HJS Studio

Handspun, Handwoven Shawls

Holly Shaltz, Fiberist
PO Box 136
Boyne City MI
49712 USA
phone:
(231) 582 3206
fax:
(231) 582 0426
email:
holly@hjsstudio.com

I love shawls, though I only very rarely wear them :) Knit shawls, woven shawls, maybe even the odd crocheted shawl. And of course, handspun yarn is what I use. What an amazing opportunity--to imagine a shawl, to choose the right fibers to make it, to dye, prepare, and spin those fibers, glorying in their colors and textures, then to weave or knit with them, savoring every minute of the process! I'm really not sure there's anything I love to do more.

Below you'll see shawls I've woven of handspun yarns over the last 20 years, with a little narrative about each. I hope you find them inspiring enough to begin your own unique journey into weaving with handspun yarns.

Celery Green Shawl

Celery Green Shawl

This was the first shawl I made of all handspun singles yarn, in the late 80s while living in Massachusetts. The weave structure places most of the gently-colored warp yarns on one side of the piece, with the quiet heathery green weft one is a delicate celery green with streaks of other colors on one side, while a quiet heathery green on the other.

For those interested, the weave structure is simply a 3/1 twill without blocks. I was aiming for the look I got--one side showing mostly color, the other mostly the plain weft. But I found I didn't really like the look, and today I most often either use balanced 2/2 twills or two-block 3/1 twills.

The fiber was wool from Cyril Lieschke in Australia, probably a Border Leicester x Correidale, and the sett was 12 epi / 5 ends per cm. I didn't know about wraps per inch back then, but would guestimate from leftover yarns that it was probably about 30 wpi / 12 wraps per cm.

Spring Iris Shawl

This is the first piece I made after we settled in northwest lower Michigan. Made in early 1998, it's wonderfully cushy yet drapeable, and the colors sing of spring. Overall a subtle light lilac, there's hints of blues, greens, magentas, and even a touch of yellow. I used layered batts for the warp, and blended all the colors together for the weft. The wool was a lovely Bond x Border Leicester fleece in a natural light gray from Cyril Lieschke in Australia. It has a soft, soft handle yet strength enough to not easily pill.

Spring Iris Shawl

Transition Shawl

Transition Shawl

It's impossible to capture in a photo the wondrous shading of color from purple along one edge--and one end--to green on the other edge and end, through many shades of blue in between. One corner is passionately purple, the opposite corner a verdant green. The two remaining corners are a crossing of purple and green, causing a wonderful shot-silk effect as the cloth moves, while all through the center of the shawl is a shimmering, serene blue. I wove it in 1998.

My sister gave me the idea for this approach to weaving with handspun, and I've used it several times. One piece was auctioned off to raise money for our friends Debbie and Chuck McDermott of Stonehedge Fiber Mill after a fire in 2000 destroyed their classroom/store/storage building. Very fortunately, a friend in my local spinning group bought the shawl, so I still see it occasionally! It's shaded from warm to cool blues side to side, with a heathered blue weft. I called it Charlevoix Shallows after the lake we drive by whenever we go to town, and the wonderful blues seen from shallow to deep water.

All my 'transition' shawls are planned so that each skein of warp yarn has the entire set of changing colors in it. That way, when I wind my warp, I just hold a strand from each ball of warp yarn together, for fast and easy warping in spite of the color changes. A bonus is that the edges of the color changes are blended by not being exactly at the same point in the warp.

Checkered Rainbow

I started out using minimal pattern on my shawls. This transition shawl represents a melding of low-key pattern and quiet, understated color. The warp yarns shade from grayed pinks on one edge, through purples and blues, to grayed greens on the other edge. The weft yarn is a soft silver throughout. The mixture of color and pattern is striking, yet quietly elegant. It's a mix of dyed and undyed light gray wools mixed with undyed white mohair, which adds to the sheen.

Checkered Rainbow Shawl

The wool, once again, was from Australia. The yarns wrapped at about 40 wpi / 16 wraps per cm and were sett at 18 epi / 7 ends per cm. It was made in 1999.

Magenta Madness Shawl

Magenta Madness Shawl

This piece is an incredible mixture of colors, with the main shade being magenta. It was the result of challenging myself to work with a color I didn't like a whole lot. I used my layered batt process to stack the many colors, always keeping magenta predominant. I couldn't stop adding more color! They're all blended in the weft, which helps tie them all together. A touch of mohair makes the piece shimmer in the light. The result is vibrant, but not harshly so. A very joyful shawl!

There's a lovely drape to this shawl, as I was pushing the limit of what I had been spinning to finer yarns used in the warp as singles. The yarn for this shawl wrapped about 48 wraps per inch / 19 wraps per cm. It was sett at 18 epi / 7 ends per cm, and woven in a plain 2/2 balanced twill, allowing the colors to sing out without being dominated by pattern. It's not often you start with a color you don't like and end up with a piece you love!

For a final shawl (but not by a long shot all I've made!), take a look at Joan's Shawl. Two-block twills, layered batts, transition colors, and streaks of contrast all thrown into one shawl's warp!