Weaverly

New Beginnings

Out with the old, in with the new. The knots rose over the horizon, signaling that it would soon be time to cut off.

Five yards of jin (AKA turned taqueté) cut off and washed.

Then there was this (Hallelujah!).

in between moments of watching the screen, transfixed, I did wind a new warp. Shades of blue.

And tied it onto the old warp, straight threading on 16 shafts.

Did some playing with drafts. How about imagining a pointed threading on 9 shafts, and then weaving some of the samples on the straight 16-shaft threading? Think about it.

Wove all ten of these samples. When the parade was over, I cut the samples from the loom and washed them. 

After washing & ironing, some were awful, some pretty good, and this one was a definite keeper.

So I'll be weaving off the rest of the warp in that draft, with a lavender weft. Warp and weft are 10/2 cotton, 24 epi and ppi. Click to enlarge.

I slept very well last night. 

Did you?

Slow Work

Last week's jin was washed & ironed. It will make its way into something wearable. Eventually.

Hanukah this year was virtual. 

This morning we got up early to watch the final race of the Formula I season, from Abu Dhabi. 

I must keep my hands moving while I watch TV. Currently working on some drawstring pouches to contain other projects. Projects within projects within projects. That's how I roll.

On the looms there is only slow weaving. Long warps, a little weaving each day. Inch by inch. It's pleasant work, but really doesn't engage the mind.

But what should appear, just in time? This lovely tool, called a lucet. I'm learning how to use it. A new set of hand skills. Now that's a fun challenge. 

Looking Ahead

I've come nearly to the end of the jin warp and I'm thinking ahead to the next warp. It's evident that I'm a warping nerd. Maybe some day I'll make me a T-shirt that reads "I'd rather warp than weave."

I'll continue with the jin at the wider sett. The stripes in the two layers are staggered in their overlap, giving me four different color pairs of the four warp colors: red, purple, teal, and brown.

It's approximately 5 yards.

The cross again, this time in a relaxed state. In a few days I'll be ready to tie on.

Meanwhile, out of doors, the construction site is quite interesting these days. The roof is going on to the new wing. These guys stroll around up there, four stories off the ground, as if they are invincible. I love watching the acrobatics of the crane operators. 

We are starting to make plans for Chanukah, which begins this Thursday evening.  It will be by Zoom this year, of course, lighting candles and opening gifts virtually. Patience, patience.

Resleyed

I've resleyed the warp of the last few weeks, from 40 epi to 30 epi. It's now wider and less dense. The warp order and threading are the same. 

At this sett, it's possible to weave jin (familiarly known as turned taqueté). 

There are a few more yards, at least, of warp here, enough to weave a strip of fabric to be incorporated into a garment I have in mind. I'm using a fine cotton/hemp blend of approximately 16/2 size as weft. 

It's mindless weaving, just throwing a shuttle back & forth. Perfect for listening to podcasts. 

Click to enlarge.

Laundry Report

The turned taqueté scarf after washing, as promised:

The draft looks like this (and when I get around to it I will be uploading it to Handweaving.net):

Switching gears, I am doing some experiments with deflected double weave on eight shafts, reducing the color segments to two threads each instead of four:

Showing face and reverse of the first sample, click to embiggen:

And here are the same samples after machine washing and tumbling dry:

Tech stuff: 16/2 cottolin, warp and weft, purple and pale green, 40 epi/ppi, 4 ends per dent (2 purple & 2 pale green) in each dent of a 10-dent reed, 8 shafts.

A Day (Or Two) In the Life

This was actually yesterday. Today it's gray and threatening.

I spread the turned taqueté (aka jin) scarf, recently completed, out on the grass for a snapshot. At that point it hadn't been washed yet. It will soften up a bit after that's done. 

Eight shafts, silk noil warp, handspun wool weft. I've been asked about the draft. It's original, and at some point I'll upload it to handweaving.net. Stay tuned. And another word about that warp. It seemed very weak when I did the tug & snap test, but I decided to go for broke and use it anyway. And you know what? Not a single broken warp in the entire process! Small miracles.

Yesterday morning's moon.

And today first signs of fall. It was inevitable. But where did the summer go? What a year. 

I keep saying I am luckier than most. It's true. I remind myself of that fact at least twenty times a day. 

And now I think I'll go wind another warp.

Hemming

You may recall that the current warp was tied on to another, and was woven in double plain weave as in this post and also as Jin.

Jin is another name for turned tacqueté. It is one of the many structures that can be woven on the same warp setup as double weave: two colors, warped end and end. I wove a length of Jin at the end of the warp, enough for three small dishtowels. 

I'll be tying another warp on to this one when color inspiration strikes. Meanwhile, I've washed and hemmed the towels.

Somehow I see similar patterning wherever I look these days.