garnet shawl

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!

This is the garnet shawl in its preliminary stages, showing the beads

Another shot of the garnet weft placed against the warp.

Half-woven garnet shawl. Here the pattern shows most clearly!

Larger photo of the garnet shawl

My garnet shawl, beaded.