Twisp of Fate

I finished the 3 scarves that I last blogged about here.  These all had the same 5/2 pearl cotton warp, using 5 colors in sequence, with blending at the edges.  The threading, tie-ups and treadlings came from Chapter 10 in Carol Strickler’s book, A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns (Interweave Press, 1991).  This is the chapter on Plaited Twills, and I used the threading called “double 2-tie” which has every other thread on shafts 1 and 2 (alternating) and the others running up from 3 through 8 and back down again in a twill-like fashion.

Like almost every new weaving project I attempt, it was definitely a learning experience!  I initially threaded it at 20 epi (ends per inch), 2 threads per dent in a 10-dent reed.  After sampling (shown in my initial post), I wove the first scarf with a dark red rayon chenille, using the tie-up and treadling for #370 on p. 103 of Strickler.  This one used all 10 of the treadles on my loom.

It came off the loom stiff as a board, and I was bummed to say the least.  So much for my “best guess” at sett.  Lesson 1: weave the sample, take it off the loom and wash it to see what the final fabric will be like, before proceeding.  There were other problems.  The little workshop loom (Macomber model CP) has a known problem of having the tie-up hooks jump off the lamms, disconnecting the treadle from the frames it is supposed to raise, and creating havoc with your pattern if you don’t catch it.  For some reason, this kept happening with the leftmost treadle only.  I thought I caught it each time, but when I took the scarf off the loom there were 3 shots that obviously were not in pattern.  I must have lost one of the 5 tie-up hooks on treadle 1 without realizing it (just before the rest of them imploded).

After washing and pressing, the scarf is still a little heavy and stiff but acceptable.  Magic really does happen in the water!  Here it is, pretty pattern but flawed…

Moving right along, I re-sleyed the warp at 16 epi (2 threads per dent in an 8-dent reed).  Then I changed the tie-up and treadling to #377 on p. 105 of Strickler, and changed the weft to 2 strands of black 10/2 tencel wound together.  This one used only 8 of the treadles so I was able to leave the 2 at either end out of action.  I only had a couple of problems with the tie-up hooks this time around, and was able to catch it each time.

I really like this pattern, and the scarf came out nice and slinky after washing.  The only problem was, I could tell partway through that I had tension problems in the warp and there were a couple of warp threads in the middle that were much tighter than the rest.   You could really feel it as a tight area when it came off the loom.  I had tried a new warping method this time (Warping on a Shoestring, booklet and video from Nadine Sanders) and obviously I need some practice.

Fortunately, after washing the effect mostly disappeared.

For the third scarf, I pulled the remaining warp off the back beam through the heddles and reed, and then re-wound it with proper tension.  Then I wove the scarf with the same pattern #377, but using a dark red tencel this time around.  This is a great example of how the interplay of color of weft with warp creates what I think Ruby Leslie calls “optical color blending” – the stripes looks like different colors in this scarf than in the one using the black weft.

I really like these plaited twills and will probably do more of them later, using different materials.