"T" is for Taquete

"T" is for Taquete

According to the book Weft-Faced Pattern Weaves, Tabby to Taquete by Nancy Arthur Hoskins, weavers of the Near East and of Coptic Egypt in the 2nd century-7th century A.D. wove two and three-color weft-faced patterned taquete textiles.

Taquete is also known as weft-faced summer and winter weave, weft-faced polychrome summer and winter without tabby, and weft-faced two-tie unit weave.

Items from rugs to fine thread clothing can be woven with this structure.

"S" is for Shuttle

"S" is for Shuttle

The tool that carries the weft through the shed is called the shuttle. There are many different kinds of shuttles for carrying the weft yarns. Boat shuttles are faster and more expensive, and stick shuttles are slower and less expensive. But your shuttle needs to fit the yarn. You wouldn't use a boat shuttle with fabric strips when weaving a rag rug. The rags just would not fit a boat shuttle. And on the other end, you would find it bothersome to weave 100/2 silk using a rug shuttle. It could be done, but a boat shuttle would work better. And no way could you use a ski shuttle on your inkle loom.So match your shuttle to the weft yarns used and even the loom. It will make life and weaving much better.

Double boat shuttle, boat shuttles and one lone flat shuttle for an inkle loom.

From top to bottom: ski shuttle, rag shuttle, rag shuttle, flat shuttle. 

"R" is for Rya Knot

"R" is for Rya Knot

First off.... my spell check doesn't know the word: Rya.... Who put this dictionary on my computer? Me thinks he/she forgot some very important words,

To begin, cut your yarn to individual lengths. Maybe use a cardboard or mat board to cut the yarn to uniform lengths. Or a neat trick is to use already cut yarn lengths sold for rug hooking.

On a closed shed, place a length of yarn around two warp ends.

(The needle is just to hold the threads because I couldn't take the picture and hold the threads too) Hold the ends together in one hand.. (the part under the needle), and with the other hand separate the two warp ends and pull a loop of yarn through the center of the two warp ends.
 

Pull the ends of the yarn through the lifted loop.

Pull down knot to tighten. Weave at least two rows of plain weave before beginning another row of knots.Then you can go back and trim to length before you began another row of knots or even wait until you have finished weaving the project.

Towel Exchange Anyone?

When you have been snowed or iced out of your end of the year holiday party, you take matters into your own hands and tell Mother Nature to just step aside.....

 That is what my Cabool weavers did! We had our yearly get-together with a towel exchange. How many towels you bought you got to take home that many. All the towels were wonderful and we didn't fight to much over them. We had show and tell, food, towels, food, fun, stories, fun, and did I mention food?

This awesome towel was woven by Larry! And it got to go home to my house!! Yeah!!

Hey look, someone got my picture. I was trying to remember how I got my stripe sequence. 

Becky and her red and white towels. 

Gayle is showing her towels with Barbara, Bo, and Larry watching..

Jane is showing the towels she made (Gayle likes them).

Katie is showing how she used "Airplane Man's shirt" to get her strips. It is a long story.... maybe I will let her tell it someday. LOL

Sam had several great towels.

Shirley's towels went quick. Love the purple strip.

I know Vicki has towels in the exchange, but I couldn't help but show off these Rep Weave, painted warp, runners! WOW-Vicki..... you blew my socks off with these.  Painted Warp!!! What an awesome idea with Rep. 

"Q" is for Quills

"Q" is for Quills

I have never used quills, but from reading I have found out that they do not have sides like bobbins and can be made of cardboard. I found several web sights telling how to wind them. I found a place that sold them 10/pack for $6.50. Maybe I need to try them?

"P" is for Project Notes

"P" is for Project Notes

Not too many of us weavers just jump onto the loom bench and start weaving away. We have had to do a bit of prep work before hand. If you are weaving a project either you own or another, you will probably follow a "recipe." This recipe is considered project notes.

