Sampling is a weavers friend!

In the world of weaving, the word sample is your friend.  Sampling can help you make decisions, on structures, colors, sett and yarns.  Even I have to do samples from time to time.  If I am unsure how something is going look after it is woven, I will most likely make a sample.  After I have finished it, I  might be used for a scarf,  a table runner or used as scraps in all sorts of creative projects.  If it does not turn out as I had hoped it would, then I am not out a lot of yarn or time.

Today was a wet, rainy cold day.  A good day to stay in and try something new on the loom.  So I went to my ever growing pile of "Pam's Projects" and picked one.

What I chose was a scarf project that I saw in an article in Handwoven Magazine several years ago.  It was written by Madelyn Van Der Hoogt and the name of the article was Felted Lace Scarf in Superfine Merino.  I am pretty sure if you go to the their website, http//:handwovenmagazine.com  you will be able to find out how to get a copy of this scarf project.

So here is where sampling comes in.  This scarf is made of two colors of 8/2 Jagger/spun wool and it is a simple double weave project.  I started winding my warp this morning and by late this afternoon I had the woven scarf in the hot and cold water to felting it.

                                       Here are a few photos of the project before the felting.

Here is what the scarf looks like after washing.

So now that I have tried this project I can decide if this is something I would want to do again.  Maybe I would use different colors.  Or maybe try a different was of felting the wool fibers together.  After finishing this piece I decided that I would want to do a few things differently that was written in the project notes.  But because I took the time to sample I now have a better idea of this project.  Sampling is your friend!