Been Towel-ing

 (Originally posted on WP 4/12/21.)

Remember this project!?

Yup, it was last July, this kitchen towel warp was on the floor loom, almost woven off. I had about 20" left to do on the last (5th) towel, but then I paused one day, to tackle other life things, saying to myself that it would only be a short break, and then I'd get them done.

Yes, I am an eternal optimist. As is usual, Life took over, then Christmas, then I got sick and had to waste a month of my life in the hospital, then waste a couple more months doing very little more than recovering.

But, it is April now, and as I am almost done recouping (though I won't know for sure until I do another large set of blood labs), I need to scratch the itch which crops up every spring - the I-gotta-beautify-m -environment itch. So, along with the clearing out of old tat are the gardening plans, and revamping (aka adding to!) my list of things to sew for the house. I'm sure you know this song.

Well, it's kinda what I feel about this house. I've never liked it much, never mind loved it, but it is what we have for now, so I want to make it as beautiful as I can, not the least because when we are ready to sell it, it should look great! But until then, I *would* like to not cringe when I walk into certain rooms.

I know this past year has us all at home, experiencing our homes in a different way than we used to, and feeling a bit cramped, and maybe even a bit disgruntled about how our homes look and function. But I've always been at home, working from home, so I've been feeling this cramped and disgruntled thing a long time! But we haven't been in the position to do anything significant about it.

Well, this year that is gonna change. The old is getting fixed, recovered, redecorated, re-woven, or replaced. I don't want our home ending up looking like granny's house!  You know how it is - we acquire most of our stuff early on in our marriages and never get to change or replace it, as there are always more important priorities. Fast forward 35 years, and the house looks like it's stuck in a time warp. Heaven knows I gag when I look at real estate pics of houses stuck in the 70s or 80s. I don't want our house to make anyone gag!

So, the new kitchen towels are a small start to this process.

 

They are the first towels I've woven in many decades, and are a bit heavy, as I used yarn I had on hand - 8/4 carpet warp in 3 colors. So, I'll be getting different yarns for another set of towels, though am not sure yet which yarn. Most towel weavers like 8/2 - either as cotton or cottolin, and I'm leaning towards it, because the intermediate weight, 5/2 cotton, is generally mercerized, and I prefer unmercerized. Cotton flake is another option I'm considering, although I do like that the Brassard cottolin uses organic cotton. Considering that growing cotton uses a lot of pesticides, organic cotton is a plus.

Details
Warp and weft: 8/4 Maysville cotton warp in Natural, Colonial Light Blue, and Linen
Sett: 16 epi (8 epi with doubled ends)
Width in reed: 21"
Length woven per towel: 32"
Finished Width: 16.25-17.25" (twill towels took in more than plain weave, of course)
Finished Hemmed Length: about 26"
Finished weight plain weave towel: 6.4 ozs.
Finished weight twill towel: 8.6 ozs.

Edges were zigzagged on the machine, then the entire length of fabric was machine washed warm water with other laundry, and machine dried warm with just other towels. Towels were cut apart, then hand hemmed using a 1 strand length of the Natural color warp.

What i learned from this project
It surprised me to see that I love to weave twill! All the rag rugs I've recently woven are all plain weave. Even the handspun wool rugs I made decades ago were weft-faced plain weave. The towel I like the look of the best is the plain weave plaid towel, but the towel I like the *feel* of the best is either of the twill towels, as there's simply more surface area of the weft showing.

What I don't particularly like is how the amount of picks to the inch that twill needs really blocks the warp yarn from view, and any chance of having the plaid pattern show evenly. But, to be fair, the 2 blue weft towels also overwhelm the patterning. I didn't have enough of the Linen color to use it as weft in one towel, but it would have likely done the same thing.

This is perhaps due to the faux basketweave structure - the fact that my 16 ends to the inch were threaded as 8 epi, with doubled strands. Maybe single warp and weft strands would have interlaced better – hopefully, the next batch of towels will clarify this. I'm also hoping a single sleying of ends will keep the widthwise take-in and shrinkage down - these lost about 20%, but only in width, not length.

In the meantime, there's sewing and gardening to do.
Onward!
Dawn

Switching Gears

(Originally posted on WP 9/16/20.)

