I subscribed to Syne Mitchell’s WeaveCast a long time ago, but so far I’ve only listened to two episodes. This isn’t because I don’t like the podcast, but because by the end of the second show, on painted warps, I just had to try the method. Before listening to any more shows, because if I heard about any more tempting weaving methods my head might just explode.

Trouble is, you have to have some varigated yarn suitable for warp, or dye it yourself. I’m not all that keen on varigated yarn, so I only have a few examples in my stash. The first two I looked at weren’t suitable. Mum gave me some usable yarn for my birthday, but I was a bit hesitant to try out a new method on gift yarn in case it didn’t work and I wasted the yarn.

Sockless Summer drew my attention to a yarn in my stash that was suitable. I had most of a ball of Sunshine Yarns sock yarn in the ‘Blacksmith’ colourway. I also happened to have one stray ball of Paton’s Fireside in white that might work for a weft yarn.

Matching up the colours in the yarn was a bit of a challenge, but eventually I got it to line up between the warping peg that comes with the knitters loom and a yarn measuring device I’d got the beau to make me a few years back, both clamped to the table once I found the right distance apart.

Getting the colours to line up on the loom was harder. I suspect it would be much easier on a more sophisticated loom. I’d knot the yarn carefully at one end so everything lined up, wind the warp on, then find that tying the yarn at the other end at a consistent tension made the colours shift out of alignment. I’d tie some looser and some tighter, wind the yarn back again in order to adjust the first end only to find the looseness of the looser warp threads would be absorbed in the wound up yarn.

Eventually I decided I’d have to live with the colours not lining up perfectly, and started to weave. The result was more subtle than I expected.

But I like it. The effect would probably me more dramatic if the warp yarn was the same thickness as the weft, and therefore more visible against it, and I’d used bolder colours.

For examples, check out the last project in the shiny new WeaveZine Syne has started, Painted Skein Warps. I’m kicking myself I only discovered this yesterday, as Syne explains what I had to work out myself. I rather like the striped version. This is definitely a method I’ll try again.

(Added later.) Here it is after an unintentionally long soak in woolmix:

Which seems to have boosted the greys and blacks. Lovely!