Loom schedule

This is currently cracking me up but between wanting to do major stash-reduction pieces and an upcoming class I feel like I'm having to book time on my looms! 

I do not need another loom, and I repeat, I do not need another loom. Just to be clear.

What's the schedule look like? The Baby Mac is free and waiting for the double Huck class I'm taking with Callie Booker that started today. The two baby blankets on the Gilmore are in progress and should finish quickly.

I suspect the Mac will be occupied with double huck through the end of March.

Next up on the Gilmore will be some yardage in Bronson lace for my study group; I'm working on specs now.  I'd like to use up some of the 40/2 or 48/2 linen I have (I need to McMorran it again) but I don't want a new structure and a new fiber at the same time so I'm going to use the red or the green or the blue 20/2 cotton that I have; I think it'll be lovely. 

What else do I have lined up?

• I have three cones of very fine linen that I'd like to play with; I think more fabric for summer shirts. The benefit to working on this during the winter is the humidity makes linen weaving easier.

• I have 5 or 6 more skeins of Graceful, in two colorways. I'd like to use some of it as warp and that slubby silk, dyed a darker color as weft to make yardage for a woven sweatshirt. 
• I have a undulating twill Scarf Kit that was Kathy's; that would be pretty easy and would free up one of the bins plus but a couple of scarves into the Finished Object state.
• This ikat warp (mentioned last post) would like to be towels. Turns out I have a small amount of hand dyed  8/2 cotton in dark purple, green, and yellow that I would use sparingly to pop the purple...

Tale of Two Scarves

Photos of the two scarves needed!!!

I've done a couple of posts about plans for the Graceful yarn, in particular, wanting to get the sett right in weaving with it. I did samples at 30 and 35 EPI; the 30 was popular with my study group, although I thought it bordered on sleazy, and the 35 was stiffer... I decided on the 35 and then left for vacation in Japan.

I bring this up because my DH brought along 3 of my hand crafting scarves on the

trip, and his favorite was the black and white crackle scarf I showed in progress here. I ended up disappointed in the scarf due to bad selvedges and an uneven beat and tossed it in the closet for a few years; I offered it to him as it was going in the goodwill bag and he loves that scarf.  Sadly, it kept getting caught on his zipper and snagging.... he felt bad but I don't think it was his fault.  The crackles scarf is loosely woven to the point of being sleazy; I can see the threads moving as I twist the scarf back and forth. Had I sett it closer, it would have been a little more cohesive and I think less likely to snag.  I used this to justify my decision to make the Graceful scarf a little denser.

So it's a 11.5 inch wide scarf, 80 inches long, in plain weave. There are a number of  doubled threads to give it a little texture; I also broke 5 threads and decided not to repair them so they're effectively doubled too. I will note I de-tensioned the warp when I stopped weaving most of the time to minimize stretching; I think the broken threads came when I forgot to do this. (ETA, it could also be that I wasn't advancing the warp enough.)

It took me a bit to get the hand of working with the yarn; it's very thin and very light; I had to learn to catch the loop as I threw the shuttle to make sure the selvedge fit in smoothly.  

I also very carefully double-wound the weft yarn (wound if off onto a storage bobbin, then from the storage bobbin onto a pirn) to preserve the color run. This worked fabulously, of course, until the point in the yarn where the manufacturer had tied on a new thread and the color change abruptly. This only happened once.

The color gradation is from purple to green, going through browns and golds... since I'm using the same yarn in warp and weft the color is a little muddy where colors opposite on the color wheel cross (i.e. purple and green, or  blue and orange), but it's a nice comfortable mud.  I think for the next project using this yarn I'll consider using a solid 20/2 cotton or that singles slubby silk (dyed?) for weft.

The scarf has a great hand, good drape, and feels like fabric; it will soften with use. I'm pleased.

