Twill Huck Ready to Cut Off

I have the black rayon and red bambu scarves ready to cut off. But before I cut, I am planning on tying onto this warp. So I will weave in a few picks of plain weave so I don't lose my threading order.

I usually try to use a yarn that is bigger and a different color than what I was weaving with. This will help my tie my new warp to this warp. 

Here you see my prep work for tying on a new warp  with the red/black scarf still on the cloth beam.

Twill and Huck Rolling-on

It is a good feeling when you look at the web rolling onto the cloth beam. I think that after you have woven and before it's cut off the loom it's called a 'web'. But don't quote me.... I am still learning.

Twill and Huck Color Change

The black I am using is rayon and is very shinny. In the photo it looks dull, but believe me, this is black-black. The two shades of red are very subtle.

I have changed the black weft to the darker red. This really shows up the huck.

Twill and Huck Half Done

Weaving to 72 inches on loom.

Coverlet and Friends

One of my weaving guilds has been working on an overshot Friendship Coverlet project for about two and a half years. We had twelve in the beginning and only had one drop out. I would say that was pretty good. Jeff R. volunteered to weave the final square for everyone.

Several of us are just now putting our squares together. Each of us picked out a different draft and wove it twelve times, once with our color of wool weft and the rest with the other peoples colors. That way our coverlet squares would all be in our color, but we would have twelve different designs. 

While working on this project we all learned lots of things. Some had never woven with two shuttles, some had never woven with fine threads. We learned how to weave on the diagonal and how to square a block. We found we could pick out errors in our overshot squares and know how they were made and what we should have done differently. Most said it was very stressful but also very rewarding. We all gained weaving skill and became closer weaving friends.

Shirley D. and her Friendship Coverlet! She plans on displaying it as a wall hanging in her home.

Twill and Huck

This is the black and red warp that will be a couple of scarves. This first one I am doing is with the black rayon for weft. The combination of huck and twill is very neat looking. This draft is by Coreen Hartig who did this for Handwoven Magazine, May/June 2011.

You can see how the huck packs in differently than the twill, but when I put on the ending hem and hemstitching and then twist some fringe, it shouldn't be too noticeable.

Garments Are Finished

Thanks to my friend Becky, (greenhouse owner, spinner, weaver, knitter, inkle weaver, basket maker, natural dyer, rug hooker, and several other fiber related skills) my Gold-Purple and Sparkle garments are finished. She took time away from her Country Petals Greenhouse to help a friend who doesn't speak 'sewing machine'.






Becky speaking 'sewing machine'!!




Gold-Purple

 


    

Sparkle

 



Basket Workshop

I attended a basket making workshop with the Springfield Fiber Artists this past weekend. Linda Dunlap, independent consultant and jewelry artist, was our fearless teacher. We were making an apple basket with a swing handle. (Or at least that is what I was trying to make.) Thanks to Janet H. for the photo's and the rest of the gang for helping me finish my basket.



I begin with the bottom. A good place to begin.



I have attached the handle, but which way does it go? (Me thinks it might be on backwards.)



Finished! Now where are those apples?



Setting Up The Loom

Now that I have my warp off the warping board, I take it to the loom and use my loopers attach it to the breast beam. I will sley the reed and thread the heddles.



Reed is a 15 dent reed with two ends per dent for 30 epi.




Heddles have been threaded.



Starting A New Project

I am going to do a couple of scarves. I have picked out my colors and fibers to use. I really like the way the Bambu feels so I have picked a couple of reds  that are Bambu and a black that was listed as rayon. The are about the weight of 10/2 cotton and I will sett them at 30 epi.



Math Class

Before I begin my next project, I need to do a little math. I have entered the draft into my computer weaving software and it tell me how many heddles I need on each shaft. The loom I will be using needs to have the heddles be balanced to work correctly. So, I do a little math to make this easier.

I have counted the heddles on each shaft and posted it on the wall in my weaving/computer room. That way I have counted once and don't need to do that again, unless I have shifted heddles. Then I just count again and post that. Now, here is where the math come in.....

I take the number of heddles on shaft 1 on my loom and subtract the heddles needed for the project.
example: 153 - 66 = 87
I have 87 heddles I will not need, so I need to divide and put half on each side on the heddle bar. So I only need to count 43.5 heddles on one side. (either add an extra heddle or one less when you have an uneven number). I repeat this for each shaft.
1. heddles on loom_____
2. minus heddles needed____
3. divide this number by two____
4. gives you the number of heddles to push out of the way (on each side)

Now I am ready to thread the heddles from the right or left side.... which ever side you have done your counting on. When I thread the heddles on my Baby Wolf, I thread sitting at the front of the loom and thread from right to left.

More Sparkle

Here is the sparkle warp drying on the back deck. I now have two projects that need to take a visit to a sewing machine. (This sparkle warp and the gold/purple one I did earlier.)

It has been fun working with plain weave, for a change. I felt like I could put all my 'thinking' into the color part of these two projects, and not have to worry about color and weave structure together. But I have another project already in mind, and color and structure will work hand-in-hand for it.

