Twisp of Fate

I finished a custom order for a 10-ft long hallway runner last week.  I was nervous about making it come out the right length!  But from my notes on other rugs, a 10% shrinkage from measurement under tension, to the final washed rug, has been pretty consistent.  So I wove it to 11-ft under tension, and sure enough after washing it was almost exactly 10 feet long!  Most satisfying.

I used 2 different materials: the first was a very heavy Pendleton fringed selvage in dark brown, cream, and a lighter brown with greenish overtones.  The other one was also a Pendleton fringed selvage, but much lighter weight (I think it may be a header from weaving shirting fabric or skirt fabric or something like that).  I used that one doubled.  The colors were dark blue, olive brown and cream.

She didn’t want it “too stripy” so my game plan was to gradually fade from one material into the other one and then back again.  Of course you can’t really see what you are doing, more than 12″ at a time anyway, as the rug is rolled onto the cloth beam.  So I just tried to let go and “paint with the fabric.”   I really like the difference in texture, not just the color differences, in this rug – because of the difference in thickness of the 2 materials.

Here’s a closer look at the middle section, where I threw in random shots of the lighter weight material from time to time, never running across the full width of the rug:

Have I mentioned how much I love my new studio space?  Love, love, love it.  It has stayed a comfortable temperature even on the hot days, must be due to the 12″ or so of insulation in the roof, and the fact that the windows are oriented so they don’t get the afternoon sun.  The lighting we put in is diffused full spectrum fluorescent and it feels very natural.

I am getting ready to weave some scarves on my little Macomber workshop loom (model CP, the portable one that folds up).  Last summer I bought new inserted-eye heddles for it, so I decided to take the time to remove the flat steel heddles and put the new ones on the 8 frames.  A little tedious, but one more postponed job  done!

Then I did a color wrap (something I learned in a class with Ruby Leslie last summer at the ANWG conference) to work out the warp color sequence for my scarves.  I wanted to fade each stripe into the next one by interleaving the colors for a while.  I am glad I did the wrap, because I did make some color changes along the way.  The warp looks pretty much like this, except the pale blue section in the middle isn’t as wide.

Here’s the warp on the back of the loom:

And my sampling with various weft materials:

The two that “work” for me are the lower one (rayon chenille, 1450 YPP) and the top one (10/2 tencel, used double).  I thought the variegated acrylic chenille was going to be fabulous, and it just looks like mud!  Guess I will have to use that in a warp somehow, not as a weft.  I have had it in my knitting stash since the year one, so its time has definitely come to be turned into something.

This is an 8-harness plaited twill structure and I will be able to get several pattern variations by changing the treadling.  I’ll write more about this in the next post, and give the reference to the Strickler book.

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I put 50 yards of rug warp on my 48″ Macomber loom back in April and started on another round of rag rugs.  I have finished 18 so far – judging by the last round a year or so ago, I must be about 60% of the way through the warp.  I lost about a month of weaving time in June and July when we moved the loom to my new studio space, but now I am back up and running!

This time around I have been using up many boxes and bags of fringed selvages – some are still leftover from the materials I bought with the loom 3 years ago, mostly afghan selvages from Leesburg Looms & Supply.  These are mainly synthetic and/or cotton selvages.  I’m also working my way through some of the Pendleton wool selvages I have picked up at the mill outlet stores.

So here is a gallery of pictures.  Some of these have been sold and some are out on consignment; I have a few orders and am trying to stockpile some for the weaving guild sales coming up in the fall.

068 & 069 - Pendleton brown & cream

070 – Pendleton upholstery fabric cut in strips

072 was bought before I had a chance to take its picture! (not that I’m complaining…)

073 & 074 - heavy Leesburg gold & pale silver blue, white chenille stripes

075 & 076 - Leesburg black/gold/white with mocha stripes

077 - using up mixed colors of Pendleton wool fringed selvages

078 - Pendleton selvages, predominantly royal blue

079 - got a little crazy with the Leesburg black & white!

080 - Leesburg, dark blue with green/pale yellow stripes

081 - Leesburg, misc grey/brown/beige with rust stripes, almost 5 ft.long

082 - Pendleton lightweight (shirting?) selvage used double

083 - Pendleton lightweight used double, gray & turquoise

Now I am embarking on a 10-foot long hallway runner that is a special order.  Should be interesting!

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Warning – weaving jargon ahead!  But I need to put in the information for those who want to know…

Back in April, our guild had Robyn Spady come and teach a 2-day workshop called “Extreme Warp Makeover.”  I blogged about it here.  To summarize, we chose one of 3 threadings for our looms, then spent 2 days exploring all the variations we could get with different tie-ups and treadlings.  I chose the Rosepath Twill threading and set my loom up with 5/2 cotton sett at 16 epi, 9 yards long and 19-1/2″ wide in the reed, so I could weave towels on the rest of the warp after the workshop sampler was completed.  The main warp color was off-white or cream colored cotton, with 3 sets of stripes in light blue, turquoise blue and charcoal gray.

