Weaving Mohair: Halfway Through A Rug

I've reached the halfway point with my mohair rug weaving project, and it's time to convey some impressions on my progress and observations thus far. I have learned many things weaving mohair. First, I love it! I love watching the texture develop as I weave. I had imagined how this rug would turn out before I even began, but it's turning out more fabulous than I originally thought. It may be a shame that it'll be hidden under a computer desk... As you can see in the following pictures, there is an obvious difference in the two yarns for this rug project (top of photo: mohair, bottom of photo: Lincoln):

Mohair is incredibly shiny and smooth. It reflects light better than the Lincoln I used (and it should be rather obvious from my photos), and is probably most reflective in its lock form. Combed mohair top which has been worsted spun will also produce a very reflective yarn too, though with less texture. The second thing I've learned about weaving with mohair is that I prefer to keep mohair as a single, rather than as a plied yarn. Keeping the weft as a single allows the light to bounce off a larger piece of uninterrupted mohair (this concept also applies to silk)--this rug glows.

This rustically spun mohair single has helped me with one huge pitfall which I have suffered from: getting the right amount of beating. You can underbeat or overbeat a weft yarn, and the former will produce a very loose fabric with a weft which slides easily; the latter will produce a very stiff, weft faced fabric. Those aspects produce desirable fabrics occasionally, but I'm looking for something which is 'even', neither too loose nor too tight. The large diameter has allowed me to produce fabric that is flexible and not slippery.

 You can see how even the spacing is between the warp and weft in this picture:

Mmm, look at that texture! I love how the little bits of mohair pop out of the fabric, and I love how the little bits of green give the fabric a Berber characteristic.

I'll be back again when I'm all finished weaving and I've taken the rug off the loom. The idea with this rug was to make a selvage (so, without fringe) which will get stitched under the rug. I want to minimize fluff around the fan intake areas on the pc box...Mr. IT Guy already has to deal with my fiber mess, so let's not make him upset. :)