Corkscrews.......

No, I don't mean corkscrews as in we're opening a really wonderful bottle of wine.  I mean in the kind that come from unraveling knitting - yikes - what a challenge

Here is half of the knit silk blank I dyed in a class by Nancy Roberts at the NWRSA conference a week from Friday.  The blank continues on to the right with the colors reversing. I was a little skeptical that I could actually wind the warp straight from the blank letting it sit on the floor and unravel as I wound around the pegs. It was a little bit of a challenge but not too bad.  

 

 Here it is after I've wound it on the back beam, it's spread out through the raddle and you can see the warp going through the lease sticks to the front of the room. Winding on that corkscrew warp was a little challenge, but once again not too bad.

 

But next came threading the heddles and reed - it was beyond challenging. I was so frustrated that I forgot to take a picture of all those little corkscrews hanging out of the heddles and then reed.....and popping out of the heddles and reed........

 

After taking 4 times as long to warp as any other scarf warp I finally got to tie on the front beam and spread out the warp ends (lime thread) and then audition some wefts. Right now I'm leaning toward the red-purple but I'll see what else I've got on the shelf to try out. Look at that mass of curly cue corkscrews in the right bottom corner where I've tied on the front beam - argh.

It's hard to tell in these photos but I love the way the warp blends from color to color across the warp. Another option with this dyed blank would have been to put on a warp and use the dyed blank for the weft and have the colors blend the length of the scarf. Once again, I would wind it into a skein and wash it before using it for weft - would hate to fight those corkscrews with every shot I throw.

Would I do this knitted silk blank dyeing for weaving again - yes for myself or for gifts. Will I do it for items I sell, probably not as it takes more time to deal with the corkscrews or to wind it into a skein to wash and let dry before warping. I will definitely wind it into a skein and wash it to get rid of those corkscrews next time.