I love handspinning, and lately I have been experimenting with really heavily textured spinning techniques that end up with lavish puffs of wool, curlicues, thick and thin spots, beads, etc. With some trepidation, I have introduced some of those yarns into my bias weaving, and I am finding that in spite of not being the strongest yarns I ever wove, they work just fine in a bias technique. My theory for why this is so, is that because weaving is done with a loop of yarn rather than a single strand, it has more structural integrity. Another advantage is that because there is no beater bar like on a regular loom, there is minimal stress on the yarn as it is moved into the weave structure. I have the flexibility and control to be able to adjust the warp and weft to allow the texture to stand up and stand out. I also love that I can take those little spinning experiments that would otherwise be kicking around my studio and incorporate them with other yarn in projects.
I like to full my finished weaving in my washing machine. Because of the relatively wide sett of bias looms, the finished work can look a bit like cheesecloth, but a bit of fulling brings up the nap and turns it into a luscious colored cloud. I will post some photos soon.
