Weaverly

Another Warp: Tying On

Nature abhors a naked loom. 

I'm tying on to a monochrome warp with some colors on hand. I wound the chains separately, then tied them on one at a time.

Listening to the radio all day. My current fave is WNYC. 

If I've done the math right, there won't be any leftovers.

Success!

Then of course all those knots have to be eased through the heddle eyes and the reed. Done. And then the whole thing is wound onto the warp beam.

Wove the first few inches, just to test everything out. The warp is all 16/2 cotton. The weft is 16/2 cottolin in dark brown. Amalgamation.

All is well. Time to take a break.

On another note, here is moonrise last night as we were sitting on the front porch. 

I'd Rather Be Weaving

That's a bumper sticker, for sure. I've always wanted one. I may have to print my own. I'd rather be weaving. It's my safe place, my comfort, my square one.

True July weather has arrived. That means if I want to get my walk in, I have to start early. Some mornings I manage to get up early enough, some mornings not. This morning I "slept in" until 8, but yesterday I hit the streets early enough to see this:

Corrections

Fans of Amalgamation: you've been generous with your comments and corrections. Please check the sidebar, under Other Stuff, for updated errata files. I hope there won't be too many of them! 

And now moving on to the next warp.

Eight shafts, amalgamation, cotton, 20epi. Stay tuned.

Complexity

The virtual Complexity exhibit is now up and it is definitely worth a look. The quality of the work is very high, and the presentation is so well done. Congratulations to all who took part and put in so many hours to make this a "reality." 

It's been wonderful to hear from so many old friends this past week. Your response to my new publication has meant that I get to "chat" with weavers all over the world. Some of you have even pointed out corrections to be made in my monograph, and for that I am especially grateful. I'm keeping an errata sheet, which is downloadable here. You can also check in the sidebar, under "Other Stuff" for current errata sheets. 

And just because I hate to post without a picture, here is a draft I'm messing with this morning for my 8-shaft loom. The poor loom has been naked for over a week, a sad state of affairs.

Click to enlarge.

Cut Off

Three more towels cut off and laundered. Amalgamation, hemp & linen warp. In the black towel the weft is actually two strands of 20/2 cotton, one black and one dark blue, but it reads as black. The blue towel has a weft of blue 10/2 cotton.

In the bright sun, the pattern in the lightest towel doesn't show up well, but instead of making a mess of things in Photoshop, I just moved them to the shade and now you can see the pattern better.

It is the lightest towel I am liking the best! The warp is a deep beigey natural shade, and I crossed it with a bleached white mercerized cotton 10/2. Click to enlarge. In addition to a graphic pattern, I am seeing areas of lace. This particular tie-up is a 1/3/3/1/2/2/2/2 twill, and it generated the lace areas. The lace would be more lacey in an opener sett; here it presents as a highly textured area. 

There's not enough warp left for another towel, but plenty for tying on to. I wasn't planning to repeat this warp, but this white towel has left me with a desire for more. The hemp was troublesome in the weaving—no breaks but lots of sticky sheds—so I may replace it with cotton this time and experiment with other tie-ups.

Thank You

Yesterday's rollout of Amalgamation: Double Your Dobby (see Monographs in sidebar) was a great success. Thanks to all who responded by email and expressed your support. I am overjoyed! I'm looking forward to seeing your amalgamated drafts and woven fabrics.  

And I appreciate your patience during the inevitable glitches and failures of communication. I think we've got things (mostly) under control now. Back to the loom!

Meanwhile, I wanted to share with you some of my impressions of life during Stay-at-Home. Not surprisingly they include fiber-related themes, because, hey, that's me. 

Everything's tangled, nothing's in a straight line.

It's hard to figure out the way forward.

Who is that scary person in the mirror first thing in the morning? She hasn't had a haircut since February...

It's nice to have a purpose. It adds focus. My main task is to feed the turtles this week while their humans are out of town. There's a bonus here. They have the most incredible patterning. You think you know stripes? Think again.

