sample details

In my last post I promised to post some detailed sample photos. Here they are at last!

The above photo is the first sample before washing, and below, after washing and pressing. Left side is front and right side is the back of the sample. The pre wash colour is a more true colour.

They are, from bottom to top in both photos, woven like this from left to right:

Note that after washing the weaving of 3+4 have changed to plain weave. Before washing is was like a basket where you could see the under layer through the top layer. But in fact it was like plain weave, only because they are woven in 2 layers did they show that kind of basket effect but when washing there was nothing to stop the yarn to go where they wanted to go, plain weave.
Crimp after washing was about 2,5% length wise and about 5% in the width.

In 5+6 you can see that this has not happened as much as there was a pattern to stop them going to plain weave

The above sample with the 7 differences was woven in only a small section of about 6 to 7cm each as it was all the same, not like the next samples below where I wove like the threading.

Here some more sample, dark part is pre wash and lighter part is after washing but no pressing

 

 

Here are more samples woven like this, they have not been washed yet.

 

 

 

In all samples, left is front side and right is back side of the cloth.

You can see what the effect of the threading has had on the weaving with wider and narrower patterns.

Yarn used was Venne cotton 34/2   with a sett of 16 threads per cm. 

First deflected double weaving cut from the loom

I've finished my deflected double weave warp. I found it difficult to take a good photo of the result but here is the first part front (left) and back of the weaving.

The second part looks like this, again, front (left) and back side of the weaving.

I've kept a good record of what I have been weaving. I'll finish the edges first and wash one of the samples and see what difference this makes to the weaving. This is fine cotton yarn, so I do not expect great changes after washing like you would with wool yarn. Next I'll have a good look at the different patterns and see if there is one that I would like to repeat in a complete scarf.
I'll post a few detailed photos later.

Last week was a busy week as my father turned 99! I feel very privileged being able to celebrate this with him. His wife who suffers from Alzheimer, has taken a turn health wise, so we will have to see how things go.
I'll see if I can get my next warp on the loom quickly so that I can keep on weaving....

More snow

The snow was almost gone but it is snowing again. Yesterday we had a cold wind and very fine snow. We discovered that the snow had blown under the garage door into the garage. We have lived in this house well over 20 years and this has never happened before. Very odd to see!

How to keep track of your weaving?

At the moment I'm using my table loom. This warp is on 8 shafts. The deflected double weaving has so many possibilities. I've made lots of drafts to weave. The weft weaving is like the warp threading and in this case that is a lot to keep track of. So I use my magnet strips on a metal bar. It looks like this:

I have written down the sequence in 4 blocks. Block one being shaft 1&2, block 2 shaft 3&4, block 3 shaft 5&6 and block 4 is shaft 7&8. The magnet strips come out of an old fridge door.

On the warp I have a paper roll like this:

Thanks to Cally for this idea. I have written cm's on it for the length of the warp, also I have a copy of the draft that I'm weaving, so I'll know which shafts have to be lifted. Each time I cut out the draft that I'm weaving:

But to know where I am in the sequence I use the above metal bar with the magnet strips telling me what block I'm weaving and the draft tells me which shafts to lift.

This weaving is a complicated sequence for a table loom and I find by doing it this way, I can walk away and still continue weaving when I come back to the loom.

For an easy sequence I use the buttons

They hang in front of the shafts, so, easy to remember to move along a button after each move.

I wonder what others do to keep track of their weaving.

What's on your loom on New Year's Day?

Meg's idea was to show what is on the looms at the first day of the New Year.
The 2 looms that are warped at the moment look like this just now:

This is the Leclerc loom with a warp for the corduroy weaving. At the moment the 3rd sample is cut of and is waiting until after the second workshop day with my guild at the end of this month. I had to fold the loom up to create space for Christmas.

My other loom, the Thumm is warped for the deflected double weaving and that is where I will do my weaving at the start of this year. This loom is all metal, so I'm able to have some dolls (with the help of a magnet at their back) that keep me company ;-) This loom has the levers at the front under the beam. You can also see the beads that I have threaded on a string, I can keep track where I am if I do a repeat.

 

There are other looms but they are buried away at the moment, so cannot take pictures. :-)

And the weaving is coming along nicely: