I’ve decided to make the rest of the warp samples for the Helen Pope Special Sample Service at CNCH. This is a sale of samples to benefit the Conference of Northern California Handweavers; it simultaneously raises funds for CNCH and acts as a kind of sample exchange. Members can buy samples for a nominal sum (I think $1-2 per sample); CNCH gets money; everyone benefits! But people need to send in samples for it to succeed. So I am weaving a series of samples, and taking the opportunity to use up the miscellaneous half-pirns of this and that sitting in my basket of wefts.
Here is the one that I am currently weaving (with the leftover pirns of gold thread from the wedding-coat):
The draft for this can be found on Handweaving.net, here.
Looks pretty, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, I suspect there are not enough interlacements in the draft to be woven without a ground cloth; I think it will collapse as soon as it hits the water. But there is always that little chance that it will work without modification, so I’ve woven up seven or eight inches and will see whether the pattern survives wet-finishing. I’ll probably also weave a little of that pattern with a silk or cashmere weft, to see whether it works with a “regular” yarn.
I have now woven four sets of samples, and there is still a little warp on the beam, but not much. I’m going to continue weaving eight or nine-inch swatches of each sample tomorrow, then (after I run out of warp) I’m going to wet-finish, press, and cut up all the samples over the weekend. I think the deadline for the sample service is May 1, so (as usual) I will be skidding in just under the line, both with this and the yardage I’m entering for the yardage gallery.
