Iron Man Karakul Rug (2022)

January 9, 2022 - No Comments

Pattern: A krokbragd pattern set by the kit maker
Yarns:

Warp: 100 ends including floating selvedges, measured at 85 inches, energized Karakul singles
Weft: Karakul 2-ply in “gradient” colours. Some were ~~hard~~ impossible to distinguish

Sett: 4epi (yes, four; it’s a weft-faced weave)

Method: Weaving — multishaft floor loom.

Completed: January 9, 2022.

This was a Karakul yarn rug kit I bought from Dachinger Wools at VTS&W 2019. I got the warp onto the loom in 2019. It was December 2020 before I finished the actual weaving. And then it sat for a year before I twisted the fringe in December 2021. I finally wet-finished it (soak in the bathtub, then into the spin-dryer) and finished undoing the twisted fringe and braided it instead in early January 2022. (The twisting I had done was against the twist of the singles in the warp, so when I washed it (and washed the sizing out), they were just loose fibres. They would not have worn well.)

You can infer, from the timeline, that there were distractions (I started a regular, full time job in early 2020; the world shut down for the COVID 19 pandemic through 2020) and frustrations with the project itself. Some of it was the kit — very sketchy “instructions”, colour gradient that wasn’t. Most of it was my weaving. I wasn’t happy with my selvedges. I wasn’t consistent in the beat. You can see, in the final product, that some parts of it are an inch or more wider than others. It provided plenty of object lessons in the importance of paying attention to things like my picks per inch, and I’ve since learned some more tricks for selvedges and draw in management.

And, in the end, the finished project is on the floor, where it’s meant to be, and the cats love it. So, what was the problem? 🙂