Homemaking/housekeeping has always involved multi-tasking, but lately my work also has me going in different directions.  Some days I am at the rug loom (although these kitchen/tea towels, for our use, have been sitting on this loom for weeks, waiting on me to have time for them!)

Other days I am either knitting up design samples, at the computer, working on the patterns and charts, or tackling the long-ish process of uploading designs to various sites. In the evenings I can be found knitting plain/mindless socks, which tends to be a self-adjusting activity, where if I’m really tired, it lets the mind decompress, whilst still being productive.  On other evenings, it allows the mind the freedom to wander and think up new designs or problem-solve, like designing a house that has auto-wash.

And on other days yet, I am weaving samples on the Little Loom, trying to ascertain what, if anything it will do well.

This is where I have been until recently.  

I wish there were two of me, or I at least had Mrs. Weasley’s housekeeping magic spells, then I could have gotten those kitchen towels and these knitting patterns finished already, although I wouldn’t be wasting my magic spells on auto-knitting, rather the dishes, laundry, and cleaning – especially now that this well-lived in house is desperate for a fall cleaning!

So, the Little Loom had me derailed.  I really needed to see what it could do, so I could have a useable warp on both looms, thereby allowing something productive to be accomplished, no matter which room I needed to be in.  

Well, that was the plan, anyway.

I am beginning to surmise that it can only do some things well, and only a few of what I want to make are on this list.  I have only owned sturdy floor looms (except my very first loom, which was upgraded soon after buying it), and like my knitting gauges, I prefer as densely woven a fabric, as can be made without undue stress to the maker, whilst maintaining a pleasing fabric.  

This is one of the best ways to ensure longevity.  I have long said that knitting ball band gauges are a guideline, not to be adhered to, as they can tend to be too loose.  Same goes for their touted yarn weight.  But that’s for another discussion.

For example, a pick and pick weft-faced sample on the floor loom can be beaten to 6.5 picks to the inch easily, using t-shirt yarn and doubled 8/4 warp, sett at 4 working epi, making a firm, well-woven fabric.

The same sett with even slightly thinner t-shirt yarn can only get 5 ppi on the RH loom, and that is with really pressing the weft into place using my forearms on the heddle so to give it a good even beat.  

The ‘even’ part isn’t easy on a RH loom.  If one holds the heddle at the outer edges to beat (as I often see RH weavers do), the middle of the fell can tend to not be beaten to the same level as the edges, so I have been conscientious about holding the heddle with each hand about 1/3 of the way across the fell.

But with these samples needing to be rug-tight, it required even arm pressure along the entire heddle.  Pita is an understatement!  I could show you the bruises I had on my inner forearms to prove this, but I’ll save you.  One would need to use a hand beater, perhaps even the heaviest weighted hand beater to pack each weft shot in to achieve what the floor loom does easily.

And plain weave with the same weft and warp used singly sett at 7.5 epi yields similar ho-hum results.  No photos to show, as I un-wove each one – I only save samples I am pleased with.

The only fabric I have been really happy with thus far is wool.  Peace Fleece doubled in a 5-dent reed, woven with doubled weft, then soaked and very lightly fulled in the dryer makes a totally great afghan/blanket fabric, which I’d like to make for hubby, as my knit wool afghans are a bit too short, for when he’s stretched out in his recliner (though not using the Georgia Rose pink!)

That is, if one wanted to weave narrow panels then seam them, which I am not yet sure I want to do, not when I could weave it full width on the floor loom, in one piece.  The downside to using the floor loom of course, is all the time it takes to warp which involves removing the breast beam and reed, and having enough yarn packages to warp its 2” sections.

Sigh.

I recently wove these pick and pick weft-faced mug mats/coasters on the RH loom, as a gift for one of my brothers.

The RH loom did these well and easily.  Doubled 8/4 warp, in a 5-dent reed, doubled KnitPicks Dishie as weft.

I am surprised to not see Dishie used more often in weaving, as it’s a really lovely, soft cotton yarn, which doesn’t shrink after washing and drying.  I much prefer it for rug hems than 8/4, which tangles if you look it it sideways, which I must be doing a lot.

I have one more cotton sample to put on the RH loom (Dishie at 11 epi), then onto the bulky to super bulky handspun wool samples, but they can wait.  Have already switched gears and am back to working on the last 2 of 3 wintery knitting patterns and their charts before September passes me by!

The first of the 3 is my Midnight Snowfall Tea Cozy.

