order of the Laurel at GNE and I had to make a few beautiful things. This is one she knows about and was involved in planning. 

This vigil is going to be a in a roundhouse that will have an altar and lots of other really fascinating things. This wrap is going to be the cloth for the altar and for her to wear as she processes in to court for the elevation. Initially she was going to weave it herself. But her life has been crazy busy and I just headed into another summer vacation. I offered that if taking this on would be taking something off her plate in a positive way, I would be honored. We picked out a twill point draft pattern that reminds me of rivers. And as serendipity would have it, there has been at least one extant example of this weaving draft found in Elisenhof, Germany, dating at approximately 8th century. Check out the fabrics here

I brought several yarn options, and she chose a sport weight domestic Merino wool. We decided that since indigo is featured in the garb she is planning to wear, we would continue that theme.

Her current passion is Pre-Roman Britton. I took a little time and dug around to figure out what sheep breeds would have been there and was pretty disappointed with what I found. Most of the info is sketchy at best, and the breeds I was pointed to I know are not soft, but rather prickly. Another friend wanted to participate and we decided I would dye the warp and weave, while they would spin the weft. I pulled out some heritage breeds: Rambouillet, Blue-Faced Leicester, and Cheviot. We settled on the BFL and it is region appropriate, if not necessarily time appropriate.

I did a double dip indigo dye to match the skirt I had already dyed for her. It turned out lovely. Next was winding the warp and dressing the loom while I waited for the weft to be spun and set. 

I just got it off the loom and fulled yesterday, it's almost dry and ready to be hemmed! It was definitely a challenge working with the handspun weft. I see all the inconsistencies in both the thickness of the weft and the dye of the warp. But it has a lovely drape and feels really good.