The Holly Berry Ruana that I have been working on more or less since the beginning of the year is finally finished.

I will be including a few photos of it worn long, draped and a close up of the weave and fringe.  In order to see ALL the photos, you can visit the Alba Ranch Face Book page and see the entire project or Alba Ranch on Ravelry as well.

I got a little crazy and spun about 4000 yds of 3 ply and 6 ply yarn for this project.  I really only needed about 2000 yds.  So what to do with the rest of that yarn?  I am contemplating weaving a scarf, hat, matching bag and perhaps a long skirt.  I would more than likely still have some left over to put up for sale in the Alba Ranch ArtFire Shop as well.

Here the Holly Berry Ruana is worn open with no pins to hold it in any draped position.  You can also add a belt to hold it in place and wear it more like a cape.

The 3 ply yarn for this project is a commerical spun 100% baby pink Angora spider thin 2 ply that I plyed to my hand spun Merino Top from Ashford Bay in the color way of Holly Berry.  Which is where the Ruana got its name from.  the 6 ply yarn is the same 2 ply spider thing Angora that I then Navajo plyed into a 6 ply yarn that was still finer than the 3 ply.  I used that 6 ply Angora yarn to do the weft strips on the bottom of the Ruana.

I used my Ashford Fringe Twister that I got for Christmas this year.  It was my first time using it and I am beyond impressed with the wonderful fringe and how easily it twisted, as well as how tidy it looked once it was finished.

I wove this on a Rigid heddle loom using 5 dpi reeds.  This is a finished size of about 62 inch wide and about 80 inches long with 7 inch fringe.  I wove this in double weave which was also my first time doing.  I am looking forward to doing another one later on this year for the ArtPrize.org contest.

Stayed tuned for more photos and keep your eye on the blog and the shop as I am playing with banners and color schemes and would love your feedback and thoughts.