Spoiled (or Multi-Shuttle Weaves are Slow)

I'm spoiled. I've been weaving lots of single shuttle plainweave recently and I love how fast it weaves.

Now, I'm weaving multi-shuttle weaves. Progress. Is. Very. Slow.

My crackle scarf (oh, dear! I didn't get the test warp samples posted!...Well, I'm weaving a scarf with 8/2 tencel for a Weaving Indiana guild project. Crackle is a new weaving structure for me. It is a cousin to overshot and summer & winter. It uses both a pattern and a tabby weft.)

I am pleased with the way the scarf turned out. In fact, it is not only visually pleasing, but texturally as well. The crackle gives the fabric areas of plain weave plus blocks of various twills. The different areas feel different! I love it!

Unfortunately, I find two shuttle weaving a bit slow. It's not horrible, but slow, and I had to pay attention to keep track of my place in the pattern and the need to use the tabby picks.


Now for the really slow part. My plan is to do another scarf in the same yarns with a clasped weft technique using three colors. This may technically be tapestry weaving, but I still think of it as clasped weft. I tried it on my test warp. I know it can be done.

But, it takes so long!!!

I'm not sure if I can use this technique for a 60" scarf!

The mid-section of this photo show the "clasped weft" weaving (teal on the left, pale green in the middle, black on the right).

The upper section is a plain weave inlay technique where the pale green weft is laid in on top of the background tabby shot (I'm alternating black & teal). The good news is that the green can be seen from both sides of the piece. The bad news is that the black weft really tones down the green.

I may be un-weaving all this by tomorrow morning and doing something else! I can't go this slow--not today!