Without Further Ado

Behold! ;-)

Now, down to business. There was a lot of things to love about the triple weave. It was really a very pleasant experience. Easy to check the layers were staying separated each time I moved the temple. I could see the under side, but everything in the middle, forget it. The ginormous shed on the Louet loom made it all much easier and did a great job of freeing grabby yarn from the warp. The end feed shuttle adjusted worked nicely with the Harrisville Shetland, although it took some time to get it adjusted well. BTW, dropping a shuttle can put it out of adjustment. I sent it sailing a couple of times much to my shame and Jack's delight.

I still had some cramming at the folds, it was much better than the twill cotton blanket

and fulling the blanket certainly helped a lot. Had I made this bigger and fulled more, I suspect the fold areas would be gone.

The fishing line in selvages and folds worked beautifully. I had no help to remove them and found an easy way to get them out without rumpling up the blanket a lot. I tied a fishing line end to the deadbolt knob on the door, went to the other end of the blanket and eased the fishing line out with steady pulling pressure. The problem I had with the fishing line was them tangling with each other off the back of the loom. Must find a better way to keep them from doing that for the next blanket. Selvages were actually acceptable.

They do tend to slide around on the line, but none of the edges abraded or broke, so it was a good trade off and using a temple also helped to keep draw in and resulting frayed wool warp at bay. Speaking of temples, I want to thank Lynette over at Dust Bunnies Under My Loom, for such a good tutorial. Sharon had asked about temples

and I went over to Lynette's to get the link and read the tutorial again while I was there. I had my temple adjusted too tightly on the warp. Once I readjusted it to be easily put in place with a finger's worth of pressure, my selvages improved some more. Thank you so much Lynette for having some great resources on your blog.

I love the mohair and wool hand spun in the blanket, but it does cause a little rippling. I don't mind it, I knew it would do that and for me is a feature.

Others may not like it but it certainly could show up in future blankets. The fabric sitting there is what I am going to bind the blanket with.

So, Dawn asked if I would weave another blanket this way. Yes, in a heartbeat. In fact I have at least two more blankets in the planning stages and an overshot coverlet that is just a little spark floating around right now. I can't do the overshot in triple weave since I don't have 12 shafts (dang!) but I can do double width. And thank you Cindie

for coming up with that wonderful simple triple weave draft. It's a keeper!

A bit about the Harrisville wool itself. I never would have guessed it would soften up as nicely as it did. It's not merino and will never be merino, but it is plenty soft for me and Gene and the added durability this wool provides makes making a blanket worth while. It should last for years. It is light enough to be a summer blanket with just a sheet, assuming you are cooling off into the low 60's at night. What I like about wool as compared to cotton is the weight. I can't stand a lot of weight on me while I sleep and cotton blankets are heavy especially in a king size. I sleep with my feet thrown out even on the coldest night and hate to feel like I'm in strapped in with heavy bedding.

Wool works for me in just about most circumstances.

Some changes for the next blanket... I'm still thinking about going to 8 epi

making the blanket width say 35" on the loom and fulling a bit more. The fishing line needs reining in from twisting on itself as it hangs. Doubling and cramming the selvage edges to keep them a little nicer when weaving and also provide a bit heavier hand for the finished cloth. I am going to try some different wools for future blankets.

After the New Year I plan to get in some MacAuslands 2 or 3 ply. And look for some mohair to make an appearance in the warp.