Weaverly

Jin Samples at a Block Party

The green jin warp has been cut off. Now I have samples from two different warps to hem and wash.

Meanwhile there's the trail to check out. Color inspiration resides here, and it's always changing.

Here are all the recent jin samples having a block party. The basic threading is the same, two blocks on 8 shafts. The wider blocks are jin, and the narrow blocks are double weave. This puts a nice DW selvedge on the edges, and allows for DW hems all across the width. The warp is 30/2 linen. The wefts are 16/1 linen and also 30/2 linen. Sett 36 ipi. 

In the Department of Books, I just finished reading Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. Recommended.

 

More Jin

When the sample on the left was still on the loom, I thought the dark double weave stripes were too wide in proportion to the jin stripes, so after cutting off the first sample I resleyed the warp, dropping out 4 threads from each 8-end double weave section. The sample on the right is the result, with narrower double weave sections. After washing, here is the result.

Now I actually prefer the wider stripes! Furthermore, I'm not thrilled with the way the fabrics crinkle up with the singles weft, and I will redo these, using a 2-ply yarn as weft (same as warp).

An early morning walk at the gardens put me in a green mood.

I wound the second warp with dark and light green, with the double weave stripes in yellow. 

I made a few warping errors and had to add in three sections of yellow. Not to worry. 

All these yarns are 30/2 linen from LoftyFiber. 

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In the Department of Books, I have just finished reading Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras.

Lin, Jin, Win.

Our local study group is taking a look at jin this year, so I thought I'd try a combination of jin and double weave in one cloth. I'm using 30/2 linen from LoftyFiber. Here are some warping snapshots. 36 epi.

The narrow black stripes are double weave, and the red and orange stripes are jin. The double weave places pouf up a bit, which I expected. It's a fun effect. I'm wondering how they will  change after wet finishing. 

Another point of interest is that the double weave stripes take up less than the jin areas. I may have to add a tensioning modification for these. Perhaps extra weights at the back beam. We shall see.

This is all a riff on double weave selvedges. I'm enjoying this project.

In the Department of Books, I've just finished reading After Lives by Abdulrazak Gurnah. Highly recommended.

Green

Getting up really early for a walk is about the only way, in this oppressive heat. 

Not a leaf was stirring this morning.

Indoors, it's a different story. A bit of linen in this mix, which cools things down somewhat.

Messing around with some interleaved drafts. I've tagged this one "Lumpy" because the original line is—well—lumpy. 

You can enlarge this one by clicking on it.

New Perspective

Yesterday on the Swamp Rabbit Trail I started to see all the creeping vines. I know they have been there all along, but perhaps I was not as alert to them before. This makes me think it's time for a new warp.

It is very unusual to see the trail this deserted. The cyclists won't be out until later in the day.

The crinkle scarf is cut off, washed, and hung out to dry. The narrow sections of handspun wool singles shrunk nicely. The rest of the scarf is linen.

Another linen scarf, this time without crinkles. This one's 100% linen, with an amalgamated twill draft.

And a little something extra today. A jacquard sighting in a waiting room. I can't really see the structure, but I can envision it being woven in doubleweave.

Finished reading The New Land by David Stewart.

Possibilities

The sky this morning, just after the rain stopped. Lots of possibilities.

Into the woods. I spotted these little beauties again, off to one side. You really have to be paying attention. 

Carolyn says they are Helleborus. Such a grand name for a shy little thing.

On what remains of the linen warp, I'm trying a little experiment with energized yarn. The larger segments are amalgamations with a linen weft, and the narrow stripes are a basket weave variation with multiple strands of overspun wool singles.

I'm hoping that the real drama will come about in the wash, as the wool singles release their energy and shrink up. 

Just finished reading The Charleston Gambit by Stuart Bennett, an excellent historical novel about the Revolutionary War in the South Carolina backcountry.

Lacey

I am so freaking tired of this weather! 

End of rant.

On my 8-shaft loom I am weaving a couple linen scarves in a lacey sett, in the hopes that they will soften up in the washing and be a nice drapey accessory for summer. 

The weave is an amalgamated twill. Warp: 30/2 linen @ 24 epi; weft, singles 16/1 linen @ 22 ppi. Yarns from LoftyFiber, my local go-to yarn store.

It was easy to warp and is proving to be easy to weave. I'm using floating selvedges.

Finished reading Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King. If you have time to read only one book this year, make it this one!

 

If a Tree Falls in the Forest

Yesterday I got almost this far...

...and this lay across my path and I had to turn back. 

I am such a creature of routine that I found it difficult to backtrack and take another path. But I don't clamber over downed trees any more. Crawling around under my loom to repair broken cables is about my limit now. 

Here's the first sample on my new striped warp. 

Not quite what I had in mind. I like it better with a black weft. It has a cottolin warp and I'm using odds & ends of cotton in the weft. Sixteen shafts.

Meanwhile, the 30/2 linen warp which had languished for weeks on the Jane (8 shafts) was finally finished and cut off. And not a drop of champagne in the house! Too bad. I braided the fringes, then into the washing machine it went. 

I hung it from the shower rod to dry. It was still stiff as a board, so I repeated the washing two more times. It's starting to soften up. I think after a steam pressing it will be the texture I was looking for. Warp 30 epi, weft 15 ppi. 


A closer look.

Here's the draft. It's a crepe weave on a straight draw.

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Just finished reading Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri. 

Dreaming of Red Devil Chocolate Cake

The weather's been a little flippy lately. I try to get out on the trail between the raindrops. Yesterday looked like this, but this morning was way too wet for walking.

So I continued working on this loom:

The warp is a combination of brown cotton and burgundy cottolin, end-and-end, and the effect is just like Red Devil chocolate cake. A warm, gooey brown. I wouldn't mind a piece of it right now. If you've never had it, look it up on the interweb. You'll find a million recipes.

The structure is halvdräll, a 4-shaft weave. I'm taking the opportunity of using up some stash. Tabby weft is red cottolin, and adds to the red devil effect. The pattern weft is 2-ply hemp, which had been languishing on the back of a shelf. 

The denting (3 per dent in a 10-dent reed) creates some strange effects that look like threading errors, but I expect these will come out in the wash. Click to enlarge. After a couple of washings I think this fabric will soften up and become a very nice bath towel.

 

New Linen Table Runners

It has been a pleasure to work with the beautiful Euroflax linens provided by LoftyFiber. I am particularly smitten with the 30/2 size, which weaves up perfectly for table linens and comes in some gorgeous colors. Some of my designs are now available as kits from LoftyFiber, with drafts and instructions, and sufficient linen yarns for completion. 

The following table runner kits are for 8-shaft looms. The first one is called Tabula Rasa.

The structure is double weave.

The following design, called Diamond Dazzle, is also available as a kit in three different colorways. This is doubleweave as well.

This yarn is very easy to work with and I have not experienced a single broken warp end. True love.