Deflected Doubleweave Shawl

I spent a lot of last year's pandemic down time working through designing and sampling deflected double weave (DDW) patterns, using Marian Stubenitsky's book, Double with a Twist as a jump-off. 

If you haven't played with DDW, it is fun and it can be
just the challenge you never knew you needed. The basic structure is simple enough--a two layer cloth, double weave. But the layers interlock moving from bottom to top layer and top to bottom to form the pattern. And, of course, the more shafts you have, the more intricate and interesting the possibilities.

I wanted to add interest, so decided to design a shawl, which is really just a flat rectangle. And I wanted it to have three different designs--side border, end borders, and the center--that would flow from one to the other without seamlessly. Texture was also important. I wanted one layer to shrink more than the other.  

I have 16 shafts on my AVL, but I like to reserve four for selvages and typically use up to 12.

Sampling was essential, and I learned a lot about the yarn behavior and DDW in the process. I made many, many samples.  

All these samples... and many more --- were invaluable

The final design was courtesy of a threading error on a sample. I had threaded eight shafts instead of 12 in one section, and loved the effect. 

Time spent planning the shawl was worth every minute when weaving got underway. Weaving is slow with DDW, but that's really the only drawback. 

I used four yarns, two in each layer. Yes. Four shuttles. One layer was a dark navy silk noil and black merino wool. The other, used two different gold colors, both merino wools.

I planned for shrinkage--and I got it. Shrinkage was a significant 25 percent.