Other projects: 

1. I'm starting to thread baby blankets; it's beamed and ready to go.
2. The shiny sweater is getting longer; I think I'm 12" down from the armholes with 4" more to go!
3. I started cutting tile for the mosaic succulent stepping stones... First, I put the design next to the paver, and it's too big for the stones by about 1/2" inch; not a big deal as I can shrink the background accordingly. The bigger issue is my artistic swoopy leaf designs which just isn't got to be practical with high fire tile.  I've moved the design back to the studio for rework.
4.  I tied an warp I've had for awhile and dyed it in 20 year old (ish) Lapis procion dye. The color was gorgeous! Until I went to wash it out. Needless to say the purple (instead of Lapis) was a disappointment and the blue that was there migrated under the ties... I was significantly upset about it until it dried; now it reminds me of a Aurora Borealis. I have to redesign the towels but I'm pretty excited about it.

   

5. I checked out and read two books from the library on linocuts; I will try to find one of them to add to my library. I'm thinking of carving up a lino of a friend... I think I could do a 3 colors reduction print if I simplified it some. 
   
   

Q4 '23 Finished List (4/21)

What's on the finished list for Q4?

• Two summer and winter rugs (see next blog post
• 8 Christmas cards (simple yet lovely)
• Ikat class piece
• Test pieces for Graceful yarn. Do I count test pieces? Sure. It was a 2 yard warp, and completely separate from a project. Kind of like a mini-project. I'm counting it. 

I've already started on the 2024 Stashdown... I have the Graceful warp ready for threading, and half of a warp wound for two Very Bright baby blankets in Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic. I'll have to buy some weft to go with the blankets, but it'll put a major hole in my Cotton Classic stash!  I'm also boiling an ikat to get dyed today or tomorrow which will be towels; that gets rid of an already-pulled warp and will use up some more of my 8/2 cotton stash.

As for the rest of the crafts I aspire too, I'd like to touch on each of them in Q1. I haven't identified a list yet (and I may not)... There is some low hanging fruit:

• The shopping bag with the embroidered panels.
• The two additional towels that just need hemming.
• The sheep shirt.

Things I'd like to finish/do:

• The mosaic table in studio b.
• Upgrading my sewing machine and trying some more embroidery (maybe that class?)
• A new shirt pattern.
• A shirt pattern for Scott.
• The Shiny sweater
• A project for the study group: I would like to take a profile draft and implement the design in bronson lace; maybe snail trail? In 18/2 cotton OR Graceful.

And I'd like to continue to use some of the images I picked up on my trips this year. Not this one. But I thought the post needed a photo!

Blue bedside rug wrap-up

Turns out weft faced wool rug weaving is a new skill, or at least a skill that eludes me.  Let me begin by saying I love the feel of the rugs; they look more attractive on the floor than on my lap; and I'll love getting out of bed and stepping on them for many years to come. But they're not to my standards and I will own needing to work on technique for further rugs. 

First of two

What's right:

• Color choice is pleasing to me.
• Learning opportunities were great!
• The feel of the rugs is wonderful!

What's not right:

• I missed a warp thread on one of the selvedges so one side has larger loops than the other. 
• My selvedges need some practice.
• I tried a cardwoven selvedge on the 2nd rug and I like the outcome; but I used the same color as the warp (white) and it would have been better in the rug border color. Also, I missed the part in the book where it said to pull the card weaving to the absolute edge so my runs along the back, immediately adjacent to the edge, making that rug onesided.
• Determining how much weft to lay was difficult for me, so parts of the rug are bumpy (too much weft) and parts a bit sparse (you can see the background weft). 

