Craftstravaganza shawl (Now with update on page 2!)

[Lufah]

So, in November my husband and I hosted a little Craftstravaganza thingy, where we had some friends over we spent hours doing random crafts.  My friend Terry brought her drum carder, and during the evening, a crazy amount of batts were carded.  Here's what I wound up with:



So I spun them all up, and made two giant skeins of crazy yarn from them.



For lack of a better thing to do, I decided to weave a shawl thing out of it.  I finally finished it a few days ago.  I couldn't get a decent picture of the whole thing (it measures about 21" x 68").



It looks better in the close up pics, where you can see some of the interesting bits of the yarn.





Anyway, since it's kind of itchy, and I never wear shawls anyway, I just hung it up and am currently using it as wall art.    It was a lot of fun to weave, though, since the yarn kept changing, both in texture and color.

[unpopulartshirt]

All the colors together are so beautiful! Great work!

[hipmama1970]

That's beautiful! I would proudly hang it on my wall

[littlebluegirl]

Gorgeous!

[Tiny_viking]

:O! This kind of post makes me craftgasm! I LOVE seing somthing from raw material go threw several prosseses in to a GORGOUSE finnished object! Thank you for posting! I may need some time alone with these photos


Beanie xxx

[Lufah]

I kind of feel dirty now. 

[Fiberwish]

I LOVE IT!  OMG all the colors are soooooo pretty!

[Fiberwish]

Your pics show such great detail!  What kind of camera do you use, if you don't mind me asking?

[Lufah]

It's a Nikon D40.  I got it this summer for my birthday and it's probably been the most-used present of my entire life.  It's definitely been the best camera I've ever used.  Before I got it I read all about it here, at Ken Rockwell's site: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/index.htm  That's probably way more than you wanted to know, but I'm just crazy about this camera.  I'd recommend it to anyone.

[Flowers and Lemons]

That is really cool 
I like the close up the most, from further away it gets a bit messy. But I reallyreallyreally love the yarn.

[madelinetosh]

Oh my Lufah. I love the pics showing it from beginning to end. Beautiful!

[jenthefrog]

GORGEOUS!! I wish I knew how to weave.

[Lufah]

Thanks everyone!  And weaving - well, plain weave, I guess, since that's all I know how to do - is really easy!  Don't be afraid to try it at all. 

[RecycleMicol]

That's beautiful, Lufah!  I love seeing the handspun used, especially.  I want to weave my handspun when I get my loom set up.  I'll have to keep the scratch factor that you mentioned in mind when I make garments.  What breed of wool did you use?

RM

[Lufah]

We use a little bit of everything to make the batts, but I think the scratch factor came in because we were using bits of fiber that didn't go through the hackle or the drum carder the first time, so they were kind of short, and then we were just slapping the fiber on the drum carder so the fibers weren't all nicely aligned.  It was kind of like drum carding anarchy.  I think if you put a little more thought and care into preparing your fiber first, or just spun from rovings, the resulting yarn would be anywhere near as itchy as what we came up with.

[Lufah]

Hey, here's an update - I finally decided what to do with this.  It had been hanging on my wall, but today I had the epiphany - it was exactly the right size to reupholster the padded top of a bench in my dining room!  Here's the crappy sad old top:



And here's the new happy bench, covered in Craftstravaganza goodness:



Now I can sit there when I need to feel creative. 

eta:  The reupholstered bench has gotten the kitty seal of approval!

[silverstah]

What a BRILLIANT use for this - the new bench is stunning!

[Flowers and Lemons]

It fits perfectly on that bench. Great idea 

[Kbird]

Great idea for how to use your woven piece!
Thanks for sharing all of your pics!

[ademareej]

What pretty yarn!  And such a creative use of the finished project....that bench is so cheery now.

[RecycleMicol]

Congrats for being in the Best of Craftster 2007!  Wow.  You should be proud.   

RM

[Lufah]

Thanks!  I was excited and surprised to see that! 

[craftykatt]

Your new bench looks amazing!

[peachymanaangel]

The green really makes it pop. Great idea!

[wendy-bird]

It's so beautiful! I love yarns that change