I began planning this project on 27th of June 2020 and then put it on hold to weave the ruana from project 9. I came back to the plan on 25 Jan 2021.

Way back in April 2019, I bought some lovely 60/2 silk yarn from “The Woolery” in Kentucky. USA (https://woolery.com). I ordered it way back then as husband was travelling to the USA, so I was able to save on shipping – it was going to cost around US$200 to have it sent here!
I ordered 250g cones of 60/2 silk yarn in 250g cones (about 7,500m per cone) in a few colours made by Bluegrass mills: Tulip (red), Prairie cornflower (yellow), Fern (green) and Blue salvia (royal blue) as well as two 250g cones of Rosie’s mulberry silk yarn (also 60/2) in Mumbia blue (sky blue). The price back in April 2019 was US$49/cone for the Bluegrass mills yarn and US$66 for Rosie’s yarn. Today (Jan 2021) the Bluegrass Mills yarn is US$74 and the Rosie’s yarn is not available!
I also ordered a 10/2 cotton Tubular spectrum 12 colour gamp kit made by Lunatic Fringe (~365m/cone, 90g/cone). It’s price hasn’t changed from US$72.

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As you can imagine, the 60/2 silk is much finer than the 10/2 cotton.

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Project 10 is to be a sample weave using the silk yarn with supplementary weft flowers woven using the 10/2 cotton colours.

Warp threads:
I will use a double thread of Mumbia blue – one thread from each of the two cones.
The warps will be 115cm long, with 400 double ends at 20epi (two double threads per dent in a 10dpi reed). This will give me ~50cm fabric.

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Weft threads:
I will use a double boat shuttle to weave 2cm bands from two threads of 60/2 silk in eight colour combinations.
The colour combinations will be:
2 red threads
1 thread each of red and yellow
2 yellow threads
1 thread each of yellow and green
2 green threads
1 thread each of green and royal blue
2 royal blue threads
1 thread each of royal blue and red
Repeat…

The silk weft will be woven in a plain tabby weave with supplementary weft flowers woven in twill using the Lunatic fringe cotton yarns in the same flower pattern as that used in project 7. The flowers will be placed at the transitions between colours using strong contrasting shades.

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On 29 January I wound the warp threads. The warping mill makes this VERY easy.

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Today, 31 January, I secured the cross and tied choke ties using thread of a contrasting colour and removed the warp from the warping mill.
Then I changed the reed on my loom from 8dpi to 10dpi, tied the beater into an upright position in preparation for sleying the reed and tied the warp onto the front beam. I will be dressing the loom from the front to the back using the method outlined on pages 26-55 of the excellent book “Learning to weave” by Deborah Chandler.

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