In case you’re wondering about the odd sett of 11 epi I mentioned – I only have 5 and 7.5 dent reeds for this ASIL (Ashford Sampleit loom) and am not buying another heddle at this point.  

I find DK to worsted yarn at 7.5 in plain weave to make far too sleazy a fabric.  I have sampled the Dishie doubled in a 7.5 dent reed (= 15 total epi), and it works, though it makes a heavy towel.  This might be a good bath towel fabric, but am not sure about a kitchen towel, and a 16” weaving width isn’t going to make a bath towel!

So, I’ll be sampling the Dishie in the 7.5 dent reed, but threading every other slot  doubled, as such. There are 15 slots to 4”:
000000000000000

Threaded *2 ends in first slot, 4 ends in next slot; rep from *:
242424242424242
= 44 ends/4” after sleying into the holes = 11 epi.

Maybe I’ll like the look of alternating double/single warp ends, maybe I won’t, but the sett should keep draw-in and shrinkage to a minimum, will see!

But first, I need to put Dawn into house-washing mode!

Onward,
Dawn







 

Finding my Weaving Voice

(Originally posted on WP 8/15/20.)

When I wove, back in the late ‘80s to early ’90s, I mostly wove rugs – rag rugs and handspun, naturally-dyed weft-faced rugs.  

 

 

But I also wove handspun & naturally-dyed scarves, and handspun & naturally-dyed linen placemats. I also wove I don’t know how many yards of Shetland wool plaid fabric for 12-14 window curtain panels, and some cotton flake dish towels.

 

There was also a handspun, indigo-dyed wool plaid blanket, and a coat fabric, which didn’t turn out as I wanted, so it became throw pillows.  Not too bad for just a few years of weaving, particularly considering the time it took to hand process, spin, and dye the wool and linen yarns.

This time around, however, I need to be more focused, not the least because I’m not 30 yrs old any longer, and as much as I don’t like to admit it, I simply can’t do everything non-stop.  I need to find a narrower focus, in which I can still have creative leeway, yet foster a profitable endeavor, without scattering my energy to the four winds. Am not sure I want to be a Jill of all trades, master of none!

This should be a manageable task!  If I was only weaving for myself or for the house, I could, and likely would, tackle all manner of techniques and projects, as I never did get to make the overshot coverlet, for which I purchased several specific weaving books  so to prepare for it.  But I don’t have that luxury, not this time.  

And just as it took awhile to find my knit designing *voice*, it also seems to be taking some time to find my weaving voice.

With knit design, although I can knit almost anything, what I seem to do best is Nature-inspired whimsy and color work.  I mean, how many knitters, when they’re first learning to knit, cast on a circular yoke pullover in their own color pattern in their handspun?  But that’s just what I did.  And hardly stopped for the next 30 years.

It’s a little different with weaving, as preparing the loom (warping, threading, and sleying it) means one really needs the idea well figured out beforehand, as it’s a lot of time and material to invest – not as simple as ripping back a few rounds of knitting! And it is best if the warp is a long one.  It’s not a practical use of time to warp for just one or two small weavings, as it simply takes too long to do.

This is one attraction for me, for weaving plain weave rugs.  I tend to put on about a 15-yard rug warp at a time, yielding 10-14 rugs. This length rug warp is about the longest I’d want to put on the loom, as weaving it all off takes time, which ties up the loom for other work.

This little baby should help with this narrowing-down process.

Although it could very well do exactly the opposite, and show me many more interesting and fun things I could weave!  

One fabric that has been usurping a disproportionate amount of brain space lately is tweed. Like this Irish tweed and this one and Harris tweed.

And lest not forget Chanel’s beautiful tweeds.

I just think tweeds are so classically beautiful!  And not typically made with baby-soft yarn. Harris tweed has *tooth*.  I have always loved wools with tooth – something interesting about the fiber, usually a bit of fuzziness, and definitely a bit of shine to catch the light, as with the long wools, especially (though not limited to) breed-specific wools.

This little 1948 book has also been fueling the tweed fascination.

And it came with a large, 2-page foldout of a loom plan! Whose beater definitely reminds me of an Oxaback, tho Ox’s are countermarch, not counterbalance.

