I took a break from SCA crafting to weave a baby blanket for my sister. She is expecting her first child February 7th, and I wanted to make something useful and pretty. I already knit a sweater for the kid - she is waiting to find the sex until they arrive. So I got to play with colors. Once upon a time, my sister was inspired by a weather map of a winter weather system that was called a "Fractured Vortex". So we dyed up some of our mini skeins in those colors and it was really fun - like a neon box of crayons. It didn't sell because people couldn't imagine how it would knit up. I took the opportunity to take the box of crayons and weave it against an undyed warp. These yarns are 75% superwash merino/25% nylon - absolutely perfect for something that WILL need to be washed frequently. But I couldn't just use my own brand yarn...
My sister often uses the screenname Lynus/Lynnus as homage to Linus of Peanuts fame, because she always carried a yellow cotton blanket with her as a kid. As she aged, the blanket became more of a pile of strings and we lovingly referred to it as "The Rag". My mother saved it once my sister accepted she couldn't carry it around anymore. I asked for it because I wanted to incorporate it into this blanket and my mother laughed at me because she didn't think it was possible. Given the status of The Rag, I understand her concern.
I was determined. And with much painstaking care, I was able to not only measure the original size of The Rag (which let me plan my blanket) and I carefully trimmed one selvedge and was able to extract several lengths of cotton that I could use.
The original blanket was about 36x50. I wanted a little wider and planned to make a double weave blanket that would be about 48x60. I wanted a goal of larger, because without fail, most of my weaving ends smaller because of how much tension I put on the warp. I also knew this size goal would require the Double Weave technique, where the fabric is actually 2 layers connected on one edge of the weaving. This is the fourth time I've used this technique, and absolutely the most successful. For double weave, you are blind for half of the weft, it is the bottom layer and you can't see it until it is cut free from the loom (without having a mirror or camera running the entire duration of weaving). I warped 576 ends and did not have any places on the blanket where I caught both layers and needed to snip and splice! I also only have 2 places where I have weft floats to fix- which in the scheme of at least 1000 weft throws, I can't complain!
My end results before hemming are 44x63. I'm thrilled to be that close. I love how the colors are softened by the undyed warp. And the 4 threads of The Rag blend in perfectly, even if they fall apart after their first wash. I deliberately placed them in such a way that they are in no way structurally critical to the blanket. But it's a wonderfully sentimental piece that I hope will get lots of use for years to come!
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