Yarn of Many Colors
Variegated yarns. They are delightful to look at, but what do you do with them? We have been asked this question over the years, and Katzy took a dive into what to do with them and has a few thoughts.
Lovely, variegated yarns.
by Katzy Luhring
Maurice Brassard has come out with amazing colors of their 8/2 variegated unmercerized cotton yarns. They are luscious to look at and so soft. And, they combine beautifully with our 8/2 American Maid™ cotton yarns as well as the solid colors of 8/2 Maurice Brassard yarns.
I hadn't done much with the variegated yarns, so where to start? Ahhh, I know, a gamp with both the variegated yarn and a solid color of Maurice Brassard. Gamps are a great way to experiment with color and see how yarns interact. Read more about gamps here.
I set up the gamp on a rigid heddle loom. Both the warp and weft threads are doubled, and I used a 10-dent rigid heddle for this project. If I was going to do this experiment on a shaft loom, I would use 20 epi for these 8/2 yarns.
The picture at the right shows the gamp that I made. The warp runs vertically and the weft is horizontal. The right side of the fabric has variegated yarn and the left side of the gamp is warped with a solid color Aquamarine. The top right quadrant of the woven gamp looks plaid where the variegated yarns cross themself, the bottom right and top left quadrants show the combination of both yarns. And, the bottom left quadrant shows the solid Aquamarine woven with itself. This gamp showed the possibilities of the yarn but was sort of uninspiring as a napkin.
Houndstooth on 8-shafts
Then, I got the idea to do a houndstooth color-and-weave towel with the variegated yarn as the dark yarn and American maid™ natural yarn as the light yarn. My dad is a wonderful weaver, and I convinced him to weave a towel using the 8-shaft houndstooth pattern from Carol Strickler's 8-shaft Pattern book.
We were both delighted with how soft and lovely the towel turned out. The Limette Combo variegated yarn is dark enough to show the pattern well. A new favorite kitchen towel for both of us!
More Color-and-Weave
After those towels were woven, I took the idea of color-and-weave to a bigger scale. I wanted to warp up the Flip Rigid Heddle Loom and make some washcloths. This time I paired Sapphire Combo and Marine Blue. Those colors made a stunning combination! And, as always, doubling the ends in the warp and weft made this weaving quick and easy.
Off to the Ocean for Napkins
Then, for the last sample, I chose the Bleu Ocean variegated yarn and warped the Flip loom again. Making the warp wider to make napkins.
I paired the Bleu Ocean variegated yarn with Peacock this time and watched the variegated magic happen. In one napkin, the white section of the Bleu Ocean yarn pooled right in the middle and the napkin seems to glow from the inside. Again, the 6 napkins wove up in a snap, and they are beautiful.
My next project will be to warp up the Sapphire Combo and Marine Blue wide enough to be a snuggly scarf. I think I will make it 16-18” wide, and 90” long. I can’t wait to feel that soft fabric around my neck next fall!