The Dragon's Lair

Any finished object should produce those nice warm fuzzies of accomplishment, but the final item on a multiple-item warp is overridden with warm fuzzies and reason for a little happy dance as well! I have one of those sort of finished objects sitting nearby right now - my overshot scarf.

And just to make it a complete overload in the warm fuzzies department (I'm now picturing Captain Kirk buried in tribbles) this is also the very first piece of weaving that I made for myself. Yes, I have gifted or sold every single other piece of my weaving up to this point (though you must take into account the fact that I only have just over a dozen woven finished objects in my past thus far - it doesn't take long for that amount to disappear!). I recently also made a rug that I'm considering keeping, so I feel completely decadent and spoiled at the thought of having two lovely woven pieces in my possession that are my very own accomplishments. But let us wade out of the overabundance of warm fuzzies and turn back to the subject of overshot -

This particular warp had been on my loom for over six months (why yes, I am a little slow at completing projects). Though the saga actually begins back in the end of May 2008.
I was able to 'audit' (attend, but not fully participate in) a great workshop about overshot taught by Alison Irwin. If you ever have the chance to learn from her, I definitely recommend it! One part of the workshop that I was able to participate in, being an off-loom activity, was learning how to name draft. I'm definitely hooked! I used my first name just to experiment and learn on, but ended up with one draft that really caught my fancy. It was the "As Drawn In" treadling of my name draft. I therefor decided to warp up and dive into overshot for the first time, using a draft I had made myself. What fun! This also meant that I would have a much better chance of actually participating in our 08/09 guild challenge (which was to be overshot) by starting nearly a year in advance. I know myself well enough to know that neglecting to 'strike while the iron is hot' would mean that procrastination would then set in, and I would not start until a month before the challenge piece was due, bite off more than I could chew, and end up running out of time. Instead, though it did take me six months, the challenge piece is completed with over two months to spare! I'm still rather in shock from the non-procrastinatory un-last-minute-ness of it all.

And now, on to talk about the actual weaving ~
I chose the sett - 20 epi - and size I wanted the scarf, then did the calculations needed before pulling out the warping board. Next step was to wind back and forth the 6.5 yards of 8/2 natural cotton 131 times. I had mentioned the idea of using a black warp, but immediately received dire warnings about the headaches of threading a black warp from my friend & weaving mentor - whom I shall designate as "K" on this weblog. Figuring that, being a completely new weave structure to me and all, I didn't need to introduce additional headaches, I took K's advice. I still think black warps look incredibly neat, and will get to them at some point soon, but I do try to restrain myself and not make each new project completely and totally over my head - just somewhat that way ;-)

My wonderful sister PinkDandelion gave advice and lent a hand wherever it was helpful in the warping process. The warp went on with relatively few difficulties. Then I was ready to weave!

This would be where "Lesson #1" learned from this project comes in:
Don't get overenthusiastic and wind multiple bobbins of your weft unless you're sure it's the correct weft choice for the project!
I still have a few bobbins all loaded up with some lovely gray-blue, crinkly textured rayon. And I will use them eventually, but for now they are just hogging bobbins - because this yarn did not work as the pattern weft. My lovely lacy little pattern became a blob with the texture in the yarn.

This little goof also resulted in a much longer sampling process than I had planned. It was a great learning experience though! The sampler ended up being 14" long and containing 9 different samples:

If you like lots of little details - like what every one of those samples is - you can find that in my Ravelry notebook entry about the sampler. Or, if you aren't on Ravelry (though if you're reading details like that, you should join Ravelry!!) I have the list over on flickr as well.

As this post is growing incredibly long anyway, and I am now being called away to the duties of everyday life, I must leave this as a "To Be Continued..."