While waiting for a traffic light to change, I couldn't help noticing this cyclist. This guy is pattern-aware. Check it out: three, three different sizes of houndstooth checks in his raiment. And the socks! 

(I kinda wish he'd had a facemask at the ready).

Rays

If I get out really early, I catch the ray effect of the morning sun. In these fraught days it seems as if a message is being sent. 

Maybe that's a little fanciful, but when it's just me and the trees and the birds, I tend to think that way. 

This evening the solstice will be here, and then we'll tilt the other way.

These views are brief, but so joy-inducing when they come.

Back in the studio, I put a new warp on the dobby loom. The amalgamation samples told me what I needed to know regarding sett; I put on a wider piece this time. It meant shuffling around some heddles, not a pleasant task, but necessary. There were a couple of sleying errors, but eventually everything got sorted out. The border leads gradually into the main motif.

I decided to use two strands of 20/2 cotton in this double shuttle as the weft. I wanted a dark weft, but not dead black. This is a bobbin each of dark blue and black. Click to enlarge. In the picture you can't see the blue, but it's there. Well, maybe you can see it.

Managing the double weft is a bit tricky, as it tends to leave little loops at the selvedge. So you have to keep an eagle eye on the web as you weave. Yes, like a bird of prey. And I'm using a temple. It has sharp teeth.

________

Just finished reading The Untouchable, by John Banville (one of my faves). It's a novel loosely based on the true story of an art historian turned spy, and his unraveling. 

Choices

In all, I wove seven samples on the hemp/linen warp. They differed only in the tie--ups used. After washing & ironing, I picked the three I liked the best and scanned them (samples # 2, 4, and 7). Here they are shown alongside their drafts. The center column shows the face of the cloth and the right column shows the reverse. Click to enlarge.

As the warp drawdowns presuppose a black warp and white weft, and the actual cloth has a light warp and dark weft, the reverse of the cloth more closely resembles the draft. The face of the cloth is what was uppermost as the cloth was on the loom. There is no right or wrong side.

The jury is still out, but I'm thinking I prefer sample #7 the best. It has the most contrast and clarity of design. 

Book Sale, and Two More Samples

Lulu's having a 15% off sale today. The code is FIFTEEN and it expires at 11:59 PM today (I assume that means EST), June 19th. So if you've been thinking of ordering a copy of Network Drafting or The Liftplan Connection (see BOOKS in sidebar), this might be a good day to do it. Just sayin'. 

Two more samples are completed on the hemp & linen warp. The differences are subtle, but interesting. It's all about tonal values, which come about with changes in the tie-up. The natural warp and red weft are constant, but the structural changes shift the tonal balance.

Where lighter areas bump up against darker, the design outlines are crisp, but where they shade gradually from dark to light, the lines are less distinct. 

Minute changes in the tie-up change the patterns dramatically because of this dark/light push/pull. These are visible in the computer drafts, but come to life so much more in the woven cloth. 

Hemp and Linen

There are two cones that have been waiting on my yarn shelves for years. They are really annoying. "When are you going to use us already?" they call, pathetically. Today they caught me in a weak moment, as I was facing a naked loom.

The yarns are hemp 18/2 and cottolin 14/2, full of texture. I wanted to combine them in a warp for some towels in an amalgamated twill, but I wasn't sure if they would hold up as a warp. They are quite hairy. Sample time. I wound a short warp 6" wide, holding both yarns together in the cross. I picked the ends randomly as I threaded the heddles. The sley is at 36 epi in a 12 dent reed. I started weaving with red 16/2 cottolin. Click to enlarge.

By quitting time I hadn't yet experienced any broken warps, a good sign. The fabric is wonderfully scrunchy and rough, yet the pattern is not obliterated. I think I'll have to beat just a tad harder, as the pattern isn't weaving up square, then again there won't be as much draw-in on a wider warp. I'll wait on the final decision until I have an opportunity to wash a sample.