Friday, February 19, 2010

Woven Shibori Scarf

I love this scarf - I love everything about this scarf!

finished woven Shibori scarf

1. I love the weaving.
This was the scarf I made in
Syne Mitchell's "Shibori Weaving" class at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. The process is like traditional Shibori - creating a resist by stitching and/or tying a pattern into the cloth, and then overdyeing - except that in this process, you weave the pattern threads (that will later be gathered up tight and tied) into the cloth as you weave the cloth! The background is plain weave, with Shibori shots created by pick up sticks.

heddle down position
When the heddle is down, the pick up stick behind the reed is up on its edge, and a clever little shed pops up above.

heddle up position
When the heddle is up, the pick up stick is scooted up flat behind the reed and a secret little shed drops down below! It's so cool!
Here's what it looks like from above - the white threads are polyester kite twine!

beautiful woven cloth with shibori shots

2. I love the yarn.
I used superwash merino sock yarn hand dyed by Lisa of Dicentra Designs. The colors were so vibrant and created such a fun plaid-like effect, that I was sad to think of throwing it in the dyepot! (It's OK, I went back and bought some more. But now that I've seen what can happen, will I weave it plain or Shibori dye it again?!)

sock yarn

And the finished scarf has such a soft, sleek feel and such a lovely drape that it seems like a luxury fiber.


3. I love the dyeing.
Here's the poor thing all tied up tight and ready to slip into the dye pot for a black over-dye.

all tied up and ready for the dye pot

I even knotted the fringe several times to get some random color splashes there. The tied scarves went into the pot at the end of class, so we didn't get to see the results til the next day, but next morning I took my sad little black bundle, sat down and snipped the ties, and was stunned by the spectacular results.

pattern #1 and 2

pattern #8 flashy fringes



pattern #4 pattern #6

4. I love wearing this scarf!
It's beautiful, it's comfy, and it makes me feel fabulous. Thanks Syne for a great class, and thanks to Suzanne and Cornie for the fantastic Madrona Winter Retreat.

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