• 

  They're actually different

  What to do with the warp selvedges? On one rug, I just darned the ends into an adjacent warp channel; on the other end, I had 2 picks of warp yarn at the end of the weaving, so I darned in the ends around that. It looks slightly better.
• On the other rug, I tried a half damascus edge, darning the ends in as well... I think I got the knotting wrong. For it's 2nd end, I watched a lovely youtube video on the process and got the half damacus knots correct and the edge looks much better.
• I found it difficult to get the feel of the darning correct so there are spots where it shows through and I suspect I could have cut my knots closer. I think steaming the rugs (still to be done) might help fluff the yarn and make it more attractive. 
• Some of the darning pulls in more than other so the end of the rug is not straight.

All in all, I enjoyed the process and would like to make more rugs. However, I think I need to acknowledge that I don't effectively learn techniques from books and a class would help a lot. I found this online class that looks interesting:

https://www.balfourand.co/rug-weaving-on-a-floor-loom

And have noted this other two places for online classes:

https://tanzersfiberworks.com/category/weaving_classes/

Tierra wool

Ikat class piece, lessons learned and another cautionary tale

 

I took Mary Zicafoose's slipped ikat class over Zoom through our guild in September.  FABULOUS class. Absolutely brilliant.

I made a "cartoon" in a spreadsheet then tied white 8/2 tencel and dyed it in Procion "Bronze" fiber reactive dye. There's some black tencel in there as well.  Weft is a 16/2 cotton fortuitously commercially dyed a close color, and it's woven in a straight twill reversing at the center. 

My intention was to have triplets of white, descending, on each side of center with small chevrons in the border. the three white stripes just below center came out pretty much as I envisioned, the rest did not. Design wise, I like the center although the two groups of three should be offset slightly more; and I'd prefer that the upper triplet be as concise as the lower. The space on the outside of the triplets could be slightly narrower. For the border pieces, I would either set them further apart or leave them straight; either way, though, they need to be more concise, the mud that is on the top border is just sloppy work.

What went wrong:

1. The tencel had some worn spots on it; I think there was abrasion on a part of the cone; but I decided to proceed anyways, predicting the worst that could happen was broken threads.
2. I'm pleased with the color but I'd aimed at darker; I had a limited window to dye and my scale wouldn't power on; futzing with the scale compressed the amount of time I left my yarn in the dye. Either the quantity of dye or the timing resulting in a lighter color.
3. As I dressed the loom, I slipped groups of yarn then knotted the back beam side of the warp. In a previous piece I'd attached those to the back apron rod with string, so on this piece I tried looping the bout over the apron rod and securing it with the knot. I don't think this was a good idea.
4. As I wound on, I realized that my alignment wasn't what I wanted it to be. I was torn between redoing it or declaring it a class learning piece, and decided to move on, threading the heddles and reed.
5. At this point, I wished I'd fixed it and debated rebeaming. I wasn't sure the delicate parts of the tencel could handle rebeaming, so I left it and started weaving.
6. About three inches into weaving, I realized the tension was really wonky. I examined the loom and found the locking arm that holds the back beam out was not locked on one side. There were bad words, then I fixed it and tied on again. I debated rebeaming but again decided against it. 
7. About 12 inches into weaving the tension went to shit again. I debated tearing out the 12 inches and rebeaming it but threw some weights on the loose parts and kept weaving.
8. The tension got worse and worse. At about 3' into the project I had a glass of wine and cut it off the loom.
9. It's possible that the tension issues caused some of the misalignment, but I didn't analyze that.

What have I learned? All of my issues went back to the first item on this list, using material that I was concerned about.  I should have rebeamed by step 6 and risked the broken threads.  Not listening to my inner voice has been a problem in the past and it's a problem again.

Getting ready to wind up the year a bit early...

Well, I'll be away from the studios for a few weeks so before I go I might as well share what I've been up to.

Inked up rubbing plate and brayer

First, I needed some holiday cards and couldn't come up with a design... but I flashed on the fact that I had ink, cards, and some clever rubbing plates from Dharma Trading.  The cards are crappy cardstock from Michaels, but it wipes out my stash of them (yay destash!) and I like the look. I even printed the envelope backs! Here are some of them.

