A Blanket a Day

I few weeks ago I put on a multicolored pearl cotton warp for 9 baby blankets. These are blankets I have been weaving for years, and I always enjoy weaving them.  They are kind of "design as I go" blankets, and for that reason it takes a little while for me to get going with them once they are on the loom.  So... they stayed on the loom for about three weeks before the weaving began.

Now that I have jumped right in, I have promised myself that I will weave a blanket a day until they come off the loom.  Because the blankets are woven with 2 shuttles they are "slow cloth", and each blanket takes about 4 or 5 hours to weave.

Colors chosen for a teal, blue and white blanket

They are all woven in plain weave with one shuttle of pearl cotton and one shuttle of a nubby cotton.  Each one will be different.  I plan ahead for where to change the colors of the nubby yarn for each blanket before I begin, but the many color changes in the pearl cotton are done "on the fly" as I weave the blanket.  Decisions, decisions.  That's part of the fun.

Tip # 1: In order to keep track of my plan for the length of the baby blanket, I mark up a length of grosgrain ribbon with hash marks to indicate where I want to make my color changes in the nubby cotton yarn.  I keep this ribbon pinned to the cloth as I weave.  I do NOT allow the ribbon to wind onto the cloth beam - it is just removed from the loom when the blanket is finished.  I will save the ribbon in case I want to weave another blanket with similar color arrangement in the future.

Tip # 2: Selvedge Control.  When weaving plain weave with two shuttles it is important to interlock the weft yarns to get neat selvedges.  Positioning the shuttles correctly is the key.  Pay attention as your shuttle exits the shed.  If the edge thread is up, place your shuttle near the fell of the cloth.  If the edge thread is down, place your shuttle near your body.  If you do this, the wefts will always interlock. 

The green weft exits under the edge warp thread, goes over the white weft, and then enters the shed under the edge warp again.  The wefts are interocked.

On my warp, the left selvedge thread was up when I threw the green shuttle above, so I placed the shuttle near the fell of the cloth, and I then placed the white shuttle near my body 

The green weft exits over the edge warp thread, goes under the white weft, and then enters the shed over the edge warp again.  The wefts are interocked.

On my warp, the right selvedge thread was down when I threw the green shuttle above, so I placed the green shuttle near my body, and I placed the white shuttle near the fell of the cloth 

When the blankets are done, I will post pictures of them in the Gallery.