Snow Roses 🌹

Yesterday we took a drive south of our town of Campbell River to Oyster Bay and this was our view  at sunset.  Those are the coastal mountain ranges over on the mainland and the fresh snowfall from the day before was being kissed by the last rays of sunshine.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.

There are literally miles of beach like this here and you can pull over and sit on a log and enjoy the view and wildlife.  We just love living here....

The one below is cropped to see more detail of the mountains.  We only had our cell phone with us so I hope you can see the beauty of the moment. The full moon was rising behind the mountains too.

The rosy tones of that sunset remind me of the pink tones of this cone of rose yarn.  So what is it exactly?   

Rose fibre is very similar to bamboo in appearance and feel. Silky and shiny. It is a new cellulose fibre made from rose bushes. The rose fibre has been extracted from the natural waste of rose bushes and stems.  This fibre is an environmentally friendly, green eco fibre and it is bio-degradable.

The cellulose is basically a neutral white and so the pink has been added. It's available as both yarn and as spinning fibre.  No, there is no rose scent! 

I'm going to pair up this new yarn with an old favourite.   Its been a couple of years since I last wove snowflake twill and decided to dust off the draft and weave up a couple of scarves.   I have literally woven a mile of snowflake twill in the past 24 years and so can recite the treadling in my sleep!  

It can be both visually complex and intense and I tend to go with softer, more neutral colours.  Where the play of light can reveal the pattern, and so using undyed tencel was my first choice of weft yarn.  Both warp and weft are 8/2 in size and my sett was 24 epi.

I always snap a picture at the start of a project so I have a record of how it looks and what I did for the starting runs.  Notes can get lost!   Photographs are also a valuable tool for discovering if there are any threading errors your eye may have missed.  They will stand out and wave a flag at you!   Happily, this time all was good. Always a good feeling....

Scarf number two: well, I made a commitment to dig into and use my silk stash more and so after a search through a couple of storage bins I found this pink variegated 20/2 silk called 'candy'.  I had two 50 gram skeins from an Etsy shop called Sericin.  I wound up both skeins into cakes and then onto pirns.  The pink has some purple hints through out which gives it some interest.  Its also a bolder choice for the pattern too.

They were woven up on my Spring loom and it sits with two windows with views onto the back garden.  Just before this last weekend we found the chestnut tree was full of redwings blackbirds as they took a rest on their way through.   They were all 'boys' heading to find the perfect nesting spots ahead of the ladies who follow at a slower pace.  We also have primroses, crocus and lots of new shoots coming up for the gardening season to come.

The scarves are all done, fringes twisted, washed and pressed.   I wove them to approx 74 or 75 inches on the loom, but they now measure up at 69 and 71 inches after wet finishing. The take up in length came as a surprise to me!

Rose yarn is smooth, beamed onto the loom easily and took tension very well. There was no abrasion on the floating selvedges and very little 'lint'.   It became very soft with washing and while not too shiny like bamboo or tencel, it has a crispness to it.    Both scarves are drapey and soft, with the silk weft scarf being as light as a feather. I only used 50 grams on the scarf and so have the other cake tucked away for another project.

I call this colour a 'tender pale pink'.  For those with colour experience, I can detect a just a trace of yellow in there somewhere which makes it appear a smidge salmon.   This is my favourite of the two.

The second scarf with silk weft looks a bit stiff here but let me assure you that's only due to being freshly pressed. Its buttery soft.  Its like wearing a cloud around your neck!

I have an 8 shaft crackle weave on the Spring loom now (just started) and the Megado has a warp for 16 shaft towels (also just started).   I've also been working on our tax document preparations and other office minutia which is tedious but necessary.

Spring means we have had some repairs done to the garden sheds and power washing of all walkways, patio and driveway done.  Next up? hedge trimming, pruning and then window washing.   It seems we are eager to enjoy the sunshine despite waking up to  5 centimetres of snow two days ago!     Snow roses indeed.... 🌹❄️