Sparkle Plain Weave

Now that I have my sparkle fabric off the loom, it's time to twist the fringe. then I will hand wash it and let it drip dry and then give it a gentle ironing.

Finished Journal

Here is the journal I have been working on. I have used a sample from my exploration of  Dr. Bateman's  Park Weave. It's the same warp that is on the Weaving For Fun banner of this blog. I have used some handspun yarn I did years ago to tie it closed.

I had a little trouble with the spacing of the holes on the signatures and the spine. I think I just need more practice. Anyway, this was a fun project, and I have a journal to record weaving tips in.

Working On Journal

For this part of my journal, I am adding a slip of paper in the spine area where I will punch my holes. I will use these holes to thread my linen yarn through.

Weave Structures Are All Around

I was going to show you the grass in my yarn. That is what I did yesterday. I watched the grass grow! But then I noticed some intresting things while I thought I was just watching the grass grow.


Plain Weave



Lace Weave



Collapse, Pleat and Bump



More Handmade Stuff

While looking for some supplies I ran across this Easy Peasy Hat. It's to small for me, but some little girl might like it. I am pretty sure I used left-over yarns to make it a couple of years ago.

Back to bookmaking..... I have made the holes in my signatures.  My twinning placemat has come in handy for this exercise. I have an old magazine under it so I don't punch a hole in my kitchen table.

Book Binding Trials

I have cut and folded my signatures for a small journal. This will be a small, 5 signature journal. I am using sheets of computer paper, cut in half and folded in half.



Sizing the fabric.



Plain Weave Is Not So Plain

I am still having fun playing with these sparkle yarns and plain weave.  I believe there is a book out there whose title says it all "Plain Weave Is Anything But Plain" by Leslie Voiers. I don't know if it's still in print, but hopefully you can find it through your guild or the Complex Weavers Library. 

The Rayon Loop yarn gives this a bit of jazz.

Friend has boo-boo

If you have been wondering where my friend Rossanna is, she has had a boo-boo. She may not be able to weave, but she will now have time to catch up on her finishing work and maybe explore other ways to weave besides her floor looms. Here she is helping me wind on my warp while looking for ways to add beads to this bookmark.

Sparkle

I had so much fun with the last plain weave project (gold/purple) that I have another idea to try. So this colorway is Rayon Metallic Cinnamon, Rayon Metallic Curry and green Bambu. This warp is all about the sparkle!

I did not tie onto the old warp, the knots would not have gone through the reed.

If you click to enlarge, you can see that I have used my loopers to tie

onto the breast beam while sleying the reed.

Day Off

Taking in the view

little Books

I thought I should try to make one of the small books I learned about last weekend before I forgot what I learned. I looked around the house and had most of the supplies I needed. A small awl is on my wish list.

I had a small piece of cotton handwoven fabric and used white school glue on it. It made a nice stiff front and back cover for these booklets. More practice is needed ;-)

Twisting Fringe

Found my faithful fringe twister.  The great thing about twisting fringe is you get to touch each thread again and feel the texture of the threads and see how the colors blend in the twist. It takes a while, but it's a great TV watching activity.

 

Gold/Purple Warp Ending?

The end is near! 

Cutting off!

Now for the part I am slow to finish: the finish!! I will have fringe to twist, washing, and ironing. Then when I think I am almost done, I will need to do a bit of sewing. More to come..........

Dimity too

Sometimes when working on my Complex Weavers samples, I do complete a project. I hand painted some tencel and crossed it with bamboo.

the finished scarf

Up-close to show the painted warp.

Dimity

Being a member of Complex Weavers gives me the support to explore different areas of weaving and get feed back from some wonderful weavers who live all over the world. This year for the Complex Weavers Samples the Old Fashion Way, I am exploring Dimity.

In April 2007 I was honored to receive the Mearl K. Gable II Memorial Grant from HGA where I used the grant to attend the John C. Campbell Folk School in NC. The class I took was 18th Century Textiles with Barbara Miller and Pam Howard.  Of the different weave structures I was introduced to, Dimity was one I had never even heard of.  The version I was introduced to was from the Hargrove collection. It is a six shaft weave.




I have used Bambu in both warp and weft.



Gold/Purple Warp Nearing the Other Edge

I was able to get back to the Gold/Purple warp. It's center part is done (57 inches) and now I will work on the color work on the other edge. Here is where my ruler will be the main star. Who knew that all this math would come in handy when you were sitting in 4th grade math class??? I will need to match the color order from the other edge.

Eye Candy- Summer and Winter

I really enjoy designing and weaving summer and winter. Because of the way the tie-down ends work,  you can weave almost any design. The most important thing I try to remember is to stay within my treadle limit. I have designed some really cool drafts, but don't have enough treadles to weave it. Ahhhh yes, I have shaft envy (the more shafts the more treadles)!!!

I have covered a journal and had enough left over to have a coaster too. The mug was a result of good friend Shirley's kiln.



Hand painted scarf was the result of working on a Complex Weavers Tied Weaves sample exchange.



This is from a magazine or book. It doesn't show in the photo, but I used gold glitz as the tabby. It makes a great runner for my table during Christmas and New Years.