Information we will need before you begin may include:
1. Technique (weave structure)
2. Warp yarns and size
3. Weft yarns and size
4. Reed, and ends per dent
5. Selvage- doubled, single, needed or not
6. Warp sett
7. Weft picks per inch
8. Width in reed
9. Number of ends needed
10. Weaving length on loom that includes any finishing to the ends, sampling, shrinkage.

You many never weave this same project again with the same yarns, but by keeping project notes you are working through your project and hopefully will not find any surprises when you are finished.

So even if you follow a "recipe" from a book, magazine, the internet, or one you create, it really-really helps to keep project notes. Note in the margin if you changed anything from the printed recipe. It will help you be a better weaver.

Here is how I keep my project notes. Because these are my notes, some info may not be written down, such as selvage used, just because I know me! Or I may not even say to use tabby, but I will know, because it is something I dreamed up. So if you think my notes are skimpy... they may be, but they work for me.

I find working with a computer weaving program works for me. There are several out there, find the one that works for you. Keep notes that work for you!

"O" is for On-Opposites

"O" is for On-Opposites

We have heard this expression "on-opposites" and maybe not been real sure what it was. If you have ever woven plain weave you have woven on-opposites. You weave one equal half the threads against the other equal half of threads. You may have put your threads on shafts 1 and 2 only for a two shaft weave or plain weave. You may have put half your threads on shafts 1 & 2 in the case of summer and winter. In that case you would weave shafts 1+2 versus all the other shafts. Or you have put your tie-up in a two-two twill.

If you have your tabby treadles tied up as above, to weave on-opposites, you will weave 1 versus 2.

On a four shaft loom with a balanced twill tie-up (2/2) is divided into two pairs.
Shafts 1 & 2 versus 3 & 4
Shafts 2 & 3 versus 4 & 1

The treadling order pairs up the two blocks or sheds that are the exact opposite of one another.

 So you can think about weaving your plain weave web on opposites, or think about the different blocks you are weaving. If you want to weave on opposites ,or in pairs, you will need enough treadles where you have two different treadles for each block used.

"N" is for Novelty Yarn

"N" is for Novelty Yarn

Just what is Novelty Yarn?
Novelty: a small manufactured article especially for personal or household adornment, usually without intrinsic value or merit.
Yarn: any spun thread (wool, flax, silk, cotton etc.) prepared for weaving, knitting, rope making etc.

But, we know novelty yarn can be fun, silly, expensive, hard to find, lovely!

And we know we can weave and create fun things with our novelty yarns!

I hope you have fun weaving with novelty yarn. Maybe you add a few ends in the warp, perhaps a few shots in the weft....

Here my friend, Bo, has used ladder yarn and other novelty yarns in this awesome scarf!!

"M" is for Motif

"M" is for Motif

If you are a lover of coverlets and overshot, you are likely aware of the different motifs that make up those patterns. I think most of the weavers I know fell in love with overshot from the very beginning of their weaving adventures. I know I did. The drafts usually were for a four shaft loom and was a great way to learn to 'square your motifs' , 'weave as drawn-in' , 'use two shuttles' , 'connect with the past'. The motifs were combined and rearranged to create wonderful textiles. And who couldn't love some of the names for the pattern: Missouri Trouble, Alabama Beauty, Orange Peel, Wandering Vine, Indiana Frame Rose, Rose in the Wilderness, Dutchman's Fancy, and Lee's Surrender.

Here are a few examples.

Wheel

Table

Rose

Leaf

"L" is for Lindsey-Woolsey

"L" is for Lindsey-Woolsey

A course, stout material, made with linen warp and wool weft on a twill threading. This fabric was used as skirting by the British peasantry while it was most commonly used during the Civil War era in America for outer clothing. The name is from the components of the cloth produced.

Back in 2007, I took a week long class at John C. Campbell Folkschool where we studies 18th Century Textiles. This was my first time working with linen. The teachers were Barbara Miller and Pam Howard. We learned how to put linen on the loom and treadled different twill patterns using a wool weft.

The hand of this cloth isn't very soft or pleasant, but it was its durability that was important.

My samples woven at the school showing a washed sample and an unwashed sample.