 

Yeah, I know Americans have been on a soft-yarn binge, and I too love soft yarns, although I tend to take the softness bit to the extreme.  When I want something soft, it has to be store-bought (via Ebay and Goodwill) lightweight cashmere. I’m not needing anything heavier or thicker any more, so I haven’t wanted to design wool sweaters in over a decade.

And although I made a list of soft-ish yarns to consider for weaving tweed, they all make me go, Eh. They’d make nice fabrics, but I wouldn’t want to weave just *nice* fabric, I’d want to weave *interesting* fabric – fabric that makes you want to touch it.  And I have some ideas about interjecting interest.

But unlike those sweaters I don’t need and no longer want to design, here I am in weaving mode, wanting to weave tweed, which I don’t wear!, but which can make great afghans and blankets.  Nothing like a real wool afghan to curl up under in winter, not to mention capes, ruanas, and jackets/coats.

However, sewing handwoven clothing does not interest me.  I’d much rather weave the yardage for others to do with as they will, so I do have *some* weaving focus – handwovens for the home - rugs, afghans, pillows, kitchen and bath linens.  Creating a comfortable home has always been important to me, and that means textiles. They are what we touch the most in a home, so they should be pleasing in color, fiber content, and style, and be long-lasting.
 
I love too many things (if that is even possible), so I want to do *everything*. It’s a blessing and a curse!  What inevitably narrows down my focus is availability (and price) of the necessary materials. So, I’ll be sampling and dreaming, while I’ve got the dish towel warp on the floor loom.

Some are plain weave, others are getting twilled. If one doesn’t enjoy weaving twill, one won’t enjoy weaving tweed yardage! And, yup, am liking weaving twill, especially the way I have my loom set up.

4 treadles, tied up in walking fashion, 1,3,2,4.  
Threaded in straight draw, 4,3,2,1.
And weaving 1 and 2, 2 and 3, etc.

It means I don’t have to *think* about which pair of treadles I need to depress next. The right foot controls the 2 right-most treadles, 2 and 4. The left foot controls the 2 left-most treadles, 1 and 3. So, in weaving twill, although I use both feet, only one  foot changes placement on each pick.

It frees the mind to just count picks and relax, which seems to produce a better rhythm and hence, a better fabric.

Once the towels are off, though, it’s back down to Earth for me, with a new rug warp on the floor loom and, hopefully, coordinating pillow fabrics on the little loom - am looking forward working on these!

 

Onward,
Dawn

A Tea Towel or Two

(Originally posted on WP 7/27/20.)

As I very recently took the last 6 rugs off the loom, and spent a few days fringing, hemming, washing, pressing, trimming, measuring and labeling, I (or rather, my back) decided I needed a rug break.  

But not too large a break, so I began to plan some dish towels, aka tea towels.  Just want to weave 4, for now, as I know I’ll want to put another rug warp on again, soon.

New project = new can of design worms.  So, out came the Pixeloom.  And 45 drafts later!, I have a few ideas I definitely like – this one reminds me of birds in flight, but I’m not in the mood to weave 1 shot per color right now.

This rosepath is my favorite - just enough color interest, while still maintaining some semblance of easy weaving.  This draft I will get to soon.

Also this one, which feels *very* calming, and reminds me of gemstones.  At the left side, you’ll see an abbreviated draft, creating smaller motifs.  I like to draft variations side by side so I can see which I like best, or whether the smaller set of motifs will be a good border pattern.

But, this is the simple plain weave draft I’ll be warping – just color gradations, to be repeated back from the left side, to give the needed width.   And simpler weaving can’t be found – one color/one shuttle weft. Think I’ll do 2 towels with the lt. blue weft and 2 with the natural.  Sometimes the brain, and the hands just want to get on with something, and not have to think too much!

But 45 drafts!  And you know, I could have just kept going.  I love to chart things.  I used Stitch Painter Gold to do all my color pattern charts for my knitting designs, and would much rather chart things in software, then spend hours knitting then ripping things out. 

Charts seems to multiply like rabbits, and take almost no space to store in a computer folder, where, I don’t want to see piles of knit samples all over the place.  Once I’m ready to knit a color pattern, it needs to be as close to final as it can be.  And I have a feeling, it will be this way in my weaving.  Just enough samples to clarify the idea and to store in a binder, then get on with it. 

So, guess that makes me product-oriented, at least once I am actually working with yarn, but process-oriented while working with charts or drafts.  Hmm.

Onward,
Dawn