Satisfying Plain Weave

I finally added 2 blogs to my sidebar, for now, as I’m rather particular about such things.  I enjoy, and learn from, both Peggy’s and Karen’s blogs and I’ll surely add some knitting blogs.  Peggy has great general weaving information and Karen often posts about her rag rug projects, though not in detail!

Many weavers seem to have fallen down the multi-shaft rabbit hole, where I have always been content with 2 shaft or more basic 4 shaft weaves. I love simpler traditional textiles - plain weaves and twills, stripes, plaids, tweeds, and weft-faced and plain weave rugs. They may not provide the wow factor like other weavers’ work, but I find them to be comforting and relatable.  

When it comes to textile gymnastics, I prefer it in knitting, via color patterns or cable patterns.  

Needless to say, any snafus which occur whilst knitting are far more easily dealt with than a complicated weaving draft errantly threaded!  At this point in my life, I don’t need unnecessary stress!  (Although, is *any* stress really necessary?  I wish I could avoid it entirely, and save my heart the distress that ensues, undoing the good work of my heart meds.). Keeping it simple doesn’t mean it will only be boring!

More complex weaving drafts are lovely, but they do not *speak* to me.  Even Overshot, which I used to love, and have several books on, but we no longer own an antique home, at least for now, so I want whatever I weave for this non-fussy circa 1947 Cape Cod house to not look out of place.  And as we live on the Cape, a simpler seaside decor suits it well, although it will take me a while to weave and sew all that I want in the house!

As I may have mentioned, my floor loom (a 45” Hammett CB with sectional beam) is in pieces now, moved upstairs into a room where I will actually have space to weave easily.

Moving it also allows us to use my work table for Thanksgiving dinner, as the rest of my studio supplies and FO’s (handspun yarns and handwovens) need to remain in a room that is constantly heated or cooled.  I’ve BTDT enough, dealing with having to rewash linens that were stored in an unheated and non-cooled room.  I won’t do that to my hard work!

But this does mean it will be a while before hubby and I can get to putting the floor loom back together.  I only had time to weave one weft-faced rug, the warp for the remaining 3 rugs was rewound back onto the beam and taped down.

So, with the floor loom out of commission for a while, my small RH loom has been getting a workout.  It is not an unenjoyable process to direct warp the RH loom, even the more persnickety color and weave designs, although I think I prefer the actual act of weaving on the floor loom!  Passing a stick shuttle isn’t the same as throwing a boat, ski, or rug shuttle.  Floor loom weaving also gives my legs some exercise, like handspinning, which I also spend quite a bit of time doing

I now have 10 wool and alpaca scarves on Etsy thus far, and recently finished 3 more: another Houndstooth Tattersall, an all white Tweed, and a pattern I call “Faux Rib”, aka Log Cabin, as the pattern reminds me of offset panels of knit and purl ribbing.  LOL, I don’t like log cabins, much preferring Federal, Greek Revival, Colonial Revival, or Shingle Style. 

Actually, I was never crazy about most of the Log Cabin threadings and treadlings I’ve seen.  Many appear murky and confusing to me – I prefer clear, crisp, repeating patterns, which are easily readable.  This one, a 9-st rep both in warp and weft, please my sense of order!

Below are some other drafts I plotted and have been weaving.

Although I have a handful or rwo of 4+ shaft weaving books, I’ve only had one RH book, although the only thing that interested me in that book was how to weave a palindrome skein, which I have yet to do.  I'd much rather play around on weaving software to try to create interesting designs.

As you can see from the following 3 drafts, although they are similar, the first draft varies from the last two. Warping the first one is easier, with its solid blocks of color, but weaving it is slower, requiring 2 shuttles.  So, I decided to shift it, by moving the alternating color ends to the warp, making it slower to warp, BUT allowing the weaving to be solid blocks of color – just one shuttle for a # of picks.

Here’s some twists on the Log Cabin, which I’m calling “Peepers”, after the spring peppers we had so many of in the acre-sized pond back in the mid-Hudson.  I would even find them in the evergreen, off the porch.

These are next on my list to weave up.  As you can see, a simple adjustment to the color pattern in the warp and weft creates 3 options - a single set of alternating horizontal and vertical bars with horizontal peepers, a double set of alternating horizontal and vertical bars with vertical peepers, then a double set of alternating horizontal and vertical bars with *both* horizontal and vertical peepers: peepers on the ground, peepers up a tree, and peepers everywhere!

So many drafts, so little time!

Onward!
Dawn

Like Words on a Page

I still haven’t worked at the floor loom, as I’m engrossed in weaving on the RH loom!  For every scarf I weave, I chart 5-10 more drafts, so as soon as a scarf comes off it, another warp goes on.  Only a few of my ideas don’t translate well into a scarf, although they’d be fine as yardage, where too thick selvedges don’t matter.  

