I had the pleasure of hosting not one, but TWO wraps from Rhockett Weaving‘s beautiful Nox warp…Noxes (like foxes, right?).
I am not sure how many wefts Rhonda wove with the Nox warp, but I hosted a hand-dyed milk/bamboo weft (see photo top), and a doubled SilverSpun weft (see photo, bottom). I was especially excited because these are fibers I have never tried before, and they definitely had a noticable effect on Nox’s feel and wrap qualities.
Hand-dyed milk/bamboo weft
This milk/bamboo weft was hand-dyed by Ball Up and Dye in purple, teal, black, and maroon, but the maroon didn’t really come through after weaving so the colors are nicely cooler toned. The most striking thing about this wrap was the weight in hand – it felt heavy, very drapey, and blankety, but not dense at all. Since this was my first try with a milk/bamboo weft, I am not sure if that is the usual feel, but it was extremely pleasurable to handle this wrap. In multi-layer carries, the passes glided nicely and then stuck in place very well, so it was pretty easy to get a nice secure wrap job.
Once wrapped, there was little-to-no sagging, even with a vigorously bouncing LittlerHill on the way to school! Milk/bamboo Nox was very cushy on my shoulders even with a big dude on the back. As I find is common with handwoven wraps, they are thin/thinnish in hand and easy to wrap with, and then surprisingly cushy and supportive. Milk/bamboo Nox is an excellent example of this phenomenon!
SilverSpun Weft
I have been wanting to try SilverSpun since I first heard about it a few months ago because…silver! This weft is a combination of cotton, SILVER, and nylon. I am not quite sure about the details of the fiber, but I know that it is difficult to obtain, and what was used in Nox was thin and so was doubled up – it worked! SilverSpun Nox is incredible! It’s slightly longer than milk/bamboo Nox, but definitely felt noticeably lighter and thinner in hand. In a multi-layer carry, the thinness and texture allowed the passes to glide very easily over each other. SilverSpun Nox has slightly less grip than milk/bamboo Nox, which made it a lot easier to tighten my carry well, but necessitated a bit more careful wrapping as the passes didn’t stick in place when I let go.
Once wrapped, I felt glamorous AF – carrying LittlerHill around in woven silver sounds like something reserved for fictional royalty! This weft also satiated my cravings for monochrome – it is a beautiful combination of greys and black. I noticed a small amount of sag as we walked to school – no where near enough to warrant retightening, but I noted that for the next time I need to be more conscious of the slipperiness (probably due to the nylon content), and to be a little more careful about getting a tight carry. SilverSpun Nox gave more than enough support with our bunchy rushed wrap job, and was also comfortable on my picky shoulders.
The differences between milk/bamboo and SilverSpun weft Noxes are very subtle – both wraps are beautifully woven, magically thin and drapey, and very supportive for my big LittlerHill. I feel so lucky to have been able to host these wraps concurrently, it was a lot of fun to make comparisons. I hope that Rhockett Weaving will continue to weave with more unusual weft fiber choices like Nox (although I am aware that no more SilverSpun is currently available), and I will hopefully have a chance to try some in the future!
