Fall weaving competition

Things got crazy for a while in here after I last posted, gearing up for the Great Competition of Babywearing Weavers on Facebook.  In September I was working hard on my submission but couldn't share anything, since all entries are anonymous.  I was still dealing with some late first trimester nausea but weaving was still something I could do, my normal knitting and spinning I absolutely couldn't.  (Even cooking was a huge challenge).

Pi helped me decide on my final draft for the contest, and it ended up being very popular overall, it was a fun process and exciting to see people enjoying it and playing guessing games as to who wove which wrap.

The theme for this one was "children's literature" and we decided to do the Hobbit, with a focus on the dragon Smaug.  My entry was this collage

I warped enough for a second wrap to keep for this next/last baby, and made the weft in wool I hand dyed.  What I ended up with was a lesson in exactly how much yarn crackle weaves suck up.  With a bit over a pound of yarn dyed, I expected a pretty long wrap.  I added red gradient tapers and even so, barely squeaked out 3.8 meters.  Sadly I still had a meter of warp left that was usable, but no weft yarn for it!  Live and learn.

Here are the gradient tail accents on the wrap I am keeping for the baby

And yes, I have a tag!  I've been printing my own for now, but I officially have tags and am compliant with U.S. regulations for babywearing wraps.  

Many firsts with this, my first woven in middle marker in the competition wrap, my first tail accents for the wool "sister", my first time weaving with tencel, my first attempt at crackle.  I expected many tragedies, but nothing really went wrong.  I fell in love with crackle and tencel both.   For now, I have the wool version out traveling, getting feedback on the weft.  So far feedback has been very positive, it's bouncy and very grippy.  I had expected it to weave up much softer, but hopefully it breaks in enough to be very soft by spring.