Tien Chiu

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You are here: Home / Creative works / garnet shawl
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August 23, 2009 by Tien Chiu

garnet shawl

Closeup of the garnet shawl, showing the beads.

This shawl came out of the same warp as the goldenrod shawl and the silk and cashmere jacket.  I dyed some 2/28 nm silk yarn for warp and some 2/28 nm silk/cashmere for weft. For the warp, I alternated 2″³ stripes of chestnut brown and golden brown; the weft I dyed a deep garnet red.

The inspiration for this color came from a dear friend of mine, who is a Tibetan lama (very unusual for a Caucasian woman) and who had moved to India with her family.  I had offered her some mohair yarn in whatever shade she liked; she asked for a maroon or dark red, as that is the most appropriate shade for a Tibetan lama to wear.

So I mucked about in my dye samples, and finally decided to dye it using mostly red dye, with just a trace of turquoise to tone down the color.

I was absolutely shocked by the resulting shade: a glorious auburn red!  I hated to part with such beautiful yarn, but I had promised it, so I sent it on its way and promptly determined to dye some more!

This was one of my early attempts at network drafting, a very regular pattern resembling the overshot pattern called “orange peel”.  I still like the symmetry.

I beaded it with small amber beads and large garnet foil beads, but I have to warn you: those beads come off!  I’m constantly having to sew them back on.   Next time I use smaller beads!

[Show as slideshow]
Garnet weft shown with beads This is the garnet shawl in its preliminary stages, showing the beads
The garnet weft shown with the warp Another shot of the garnet weft placed against the warp.

Garnet shawl on the loom Half-woven garnet shawl. Here the pattern shows most clearly!
A large shot of the garnet shawl, showing the pattern. Larger photo of the garnet shawl

Closeup of the garnet shawl, showing the beads. My garnet shawl, beaded.

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Filed Under: Creative works, finished, Weaving Tagged With: network drafting

Previous post: A new definition of "forever"
Next post: Taking the plunge

Trackbacks

  1. goldenrod shawl says:
    September 3, 2009 at 7:03 am

    […] came off the same warp as the silk/cashmere jacket and the garnet shawl, and shares the same draft as the garnet shawl.  (I liked the pattern so much I wove a second […]

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