What a knotty girl

After cutting something off the loom, your job is far from finished. The ends need to be sewn in and the cut yarns dealt with. The simplest way to finish a piece of cloth is to hem it. In my opinion, it is also the least attractive, although it does have it's place. For shawls and scarves, I prefer a fringe. When I make a fringe, I usually start by tying knots across the warp.



The bar that you see is merely a weight so that I can pull a bit and the weaving doesn't move.

Then you make your fringe. This is done by dividing the bunches of yarn in half and twisting them in the same direction, then placing the two pieces together and gently letting the twist come out of it, while not letting go of the ends. Simple enough, even though it sounds confusing as I have described it. Sorry about that.



Once the fringe is all twisted and the ends knotted, it is wash time. Best done by hand in cool water with a mild soap. The one excecption that I make to this is when I make blankets. I like them fuller, and so I wash them in the washing machine. I don't mind if they felt up a bit. In fact, I prefer blankets that way. It's cold up here and a felted blanket is just the thing in February.

So, as we stand now, my blue shawl is hanging in hopes that it will be dry by tomorrow. The red one is about 1/3 woven. It is coming along nicely, but will not be finished by the 14th. I don't think. As you know, my sister is coming tomorrow and I am sure that we will be otherwise occupied.



That's it folks. Keep watching for final pictures within the next day or two.