"K" is for Kumihimo

"K" is for Kumihimo

Kumihimo is a Japanese interlaced braid technique. While on a weaving loom the threads are woven with a horizontal and vertical structure, the braids made with the TAKADAI have a diagonal structure known as oblique interlacing. This Takadai is one piece of braiding equipment developed in Japan. The braid is usually flat and be several inches wide.

This is the Takadai loom.

If wanting to explore this braiding technique a couple of small hand held  'wheels' or 'plates' have been fashioned to create the round or flat braids.

Using these small looms, you can create round braids to make a 'frog' for that evening jacket. Or a flat braid for an evening scarf, or a narrow strip of accent on a yoke. Lots of application for round or flat braids. 

One of my guild members (Rossanna) has been exploring kumihimo. Her introduction of beads into this technique is very exciting. So grab your takadai or disk or plate and create something exciting too!

One resource book - Making Kumihimo Japanese Interlaced Braids by Rodrick Owen. copyright 2004. 

"J" is Just For Fun

"J" is JUST FOR FUN

Sometimes, don't we all just weave for the fun of it? Sometimes we weave to learn a new technique, sometimes it is for a gift or sometimes it is just to feel the shuttle in our hands and see the magic unfold in front of our eyes.

With this cute little guy I was learning to weave ticking. I had woven off the blue and white warp and tied on with black and white. Then I wondered what would happen if I took the fabric to the dye pot. So that is why the fabric is yellow and black stripped. So now I had this piece of dyed fabric and it told me it wanted to be a dogie. This is what turned I got!






When I took him outside for his photo session, he wanted to hold a flower I had made from a small twill sample. I think he was enjoying the cool crisp morning air out on the back porch. So remember to smell the flowers and weave a little for fun today!

"I" is for Inspiration

"I" is for Inspiration

Just where do we, as weavers, get our inspirations? From books, from calendars, from the view out our windows? Here are a few places I looked.

This small wall hanging was inspired by this Missouri Conservationist magazine. It's a little bit Bateman, clasp weave, plain weave, and embroidery work. And just look at the really cool piece of wood from Linda!

These towels were a project that used 'strips'. I was trying for the Santa colors.

I had this bird feeder in the back yarn. Love all the colors in this one photo. I can see these colors blended into a jacket.

This came from a calendar. Who wouldn't love a scarf with these colors?

"H" is for Halftone

"H" is for Halftone

There are three areas of traditional overshot: pattern, background and halftones. When the pattern weft does not float above or below the rest of the fabric, but is woven in just as the tabby shots are, we call these areas halftones. This over-under alternation of your pattern weft ties the pattern weft securely to the ground cloth.

Notice the halftones on both side of the solid block. The solid white blocks are the background, the solid red the pattern blocks, and the 'spotted'  blocks are the halftone block. 

This awesome example is by Jeff Reynolds (Best of Missouri Hands),. 

"G" is for Gamp

"G"is for GAMP

While learning about you next weave structure you might consider doing a gamp with it. It could be a color gamp, or a structure gamp. The information learned is always welcomed, but the gamp itself is truly awesome! The different ways the colors interact, or the different affects you can achieve just by changing the treadling. Next time you put on a warp,put a little extra and try weaving with a color you would't normally use with your warp color or change the tie-up after your project and see what you get.

Who wouldn't want to hang any one of these in their weaving studio???

Marilynn wove a color gamp in fine wool.

Here, Marilynn has a gamp using an overshot threading. I would call this a treadling gamp.

I found this example in the Weaver's Issue 20 on page 55. 

"F" is for Fringe

"F" is for Fringe

To complete a runner, scarf, rug, or other item you may want to add fringe to it. There are several different kinds of fringe treatment you may want to make to add to your finished article.

A scarf you may want to hemstitch, leave the fringe as is, twist the fringe, add beads..... lots of ideas.

For a rug you may like the look of a double-knotted fringe.......or how about a braided fringe?

Although I have not tried it, you can have fringe woven on four sides. The only requirement is a loom wide enough to allow for the extra threads needed to weave the fringe in addition to the width of the finished article.