Wool Rug Revisited

I am still around. Mostly weaving brain games!

I would like to share a discovery with you. Maybe some of you remember, I was working on weaving a wool rug. I wove the rug, then went to my 'stash' and took out some different colors of "wool" yarns to play with the draft and color placements. So really, this was to be my sample. To see what the draft could do. Well DH liked it and thought it would fit in front of his chair.

But here is the lesson learned: Don't use wool knitting yarns to weave a wool rug. That is why they make wool yarns for rug weaving. Check out the purple 'pills'! I will still have my sample and DH will still have his own personal rug, and he doesn't care if it pills or not. Gotta Love Him!!

Finished Rug On The Floor

Here is what the rug ended up looking like. I have put it near this chair so you can see how big it turned out. Weaving with rags was interesting, but not for me. I like the smaller threads.

Now that I have that out of my system, it's time to find some tencel and dent it 30 epi and work on some bookmarks. But wait.... what would this same draft look like in the smaller threads. This:

So I will be playing with more single two-tie, woven on opposites, with two different colors, without tabby. (did I have enough "," to make that sentence work?) Maybe this is taquete??

Midnight in the Bathroom

Finished.... well, it's wet and when it's dry, it will be finished! Weaving with rags was fast--- the prep work and finishing were where the most work was. That is if weaving is really work. I think I might have to go back to some tencel at 30 epi to find my center.

Midnight Bathroom Rug

I was able to give this a good soak in the shower, but couldn't find a place for it to dry in the house. So here it is outside drying on the driveway. There were a couple of places where I didn't like how the transition went from one block to the other. I hope the shrinking, once this is dry, will help that.

This is woven on a single two-tie threading (summer and winter) on opposites (with two different colors) without tabby. Some literature calls this taquete. I have used 8/5 linen as warp and cotton fabric as weft. The edge has a Damascus and braid finish. A floating selvedge and temple was also used.

Rug Weaving - Out Side my Box

Since I have been trying to weave with rug wool and rags I thought I might as well go way-way out side my box and comfort zone and do an edge treatment I have never done before. Here I am working on the edge treatment of the Midnight Bathroom Rug. I did a Damascus edge first and now I am doing a 3 strand braid with two ends in each strand.

After the fringe is taken care of, the rug will need to be washed and left to dry. That will tighten up that linen on the edge and keep it from falling apart.

Ta-Da! Ta-Da! Midnight Bathroom Rug....

I think I have come to the end of this warp and this threading. I have a modest 25 inches by 33 inches rug to display in a blue area - somewhere - bathroom, maybe??? It was a chore to get the last few inches done. Can anyone say "tension problems?"

I will name it my "Midnight Bathroom Rug." (I am sure you might understand what that really means.)

I will have to finish the edge before it is completely done. But I think under the 'criminations' it was time to quit.

This was a single two-tie (summer and winter) threading using 8/5 linen as warp and "rags" as weft. Woven on opposites,alternating two different colors -(without tabby).

Another Rug - Blue Jeans

This is a blue-jean rug that was given to me as a gift from my students at Arrow Rock Weaving Guild this past February. Shows to go you that there is a real folk art to weaving these rag rugs.

 

A lot of work went into getting the jeans ready to even be woven let alone the actual setting up the loom and weaving. I proudly display this in my kitchen.

Down To The Knot

Running out of warp is not fun when you want to keep going. But alas, it be so. I should be able to get a few more inches before the very end.

 I would tie onto the old warp and keep going, but the knots would be to large to go through the reed or heddles. If I want to keep this same threading on the loom, I will have to start from 'scratch' ! (the beginning)

Learning the Rag Dance

When I think about weaving with rags, I think of my friend Gayle. She had showed us during a program she gave my local guild how to join fabric strips without sewing. Simple and quick. My kind of weaving!

Overlap the ends of both strips, cut the slits, loop through and pull. Simple and neat.

Then when you have enough, roll into balls until you are ready to wind on your shuttle.

Ta! Da! Rug Finished!!

It has been quite the eye opener to work with this large (to me) wool yarn when I usually work with yarn that is 30 epi instead of 5 epi. I still like working with the smaller threads, but will do more with this size wool I am sure. Wonder what this draft would look like woven at the 30 epi? Hummmm... maybe my next adventure, after the rag rug I have on the big Macomber loom is finished.

Here is the rug... did I name it yet? I can't remember. How about "The Blue Jay Rug"? It's blue, and has 'sharp' lines. Just like a Blue Jay from my childhood who used his 'sharp' beak to snap at me.

This is a single two-tie (summer and winter) threading, woven on opposites with alternating colors, without tabby. Either side can be the public side. Finished size is 25" by 49".

A shout out and thank you to those in Russia, Netherlands, Canada, France, South Korea, Australia, China, Czech Republic, and Germany for stopping by and checking out my blog today.  "U's all" in the US too!!

More Warp To Play With

One of my weaving guilds suggested we try weaving with rags. Since I have a little warp left, I will attempt to do just that! This is a summer and winter threading (single two-tie) woven on opposites without tabby.

What fun weaving with rags that have some glitter on them. Of course I did pay $5.98 a yard for these "rags". Now I know what the quilters feel like when someone says "You cut that up to just put it back together?" Creativity at work!

Blue-Gray Rug Edge Treatment

I am now working on doing a Damascus Edge to the blue/gray summer and winter woven on opposites rug. I know I practiced on the "dinner leftovers rug" but think I should have practiced more. It doesn't look very neat. But what you see is what you get!