The non-denominational holiday card

 I also did a test print of the linked figures (or dancing girls) but the plate needs a little more work before printing; and I want to figure out the registration tabs I bought. I suspect this will be next year's fun.

The rugs are also off the loom but I'm not pleased with them. The selvedges are wonky, the beat is uneven and I can't get the edges sewn under in a way that is pleasing to me. There's a lot to learn about rug making that does not come naturally just because you can weave other things and I fear that I am not the kind of person who can learn this from a book. I'm looking for a class and have identified a few locations but I'll have to travel and 2024 is looking pretty busy! Meanwhile I'm going to watch Tom Knisely's video and I'm stalking another online class. I'll post photos of the rugs in another post and I think we can expect more rugs in the future. Regardless of my disappointments, once they're on the floor they look good and they're squishy soft and warm to walk on!

On the other projects, 

• What happened to the ikat? I'll give that little disaster it's own post later. Let's just say I rage-cut it off the loom when it became problematic so I have a piece of fabric, not a scarf.
• I'm stalled on the table to figure out the background; I have a few ideas but haven't settled on any yet.
• I'm part way through threading the Yarn Palace Graceful to do a test weave. 
• I'm still knitting on Shiny, which will probably become vacation knitting.
• The sheep shirt is still stalled.

I don't know if I've mentioned in this blog that I'm declaring 2024 a Stashdown year. That's where I use up as much stuff as I can from stash, adding as little as possible to compliment the things I have. I'll also try to complete some semi finished projects. I need placemats and runners for the Lodge, a few more rugs, maybe some tapestry, some towels, yardage, maybe a handspun blanket... I'd also like to work with some of the quilting fabric and some of the garment sewing fabric, and make a dent in my glass and tile stash. Let's see where this goes!

Calculating Sett from YPP for Graceful

A picture of a yarn ball is better
than no picture at all

I've been wanting to try to weave with The Yarn Place Graceful in my stash for YEARS but have been afraid to 'cause it's super thin. It's a "cobweb" weight yarn that very slowly changes color; looking at the colors on the ball leads me to think weaving it on itself would give me some splendid iridescence. I decided to give it a go as one of my looms is empty so I am trying to guess a sett based on YPP... 

The label says 1804 yards/100g (Why? Why? Why do they mix imperial and metric?) 

My rounded calculations gave me 8190 yards/lb, so I went to the Master yarn chart. It's between these two entries but obviously much closer to the 36/2. It's interesting that the recommended setts are the same.

36/2 wool; 8,950 yd/lb (18,025 m/kg); 24, 36, 45

28/2 wool; 6,880 yd/lb (13,885 m/kg); 24, 36, 45

Then I thought of the Ashenhurst formula? It's a way of finding diameters per inch (WPI) including a fudge factor for yarn squishiness...  Here's a couple of lightweight articles on it:

https://notsorigidweaver.com/posts/ashenhurst-calculator/

https://www.schoolofsweetgeorgia.com/avoid-the-wrap-how-to-use-math-to-estimate-yarn-diameter/

Then you calculate a sett number based on interlacements (i.e., closer sett for twill than plain weave as there are less interlacements). Or just follow the suggestions on either of those web pages.

I think I'm going to sample with a turned twill at 36 TPI, I suspect that'll show off the changes in the yarn color nicely.

Left is 30 EPI, plain weave over twill
Right is twill at 35 EPI

Updating with sampling results... I have a turned twill sample at 35 EPI, and turned twill and plain weave at 30 EPI. Both are soft, supple and very very light. DH's comment was "this would make a good summer or fall scarf". I wet finished both by aggressive rubbing it against itself in cold water with soap. The 35 is very appealing to me and the 30 feels just this side of sleazy (yes, that's a weaving term). I'm going to show the samples to friends and to my weaving group and make a decision from there.

I chose the twill to hide the color changes but I'm surprised I don't mind them in the plain weave.