During the last 2 weeks I have finally gotten around to finishing off the warp and trying out some of the variations we learned in the workshop.  It was fun and informative, and I wound up with six quite different towels.

Towel #1:  Waffle Fashion (warp and weft floats with areas of plain weave) using cream cotton same as warp, except for the twill accent bands which used the charcoal cotton for weft.  This one shrank A LOT but it is nice and spongy and should be quite absorbent.

Towel #2: Summer & Winter Fashion (a simulation of traditional Summer & Winter by using a pair of blocks).  This was a 16-row treadling sequence with some paired pattern picks within each block.  The pattern thread was a 4/2 variegated cotton alternating with tabby picks in the cream cotton used in the warp.  Note how the dark color predominates the pattern on one side, the light color on the other side.

Towel #3: Summer & Winter Fashion using a simpler 10-row treadling sequence without paired pattern picks within each block.  The pattern thread was Aztec Cotton Boucle from Henry’s Attic alternating with tabby picks in the charcoal cotton used in the warp.  Also used the charcoal cotton for some point twill borders at each end.  The 2 sides didn’t look that different.  This towel feels great and should be really absorbent!

Towel #4:  Twill – pattern from Marguerite Porter-Davidson’s book (p. 17, treadling X)  I used the variegated cotton, with a couple of bands using the warp turquoise cotton.

Towel #5: the same Twill pattern, but different bands using the charcoal cotton (treadling VI from the same set of charts in Davidson)

Towel #6: Lace with Simultaneous Warp & Weft Floats using the Aztec Cotton Boucle for weft.  I quickly realized how quickly this was eating up the weft yarn, so I wound up using the lace pattern for a few inches only at each end with plain weave for the main part of the towel.  Love the feel of this one, and it will be so absorbent!

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Here I am in Seattle, having just finished a 2-day workshop with Bobbie Irwin on the topic of iridescence in handwoven fabric.  I uploaded my photos to the computer, so here are some shots from the past 2 days.

Bobbie defined iridescence in fabric as having the characteristic of appearing to change color as you change your angle of view – or at least, one color predominates over the other as you change your angle of view.  Color difference, luster in the yarn, and weave structure all affect the degree of apparent iridescence.  She published an article in the Jan. 2004 Handwoven magazine on the subject, and is planning a monograph to be published some time in the future.

As mentioned in the previous post, we were sent our warp yarn ahead of time – 10/2 pearl cotton in 3 colors from a section of the color wheel, with the option of using both “basic” and “alternate” versions of each of the 3 colors.  Mine were yellow-orange, orange, and red-orange.  These were threaded as 3-inch stripes across the loom.  Then during the workshop we wove 3-inch sections using 12 colors from all around the color wheel, both basic and alternate versions, so using 24 colors in all.

Yarn palettes, both Basic and Alternate

Here are some works in progress from yesterday, on various people’s looms.  As you can see, we were all going to wind up with something different since all of us had different warp colors going into it.  But Bobbie brought many sample color gamps that she had woven previously, so we could get some ideas of other things we might want to try.

There were 20 of us in the workshop, so trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg!

I stayed until 6:30 pm last night and finished 16 of the 24 colors.  I was exhausted!  Of course, we weren’t weaving the whole time – Bobbie gave us several 1-hour to 1-1/2 hour presentations with many examples of the new directions her explorations of the topic have taken her.   She had some samples woven with rayon thread at 60 ends per inch, rather incredible.  Also some beautiful pieces in silks and tencel, some with multiple colors in the warp and the weft that all display iridescence.

I finished my first sample this morning and took it off the loom.  Then we were to choose 2 colors that showed good to excellent iridescence with our warp colors, and weave a second sample using different weave structures other than the plain weave used for the color gamp.  I tried out several twills, 2 crepe weaves, clasped wefts, and using both colors in the weft (laying them in carefully so they don’t twist around each other).  Another very full day and quite stimulating!

I found Bobbie Irwin to be an excellent teacher – very organized, knowledgeable, but relaxed and with a wonderful sense of humor.  She will be the guest speaker at the Seattle Weavers Guild monthly meeting tomorrow, speaking in the morning about another topic that interests her – weaving transparent fabrics.  Then in the afternoon, she will give another presentation about Twined Rag Rugs.  Here is a link to a review of her recent book on that subject.

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Last week our local guild, Methow Valley Spinners & Weavers, experienced a long-awaited event.  We brought in a weaving instructor from Bremerton named Robyn Spady for a two-day workshop.  Here’s the link to Spady Studios.  The workshop we chose was “Extreme Warp Makeover” and everyone was very pleased.  For one thing, it was not a “round robin” format in which you move from loom to loom.  Rather, we all warped our own loom, allowing for some creativity while staying within the guidelines.  We were able to choose one of three threadings:  overshot, rosepath twill, or huck lace.  Then over the course of the 2 days we learned how to get different effects from changing tie-up and treadling, or using different wefts, all using the same warp and threading.  She had 15 different variations we could try, and an excellent and comprehensive handout which is really a complete, spiral bound manual.