Working right to left, hold the passive warp end in my left hand and the active warp end in my right hand. The know goes over, under and up. The warp will lay onto the rug.

Working the second half of the Damascus Edge, I start from right again and wrap the active warp around the passive end and the fringe will now be back in it's original position.

Since I do not want any kind of fringe or braid, I will needle weave the ends into the rug and clip. I will then put a little "elmers" glue to help secure the edge.

Working On Rug Edge Treatment

First half going right to left. Warp is laid onto web.

Working on my kitchen table, I am going to work a "Damascus Edge" on my Leftover's Rug. Sometimes it's easier to see something done than read words to describe what you are doing. So if you have any kind of weaving book on rugs, I am sure there is a chapter on this edge treatment you can read. And then again, there is usually this info like this on the world wide web too!

Second half going right to left again, with the warp back toward me.

Once I finished the Damascus edge,  I think I will be weaving the warp ends into the rug. This will take a while as I work from right to left then right to left again to complete the treatment.

4-End Block Weave

I wonder if summer and winter woven or opposites is also called 4-end block weave? Hum?

I finished the blue and gray rug and worked on the "dinner leftover's rug" until the warp had this huge knot in it that I didn't notice while winding or beaming the warp. So The "Leftovers Rug" was cut a might short. It is about 25 inches by 25 inches. But it really is my sample of what this draft can do. So guess that's a good thing.

Next order of business is to work on the edge treatment.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Weaving with large wool yarn has been an adventure. Let's see if I can remember some of the things I have learned.
1. Sample to make sure your yarn thickness is correct.
2. Use a temple.
3. Keep a watch on your edges.
4. Try not to have any KNOTS in the warp.
5. Maybe use a bigger reed!
6. While weaving on opposites, have your shuttles enter the shed from the opposites sides alternately.
7. Wind your stick shuttles in a figure eight on each edge. It will hold more.
8. Remember to allow enough warp at the beginning and the ending to work the Damascus Edge.
9. This is a leftover warp and threads rug!
10. Remember to have fun and learn something new.


See number 4. There is no crying in weaving! (or is that baseball?)

 

Dinner Leftovers Rug

Finished with the blue and gray rug. It ended up being 49 inches long on the loom. There is more warp, so I have gone to my 'stash' and tried to find my wool yarns. Most of my stuff is 2/18 size, so I am having to wind several ends together to get the thickness I need for another rug. And since I am using leftover yarns, I am using leftover blocks..... In other words...... I am designing at the loom.

Should have done this sampling before I jumped into the blue and gray rug. As you can see by the solid blue area, that yarn is covering the warp better.

So the moral to the Blue/Gray rug is I should have had a wider denting. Or better still "should have sampled first- not last", said Ann. Do as I say, not as I do!

Don't know how long this warp or the yarns will last, but I will continue until I run out of either/or!
I have my Breakfast Rug 
and this will be my Dinner Leftovers Rug.

Rug Half Done or Half Empty?

Yippee! I am at the a little past the half way mark. The rug is 25" wide and I will weave it 50 inches long.

I had said on an earlier post that I was weaving this upside down. Well, this is a summer and winter woven on opposites rug....... either side is the public side! Duh!! I should have some warp left to experiment once I get this 50 inches done. I will only be stymied if I run out of rug yarn.

Hiding Your Tales

I am going to tell you a tale about hiding your tails! See, I do know the difference between the two tails! Anyway, I still can't find the excellent looper tool that my friend Diane Six ( Morning Moon Alpacas ) gave me at Christmas. I will keep looking!  But I did find one of the dental loopers. Another tip Diane told me to do was to weave in my tails as I go while it's under tension on the loom.

looper, needle, yarn

thread the looper through the eye of the needle and put the yarn through the looper

pull the looper and yarn through the eye of the needle

weave the needle through your web between the top and bottom layers of your web

pull through and clip close to the web.

Now my tale of the tail is all done!

Shuttle Maintenance

My good friend, Katie, reminded me how to correctly wrap the yarn on these stick shuttles. I am sure this is a tip she has told me many times, I just didn't listen since I didn't figure I would do much with stick shuttles. Well, just goes to show you. Just like you should have listened in grammar school when they told you that you would need math skills later in life.Well, I am later in life now and I need all kinds of math skills to weave!

 Yes, these go through the shed much better and holds more yarn. Yeah!

Working On The Edge

Working on getting my edges to look nice.

One of the things I am trying to take my time with is making the edges look good. And since I haven't used stick shuttles much, I am making an effort to place them down correctly while weaving. That way the yarns will cross at the edges and lock in.

 Here I am showing how I make sure the yarns cross.

I guess they could be better, but this is always a learning experience for me. And sometimes things look differently once you get it off the loom.

Shuttles and Rug

I haven't worked with stick shuttles very much over the years. As a matter of fact, I had to buy four just to do this rug project. I wasn't sure what size to get, so I got  medium ones. At least 18" looked like a medium one to me.

So far, I have found out that I needed to load two different shuttles with the same yarn so that when I came to the end of a repeat I didn't have to stop, load the shuttle, then try to remember where I was.

Here is showing the shuttles and it also shows that I am using three strands of wool.

I am at the 9 inch mark. My loom is slipping and I am having to "dork" with it to keep the tension tight. I am used to this on this loom. I suspect it's the operator! Or bad maintenance on the operators part!! Slows me down, but that could be a good thing!!!