In this Handwoven article about Nell Znamierowski, it says, ”For Nell, sampling was the joy of weaving. Making an actual project—yardage, scarf, or whatever was a byproduct.”

I understand what she meant.  I’ve long been in love with color.  Not masses of every color everywhere, but instead, carefully chosen and placed color.  Like words on a page, color needs white space.  They also seem to need at least one other color to *bounce off of* –  colors singing in a harmonious voice.

These days one doesn’t need to warp and weave in order to sample color placement, there’s software to, at least, get the ball rolling by creating a visual. I’ve only used PixeLoom (on a Mac), so I can’t speak to other software or hardware, but PL is easy to use, at least for 2 or 4 shaft weaves.  I haven't yet put the software through all its paces, just using the basics thus far, but, I could sit all day and play with colorways for drafts, working to find patterns that sing to me!

Here’s the first grouping of scarves for sale in my Etsy shop, with a few photos below.  I just finished the 10 listings. One more scarf is lying flat, blocking, and I can't wait to get another warp on the loom, using the squishy, supersoft, extra fine (19.5 micron) merino and heavenly baby alpaca yarns which arrived yesterday!

Along the way, some scarves may be gifts, and one or two may go to a local charity which collects warm clothing for the poor (along with some other wool handknits to also donate). I would like to weave a scarf for my two grandkids, and already have a few drafts created just with them in mind.

I wonder if Nell ever repeated her designs.  Some drafts I may only weave a few times, others please me enough that I want to weave them in many alternate colorways and in different yarns.  But they all came about through play.  And who ever gets tired of playing?  It’s what keeps us young!

Onward, Dawn

Need More Hands!

It’s been over a month since I’ve posted, but the autumn whirl has begun, trying to get enough yarn and handwovens ready for the winter season!  Lazy winter days won’t occur until after tax season next February or so.  I am sure I’m not the only one who’s perhaps busier than they’d prefer!

A set of 4 weft-faced rugs are on the floor loom, though just one rug has been woven thus far, because, once the small loom arrived, I’ve been trying to keep it warped and scarves woven off.  

Yes, I did have a 16” RH loom for a short time, then sold it – it was too large for scarves, but not large enough for towels.  The 10” loom is perfect – I should never have tortured myself about buying the 16” loom, but, like many other weavers, I was trying to only buy one loom to make too wide a variety of fabrics.  

The weft-faced rugs are slower to weave than my usual rag rugs, but the effect is worth the time.  The hard beat that rugs need does mean it’s noisier than weaving regular fabrics, so I don’t work at the floor loom when hubby has a headache, which is quite often.  I don’t want to add to his pain.  

So, the small loom is an ideal addition to my business, as it’s quiet and very quick to warp.  And, perhaps because I have been a knitting designer for so very long, I *love* to chart weaving drafts as well!  In a short time, I’ve charted 65 drafts, just for plain weaves. I love the interplay of color.  

With stranded color pattern knitting, the secondary color(s) are held to the wrong side, so the color charts are pure for lack of a better word.  In weaving, the yarns interlace.  Two colors interlacing can give the effect of a third color, and even a simple draft can look complex when using 3 colors.  It’s magical!  And something I don’t think I’ll ever tire of doing.

In between weaving, I try to keep the bins stocked with several weights of handspun Falkland and Romney wool yarns.  I’ve spun other finer wools, like Rambouillet, Merino, and Polwarth, and many other fibers from camel down to cotton and horsehair, but I find spinning the Falkland wool to be such a pleasurable experience – it’s soft enough to be pleasant to wear, yet has a long enough staple length and excellent prep which is easy to spin.

Romney has always been a favorite, one of my first, and one day, I’d like to spin enough to weave a blanket or 2.  In the meantime, it’s wonderful for handknit socks, which I wear almost all year long.

I may be imagining it, but I find the socks knit from Romney, or other long wools, seem to breathe better than, or resist retaining moisture better than, socks knit with softer wools.  I love Lamb’s Pride, both the worsted and bulky versions, but I find that they can feel damp during the day, requiring changing.  This doesn’t happen with the Romney pairs.

The change in activity from weaving to spinning is surely better for the body than making the same motions every day, and I do love to spin.  It allows my mind to relax and wander a bit, where if I did that when weaving, the patterning would go wrong, requiring un-weaving, which no weaver wants to have to do.  So, weaving requires much more concentration, which can be tiring.  I could probably spin all day long, but weaving is best kept to about 3 hrs.

I’ll post pics soon of what I’ve been making, with links to my Etsy shop.  I’m working up a small pile of scarves at a time, which I will wet block and lay flat to dry en masse, then sew on labels.

May all your work go smoothly and may you still find time to relax during this busy season!
Happy Autumn!
Dawn