Finished handwoven taquete samples

Yesterday I wove up the rest of the bookmark.  I also had the delight of discovering eight partial cones of cashmere yarn from Colourmart on my doorstep when I returned from shopping!  If you aren’t familiar with Colourmart, they specialize in remainders from the top Italian (etc.) mills – you can get top-quality cashmere, silk, merino, and occasionally alpaca, mohair, and even vicuna yarns from them at less than 50% of retail.  If you order large quantities, sometimes you can get discounts even on their already-discounted prices.

Anyway, I had written Richard and his happy crew asking if I could have some of his “odds ‘n ends” from the 2/72 nm and 2/46 nm.  So I got eight partial cones, four of each weight, all in different colors.

And I wove up this rendition of the chrysanthemum, using the 2/72 nm cashmere:

Much more subtle than the versions woven in brighter colors:

The first two crests are woven in rayon machine embroidery thread, the third (top) one is woven in a tencel/silk mix at 12,000 yards per pound.  You can see that the machine embroidery thread, while beautiful, is a little too fine: the crest, which is supposed to come out circular, is more of a flattened oval.  The tencel/silk mix, on the other hand, is too thick, stretching the circle into a long ellipse.  The 2/72 cashmere is almost precisely correct, only slightly flattened.  I have the feeling that 60/2 silk would be just perfect.

And here are the bookmarks:

I rather like the back; it doesn’t have the high contrast between puzzle pieces and background, but it has a cheery colorfulness that appeals to me.  But then, I like color.

The drape of the taquete pieces is very supple, and it has enough body to make a decorative shawl.  The cashmere is, as expected, super soft.  I’m pretty sure I won’t weave up the 2/72 nm cashmere into a shawl, but I’m wondering whether the 2/46 nm cashmere would work.  I think it is likely too thick, but it comes in lots of fairly bright colors, so is more appealing as a choice.  Silk might work out better, especially since I have loads of silk.  I’m also negotiating for some white silk tram (a VERY loosely twisted reeled silk) and may get some in a few weeks.  The stuff isn’t very durable (tends to fuzz) but it is very pretty, maybe good for a decorative shawl that doesn’t get worn all the time.

Anyway, I am pleased with my first taquete samples – now I’m just groping for a design that catches my fancy sufficiently to weave up some yardage!  I am getting the hang of weaving with four shuttles, so am working at about double or even triple my initial speed – I’m guessing about 8″ per hour.  That is still fairly slow – a 72″ shawl would take me about 9 hours of weaving time – but by no means impossible.  I think I could do it in about a week.

Dye-wise, I have a bit of a conundrum.  I have finished my second batch of samples, but I am suffering from what I suspect may be a little bit of RSI (repetitive stress injury, for the curious) in my left arm.  As a result, I’m trying to avoid doing things with my left arm, which makes winding the cards difficult.  At the same time, I really really really want to see how close my new samples are, so I do want to wind at least a couple of cards.  I think I may approach it in five or ten minute chunks, with frequent breaks, and quit if I start having any discomfort whatsoever.  RSI is nothing to be trifled with – I have friends who have literally had to quit their jobs because of it.  And while I’m not as high-risk as, say, a software engineer, I still do a lot of typing in my profession.  So I am trying to take things easy.