2011/02/13

First Baby Girl Blanket

AT THE MOMENT I AM A LITTLE CONFUSED AS TO WEATHER THE DOUBLE-WIDTH DRAFT BELOW IS CORRECT OR NOT, AS I HAVE A MINOR DISASTER ON MY HAND.  I WILL GET BACK TO YOU SOON-ISH.

The giftee in question is the little sister of this not-so-wee-any-more boy, and this still-somewhat-wee boy; this is the fourth commission piece for this client, but the last grandchild for now.

This being my first chance to weave something for a wee girl, I wanted to go all out girly and cute, and had in mind something red.  After consultation with the client (a.k.a. Nana), we decided on multiple blue-reds in the warp.  From there, I had to go with a fluffy white merino weft, and after having received several photos of the said cute little giftee, I had to have hearts. This is the draft. 

The red horizontal line shows where the second repeat ends; it won't be in the cloth.  The weft is quite thick, so the hearts will be elongated somewhat, but I may have to modify the proportion after sampling.

To convert a draft to a double-width draft, usually I use a tie-up plan.  For the first time, though, I converted a lift plan to another lift plan, (my setup requires a lift plan when I weave anyway,) and this proved to be so much easier and quicker, especially if the design is symmetrical.

At the moment I'm using Shafts 1-8 for the top layer and 9-16 for the bottom; I'm wondering if I should change this to use the odd-numbered shafts for the top layer and even-numbered for the bottom, but that won't be difficult copying and pasting.

On to the warp.

4 comments:

Peg Cherre said...

I'm always impressed with the apparent ease that more skilled weavers use to design wonderful cloth. The hearts are lovely! I'm expecting my first grandchild. Don't know gender yet, but if it's a girl, I may need to use this draft - hope you don't mind.

Meg said...

No, I don't mind, go ahead. Let me know if you need a WIF.

One consideration, though. Mine are not "receiving" blankets, but more like carry-and-drag toddler blankets. The client and I have made it a tradition to aim the blanket completion about the time the baby turns one - though the second boy received it when he was nearly 2. As such, I don't worry overly about things like fringes or float length beyond the "usual" considerations. If you are going to weave a blanket for a newborn, you may want to alter the draft or use thinner yarns, (smaller scale), than I have in mind to eliminate tiny-finger accidents.

Rose said...

And also very appropriate for Valentines Day!

Meg said...

Oh, yeah, it was red all over yesterday and today. Very rosey red.