Earlier in the year, I was approached by Deb of Gun Barrel Canyon Farm (Nanaimo) with a request to weave a bed blanket using wool from her animals. Deb has several breeds of sheep on her farm and has been working on developing a fibre animal suitable to their land and environment. Recently, she had wool from her Romney/Valais crosses spun into a lovely 2-ply yarn at Custom Woolen Mills.
She sent me some of those skeins and asked if I thought it would work for a blanket. My response was an ecstatic YES!
The yarn she sent me was a soft grey. Since she wanted colour in the blanket, I dyed several skeins a deep red using madder from Maiwa, and then dyed several more using the exhaust. This gave me two shades of red plus the original grey as a colour palette.
The blanket was woven in a plain weave with a simple pattern. I wet-finished the blanket in my bathtub, spun out the excess water, and finally tossed it into the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes. When it came out, I gently brushed it to raise the nap. It has a glorious feel to it!
The final dimensions were 173 cm (68 inches) long (plus fringe) and 136 cm (53 inches) wide. I have been told that it will grace a bed in their cabin retreat. I look forward to seeing pictures of it there.
– Bobbie Williams
