The (Un)ravelling Merino Mohair Fringe Knots

In other words, this smaller piece and the peach on white warp vs the white wedding present and the pale blue alternate, on which the knots stayed knotted as you would expect.

The first thing I did was to have the client of the wedding present contact the bride to warn her of the possibly demise of the knots at the end of fringes. Embarrassing but necessary, I thought.

Then I withdrew the pale blue piece from the gallery, and to my relief there was nothing wrong with the knots. The big difference was, the pale blue piece, (and presumably the wedding present,) had severely (?) twisted fringes, while the small and the peach pieces had looser fringes. (I've been trying to make my fringes less tight/wiry to harmonize more with the body of the cloth.) That little bit of difference, a few more rotations, seems to generate enough friction to hold the knots together.

Just to confirm, I put the pale blue piece through a vinegar bath and rinsed and the knots held shape.

The small piece: fringed, wet-finished, unravelled, vinegar-bathed, unravelled, temporarily reknotted, ends clipped, awaiting permanent solution. I figured the cloth of the piece looked gender-neutral so the fringes could be fatter and shorter.

I thought the width and the length of the fringes were OK, and the knots probably, but because I left the original knots in place, I couldn't be sure.

So I thought I'd work on the peach piece before making the next move.

The peach piece: fringed, wet-finished, unravelled, temporarily and loosely reknotted, awaiting permanent solution. On this piece I wanted to keep the wispy feminine fringes.

I cut off just below the knots, unravelled and refringed. But a two-bout (??) fringe was too wiry and unattractive so I unravelled three two-bout fringes to make two three-bout fringes. (Rubbish bag under the knots. :->) Then I put the piece through a vinegar bath.

Fresh out of the spinning cycle and they are in tact. So I think I can clip the small blue piece's fringes.

And that concludes my fringing rush for now. Thank goodness, I was getting sick of it. Next I have three pieces and one fabric swatch of the old-fashioned wool. Fingers crossed, at this rate I can finish the unfinished jobs before I go. It's been hot and not nice to work with mohair, and I've been neglecting everything else. You should see the floor; no, wait; don't. Because as soon as I finish work stuff, I'm going outside. Pronto.

Two weeks.