Weaving a floor runner

The successful completion of my Riverside rug left a good bit of Churro wool yarn.  There was almost enough for another rug.  Riverside was small, but just the right size to fit in front of the coat closet door.  With the remaining yarn assembled, I reasoned that Riverside could have a companion that would be longer and fit as a runner between the front door and the hardwood floor.  A couple of problems later (not enough weaving time, not enough yarn, and a broken warp thread), there is a finished runner--Mountainside.

Last summer, I photographed the start of this rug, a promising stripe that used the leftover Churro and some nice hand spun Churro warp from a fiber festival vendor.  Although the warp was thin in a spot or two, it seemed strong.

However, as the time came for the rug to be set aside, there was a noticeable looseness in one spot.  Once the project was resumed, the broken warp thread was obvious.  Since this loom uses a continuous warp, one broken thread affects the surrounding warp progressively until it is reinforced.  Reinforcing about a dozen warp threads was enough to secure the warp and allow weaving to continue.  Luckily, the warp didn't loosen until the rug was well past center, with just about 1/4 of the weaving left to go.  The loose warp threads hanging out of the weaving in the photo below show the spot where the reinforcement was added.  All the weaving from there to the fringe was done on doubled warp in that spot.

Since the warp was thin, as was the cotton used to support it, there isn't much of a difference in the work after the repair.  More of a problem was the yarn supply.  There was a lot of yarn left, but there should have been more at the mill store.  To my surprise, the mill store has sidelined yarn and is selling imported woven garments.  After a disappointing trip there brought no additional yarn, the internet yielded some nice Churro in a matching weight from Rainbow Fiber Coop in Arizona.  They were mostly sold out of their dyed yarn, but there was enough natural for a white stripe in the center of the runner.  It's good that it coordinates with a white and brown rug I have, it's bad that it is so different from Riverside.  Let's call it the snow on the Mountainside.

After warping there was half a skein of the warp yarn left, plus another full skein.  Yes, I bought two.  Although I should have just thrown the offending yarn away, I reasoned it would make a nice fringe, filling out the thin fringe that would result from fringing with just the warp.  Also, since the runner used every inch that could be woven, the fringe was shorter on one side by just a couple of inches.  After adding to the fringe, there's only about half a skein of the warp yarn left.  That's not enough to warp the loom, so it isn't likely that I will forget this experience and use it again.

The number of ends in a rug this size is disturbing.  However, with sticky Churro wool, they don't need much weaving in.  They are mostly secured during the weaving and just need checking to be sure they cover the last warp string before cutting them off.

The cut off ends make a colorful pile.  With all the loose fibers, pieces of this yarn can be spliced together easily.  Splicing was my method of joining two strands of the same color.  A splice or a Russian join might be helpful to splice together all the ends in the future, thus avoiding weaving in ends.  That's something to try in my next rug project.

Mountainside in her place in the entryway, alongside Riverside.  I am really enjoying the appearance and the comfort of this rug/runner.  Those stones are very uneven and uncomfortable on bare feet.

The runner measures 25" by 52", actually 60" if you include the fringe.