Huck Baby Blanket

I have just finished weaving a baby blanket in huck lace. My starting point was the article by Linda Ligon in the 1999 May June edition of Handwoven. As I was planning to put on a straight 24 threading I worked out a similar pattern (originally from Carol Strickler) in the lift-plan of my weaving software (Pixeloom).  Shafts 1 and 12 provided the plain weave for the selvedges.

There were 666 ends in the draft so it seemed to take a long time to get the loom ready for weaving.

I got into a bit of a muddle on how to get the taped bouts from sectional warping into position for threading but with help from members of Weavetech I got there in the end.

The blanket is fairly straightforward and has been sent off to the baby. This exercise was interesting for me because it represented several firsts for me.

• Weaving in cotton. I have woven samplers in 4 ply cotton but this was the first time that I had used cotton (8/2) for a complete piece. I had to beat harder than I usually do to maintain 18ppi. I don't know if this was because of the yarn, the draft or the width.
• Weaving with width. The width of the warp on the loom was 37" which is over a foot wider than anything I have done before. I played around with various shuttles and practiced my throw; I got on best with a 38 cm shuttle with rollers. Once I got the rhythm going there were no problems
• Weaving standing up. I have raised my loom on bricks by 8" and I wove standing up. No shoulder pains and it was much easier to move around the loom to see what is going on and advance the warp. No more hopping on and off the bench and they do say that too much sitting is bad for you.

I think that I am going to have to find some instructions on fashion photography- I frequently feel that my pictures don't do justice to the work.

The picture below is from my weaving notes. The calculations on shrinkage and draw in were pretty accurate which gives me a good reference point for the future. There is enough warp left on the loom to enable me to tie on the next warp which will save time on the threading. The warp is set at 18 epi which is just right for twill in Bendigo 2 ply or plain weave/lace in cottolin. Mmm... 

Weaving Notes