Finishing

I've been taking my weaving off the loom, snapping a couple of pictures and calling it done on the blog, but that isn't really the end.  Before a weaving project is truly finished, I have to finish the ends and then wash and press it.  Since I'm using superwash yarns, the washing just makes everything relax and the yarns can bloom into the weaving.  If I was using regular wools, the washing would full (kind of like being lightly felted) the yarns.

There are several ways to finish the ends of a scarf and the first couple of scarves I made, I did a twisted fringe at the ends.  I love the way the twisted fringe looks (and feels), but it didn't seem quite right for the last couple of scarves I made because these are for men.  It seemed a bit fussy for the men in question.  I didn't want to just turn under the edges and hem them either because I knew the ends wouldn't drape right.  Finally I decided on just a simple fringe, trimmed short.  I always hem stitch on the loom (I love the way hem stitch looks), so to finish the fringe, I tied little square knots (using yarns from adjacent "bundles" of hem stitching), and then after washing and pressing, I trimmed the fringe with the rotary cutter.  I decided the knots would help hold the hem stitching in place.  I'm not sure they were completely necessary, but they made me feel better.

Here is the finished end of my Fifth Weaving Project.

And here is the finished end of my Sixth Weaving Project.

On this project, I wove the first few rows (the first six, I believe) using the warp yarn.  I also did the hem stitching with the warp yarn (Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Charcoal).  The rest of the weft is the weft yarn (the Mare colorway, same yarn base), and at the end, I repeated the warp stripe and hem stitched the end.  I really like the way this turned out and when the warp and weft are different colorways, I'll probably do this again!