Robertson Hunting Tartan

This was my latest project. I know I am not a professional but I love the yarn that I am making for these weaving projects. They have lumps and whirls and fuzzies and knots, I call them little bits of character. So as I create these projects I hope the recipients know that they are made with love. Since my maiden name is Robertson and I was so excited to make this. I wore the finished project to church with a black dress and it looked stunning.

Weaving the Tartan - Step 4

This is the part of the project that I had been looking forward to. All the preparation was totally worth it. I think it took me about 8 hours of weaving to finish the project.  After I got home from work I sat at the table and started weaving.  Lucky for me, my husband was very supportive and helped with dinner, laundry and so forth. I only have one child left at home and he is busy with sports after school so I didn't feel too awfully guilty.

Tartan Project Step 3 - Warping the loom

This was a huge step for me. I got a table loom but it is quite large so I just put it on the table instead of propping it against the table.  My back was a little sore after I threaded this Tartan shawl.  I found a pattern off the internet. This is a Robertson Tartan pattern. Lots of fun. I made it for my mother for Christmas and she loves it dearly.

Tartan Project Step #2 Spinning the Wool

After the wool was finished drying after the dyeing process, I began to spin the wool into yarn. I have been using a drop spindle for this process. When I first started spinning with the drop spindle I wasn't very good. Lots of lumps and bumps. There is still some variation in my spinning by not near what it was. Interestingly enough, some of my friends like the lumpy yarn better, then they can tell that the project was hand spun and so gives it more character. Here is a picture of the wool that was spun into yarn for this specific project.  This only needed navy blue, red and green. I wish the green had been darker. And some of the wool has light spots in it.  More character for you.

Houndstooth Patterned Scarf

I love this pattern for a classy looking scarf. I already had dyed the wool and spun it into yarn so all I need to do at this point is thread the loom and weave.  The pattern is very simple. Two blue, two white, two blue, two white, etc. The cross pattern is just the same... 2 blue, 2 white 2 blue, etc.

Yankee Plaid Scarf

I needed to make my Yankee Fan son a birthday present. So why not do something for him that I absolutely love doing.  After The Christmas guests have gone I had one more day to myself before going back to work.  I started this project at about 10 in the morning and finished at about 6 in the evening.  I took plenty of breaks in between times so this project took maybe 4 hours to complete.
The first thing I did was google "Yankee Plaid". Then I wrote down the order of the strings for the plaid. I love to do this kind of weaving because I get to be creative and this time it really worked out for me.

So the first picture is of the scarf on the loom.

This is the second picture of the finished product. I think my son will love this. I am thinking about personalizing it a little further by cross stitching the New York Yankee symbol on both ends. What do you think?

Robertson Tartan - Part 1

Dyeing the Wool
The Robertson tartan needs three basic colors to complete. Red, navy blue and green. My green didn't turn out as dark as I would have liked but it still worked.
First I bought two pounds of merino wool roving from Amazon. It was lots cheaper to buy white than to buy it already dyed. I separated the roving into four parts. So a half a pound each. And started the process. I used Rit dye from the grocery store and got busy.