Phoenixes: even better than I’d hoped!

I finished the spinning for the phoenix a week or so ago – just over 1,000 yards of superfine silk, a bit thinner than sewing thread. So now it was time to finalize the design.

Designing the scarf was complicated – I had to juggle dozens of competing objectives. I had spun the yarn in two ~525 yard color gradients that would (hopefully) match to produce a symmetric scarf. I had also dyed 1,200 yards of 60/2 silk in a gradient from navy to royal blue, to use as a background color.

Here are the yarns for the first half:

The yarn changed color smoothly along its length. To retain that smooth, even gradient, I would need to use up all the yarn, leaving no jumps or gaps. So that was the first challenge: design a scarf that would require almost exactly 1,050 yards of the handspun gradient weft.

That meant juggling width, length, and picks (number of weft threads) per inch to get the numbers to line up precisely. Very precisely.

First I needed to estimate how many picks there would be per inch. I didn’t have any handspun to spare, so I wove a beautiful sample using 60/2 silk as a proxy for the handspun. When twisted together, they appeared about the same size, so I figured it would give me a good starting point.

Here’s my sample in 60/2 silk:

This sample came in at 72 ends per inch, which would be just perfect for a scarf 72” long and 14.5” wide.

So I worked up a design that suited perfectly. Here’s a picture of how it would look when worn (the white line divides the two sides):

I made the final tweaks, added a short hem, and started weaving.

A few inches in, I discovered two VERY, um, exciting things. (Yikes!)

First, the handspun wove up very differently from the yarn I’d used for sampling. Instead of 72 picks per inch, I was getting 50! That meant that my perfectly reasonable 72-inch scarf was turning into an ultra-long “Dr. Who scarf” at 103 inches, with skinny, stretched-out phoenixes.

Second, I had less warp than expected. WAY less. I was using a previously painted warp that changed colors every 2-3 yards. I had thought this section was three yards long, giving me plenty of leeway. Nope. It was only 69-70” between color changes – not long enough even according to the original plan.

Back to the drawing board. I eliminated one phoenix on each side and re-spaced the design:

Now I had a design that would weave up to 66” long – which would let me squeak in with an inch or two to spare.

I wove up the first phoenix, then realized that I’d created a different problem! My original design called for 525 yards of handspun, perfect for the amount I had. My shortened design only required 325 yards. As a result, the colors were changing far too slowly along the length of the scarf. My first phoenix was almost entirely brown!

To speed up the color changes, I decided to throw away about half the handspun I’d just spent two months painstakingly creating. (Gulp.) I’d weave half an inch, then pull out and throw away four or five yards of yarn. Then I’d weave another half-inch, and pull out more yarn. That removed the yarn a little bit at a time, which mostly preserved my smooth flow of color.

The second phoenix came out beautifully – everything I’d hoped for.

The photo doesn’t really do it justice. The handspun has small irregularities in the color and size that add wonderful texture to it. It’s much more interesting and, well, handmade than the original samples woven in machine-spun silk. Those were lovely too, but didn’t have the same liveliness and joy.

I’m definitely going to do more projects with handspun! I’m really excited by the possibilities.

I measured the remaining navy blue warp periodically as the scarf grew, and decided that I had just baaaaaarely enough for the rest of the scarf + hem. In a real pinch I could also overdye the white portions at the very end – though I hate dyeing on the loom.

I wove like a maniac (1,000 picks per hour!) and quickly reached the halfway point:

I’m now at about the 2/3 point, but I won’t make any more progress until Wednesday.

Why? Because I’m on a plane to LAS VEGAS, where I’ll be competing at the USPA Drug Tested National Championships in just two days!

My goal weights are:

• Squat: 137.5 kg (303 lbs)
• Bench press: 80 kg (178 lbs)
• Deadlift: 152.5 kg (336 lbs)
• Total: 370 kg (814 lbs)

If I hit all three of those target weights I will set new PRs (personal records) in all three lifts, break the California state record for bench press and meet total, and achieve my primary goal, which is totaling over 800 lbs.

I think I’ve got a decent shot at it. Fingers crossed!

Wish me luck!