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.
[…] 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 […]