Some worked on table looms:

and some worked on floor looms, but to avoid constantly getting down on the floor and changing the tie-up, we used a direct tie-up (treadle 1 to harness 1, treadle 2 to harness 2, etc) so it was really the same as using a table loom except we got to use our feet:

Robyn was an excellent and organized teacher, and also had a great sense of humor and was a lot of fun to be around.

Here’s some pictures of cloth as it was being produced on various looms:

Lillie's

Kaliope's

Kira's

Kay's

Sara's - always so creative!

I went back in on Friday and finished up my piece, which was woven on the Rosepath Twill threading.  Here is how it looked when I took it off the loom.  I cut it lengthwise with about 1/3 on one side and 2/3 on the other side, serging the edges, and now I am washing the bigger piece, so I will have a sample of how the cloth was before and after washing and pressing.

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We had a huge turnout for the weaving guild meeting yesterday.  It was time for the presentation of the “challenge” project for this year.  I think I mentioned before that it was a little different this time – instead of being a particular weave structure, the idea was to “do something” with a large quantity of rather vintage Bernat Quick Crochet Cotton that was given to the guild some years ago.   At least 25% of the materials we used had to be this yarn, and dyeing was OK.

Here are the original colors, brown and emerald green:

People had more or less kept their projects a secret, so it was really fun to see what we had come up with!

Alison P. had 2 projects.  The first one was a tote bag using the green yarn in the center panel, but she discharged dye from areas by “painting” the yarn with automatic dishwasher liquid, leaving it for an hour before rinsing out, then overdyeing with indigo.  The grey bands are 8/4 cotton.

Then Alison dyed the brown yarn with indigo to get a khaki color.  She used this with some other cottons to make a small towel in Thick and Thin weave with the blocks arranged in an undulating order:

Lucy R. had used the brown yarn “as is” in the warp for some chenille bath towels, which she had given away last year as a gift, so we only got her notes and a picture.  I remember them, though, and they were beautiful!

Cathie L. used the yarns “as is” as warp for some placemats using cotton valance fabric for the weft:

brown warp

green warp

Christina K. used the green cotton “as is” in both the warp and weft for some placemats, but the warp and weft also included several other types and colors of cottolin and cotton:

Kira J. used the brown yarn “as is” in both the warp and weft  for a color-and-weave rayon chenille scarf.  She used 2 colors of chenille, burgundy and orange, and I think the result is outstanding:

Dorothy E. used 8/4 carpet warp in 3 colors for the warp, and both the brown and green challenge colors in the weft, for some overshot pattern hot pads.  They were folded in half with a heatproof material inside, crocheted around the edges.  And they are reversible!  Pretty cool….

Janet L. used some of both colors in this gorgeous rep weave tote, using 1″ strips of cotton fabric for the thick weft and 8/4 cotton for the thin weft:

Susan S. used the challenge yarns along with some cotton flake and lightweight chenille to make towels:

Kay R. made a large bath towel using the green challenge yarn, along with some other cottons and a nylon ribbon, but somehow I didn’t get a picture of it yesterday.  Sorry, Kay!

Sandra W. made point twill placemats using both colors of the challenge yarn alternating in the warp, and some acrylic knitting yarn in the weft.  Then she dyed the mats with evening blue Rit dye after they were completed, which made the brown into more of an olive tone and darkened the green:

Lill W. had 2 projects.  The first was a brightly colored scarf using some of the challenge yarns, and then she really gave herself a challenge and created a small tapestry (never having done tapestry before, plus she dyed all the yarns herself):

Then were a couple of people (like me, with my curtain) who were not finished, but on the way…

As you can see, we had quite the variety of projects come out of this humble and rather uninspiring yarn!

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I have been working in fits and starts on our guild’s 2010 challenge project, which is to “do something” with some old crochet cotton that our leader, Kay, had in abundance.  The project had to be done at least partially with this yarn, and dyeing was OK.  The original colors were… well, an unlovely shade of brown (in my family, we would call it “camel path brown”), and a bright emerald green.  Yech.

Last summer I over-dyed mine with indigo.  This made the brown into a nice light denim blue, and darkened the emerald green to a teal color.

I had the idea to make a curtain for the bathroom at our guild meeting/weaving room.  Kay met with me in October and got me started on planning a Bronson lace project.  But that’s as far as it got, life has intervened, and now we are supposed to be done and ready to share our results in a week (April 8).  Oh, and I am using my new loom, Mother Mary’s loom, which is currently living at the guild room.  This is the first project I am doing on that loom, hence the “maiden voyage”.

So I got the warp on, alternating colors every other thread, except for 1″ at each edge in the teal:

And today, with Kay’s help, I figured out how to tie up the first pattern and actually got started weaving!

As a knitter, I am used to thinking of lace as having holes in the fabric to make the pattern.  Here, it is actually floats of the weft color on the surface.  But I am learning a lot and am going to plan out some other patterns to use for the rest of the curtain.  It won’t be finished by next week, but I will have the documentation done and pictures of the work in progress.

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