Loom Held Hostage

A loom is too expensive of a tool to be held hostage.  Almost three years ago, in March of 2011, I put this wool warp on my Artisat loom.  It was a slow moving project right from the start because it required four shuttles to weave.  I would work on it a little bit and grow tired of all the shuttle switching and move on to another project on another loom.  It didn't help that the colors don't really appeal to me either, so I didn't have much motivation to get it done, other than to free the loom for something more interesting.

Late last year, I decided I was going to either finish it or cut it off the loom.  I did end up cutting the New Canaan Check fabric off after using up my filled bobbins.  I did some easier weaving with the tan, wine, rust and plum rayon textured yarns I was using.

 I figured I still had 2-3 yards of warp on the loom so I chose a dark blue green color wool to weave plain weave.

 I finally finished weaving it after Christmas.  I wove a little bit more with the rayon and called it good.  Wet finishing was done and I ended up with less fabric than I thought I would have.  I was going to give it to my daughter Becky to make a tunic, but there might not be enough.  Maybe I will make another bear or a hat with it.

Wet finishing created a pattern in two of the stripes that is called tracking.  The white yarn didn't track because it was slightly thicker than the other two stripes.  The tracking has something to do with the twist of the yarn and having a little bit of wiggle room in the weave.  I kind of like the look of it.

It's good to have my loom back and working again.  I will post later about the project on it now.

I Love My Studio

Bob and I worked on a couple big projects recently, making some changes in the studio.  The first one was giving the Weaver's Delight a permanent spot inside.  After I finished the first warp out in the garage, I knew I had to decide where it was going to go for the winter.  We moved three of the smaller looms out of the studio, which gave quite a bit more space.

After measuring the doorway to the studio, we knew we could get it inside without taking it apart if we stood it on one of the ends.  Now, this loom is HEAVY!  Even with the shafts and cams and top part of the beater taken off, I still can not lift it off the floor even a quarter of an inch.  So, how did we move it?  We used the Forearm Forklift.  It's the best investment we ever spent for moving heavy items.  It is just two straps that go under the item to be moved, and there are slots to slip the strap onto each forearm, up by the elbows.  Your hands have to brace on the item that is being moved in order for it to work. 

Bob and I were able to lift the loom and carry it across the two car garage, through a doorway and all the way across the studio.

We spent an evening getting it warped in the log cabin pattern, using the tension box that Bob made for me.  The warp is stripes of denim and tan, with small separator stripes of rust.  My first rug from this warp is going to be for me to put in front of the loom.  The room has a cement floor under the carpet, so I need a little padding under my feet.  I've started to cut some old denim jeans into strips for weaving.

My next project was to make the space under the stairway into functional storage for all my rug yarn.  It took about three trips to K-Mart to get the cupboard units that would work in the space.  I had to wait for Bob to get home from work before I could install them, because the 3-2-1 cubes had to be held up in place while I slip the closed cupboard units underneath. 

 This is my cutting area.  The bookshelf is under the stairs and I have a pin-board on the wall that I made from 1" thick Styrofoam insulating board.  I covered it with inexpensive fabric and nailed it to the wall.  The counter top is recycled from my aunt and uncle.  It's a yard wide, and cut at a 45 degree angle against the wall.  There are four double-door cupboard units supporting it, with a little knee room under the cutting board where I can sit on a stool to work on design.

Inside the front door, facing east and the house, I have an 8' table that I use for my two sergers, and the bobbin winder is at the end of the table (not seen in photo).  Under the left windows, which face north, I have my sewing machine table.  The looms are the Artisat on the right and Fanny with the blue striped warp.  Victoria is to the left of the wall furnace.  My favorite part of the room is my little reading and relaxing area, with rocker and table, right in the center.

In the back corner, facing north, is my ancient Singer industrial machine.  Next to it is my steam press, and above it is storage for dyeing supplies.  The big cupboards are full of yarn.  On the floor, in front of the stepladder, is a tool chest my dad made for me when I was in college.  He made it so I could keep all my upholstery tools in one spot.  It has a nifty covered tray inside for upholstery tacks, and hog rings, and other such supplies.

End of tour!  Come visit sometime!

Current Loom Projects

I recently finished a looper rug that was on Fanny, but I'm not happy with it.  I had trouble with the stretchiness of the loops and it affected the width of the rug.  Usually weaving tends to get narrower, but this rug grew in width.  Oh, well, live and learn.  I can still wipe dirty feet on it at the back door!  The color isn't the best in the photo.  It should have been taken in daylight instead of at night.  It really isn't this yellow.

Yesterday, I wound a warp of thick and thin yarn that my daughter Rachel dyed a while back when she came to visit.   It is a short warp, only 3 1/2 yards of thick and thin cotton.  I put it on Fanny, and is destined for towels.  A towel from the Handwoven publication, Winning Towels from the 21st century towel contest was the inspiration for the warp stripes.  I tend to like things symetrical, so I'm not sure how I will like these.  I wish I hadn't made the widest blue stripe quite that wide, and put part of it on the left half instead.  I still need to thread the heddles and reed.  I will be weaving it with white in plain weave.  I'm not sure if my weft will be the thick and thin yarn, or a smooth one.  I will decide after I sample.

The fabric with wool warp and rayon weft is on Arti, and is coming along nicely.  I can't sit very long at a time to weave, so it is a bit slow, especially with the color changes.  I've got about 30" done.  I really need to get a bench or chair that doesn't bother the backs of my legs so much, and is padded.

Since this project is just fabric, I'm not worrying about yarn ends hanging out at the selvedges, or being carried up the edges.  I'm not sure what this fabric will become, but it is helping to use up some of my stash. 

Victoria still has a narrow warp from a doubleweave class I took a while ago.  I'm not too motivated to finish this project, since it was just for sampling in the class.  It is only about 10" wide, so not very useful, and I don't care for weaving on table looms.  When I decide I need the 8 harnesses for a project, I will probably finish it, or just pull it off.  I'd really like to add some treadles to the loom stand, but need to get Bob willing to help.

Dorothy has a pretty towel started on her, with Atwater-Bronson lace pickup.  My daughter-in-law Rebecca has been up a couple times, and is interested in learning about weaving.  She did the first row of hemstitching on this towel, and did a beautiful job for her first time.  The patterns that will be woven are on the clipboard in the background.  The bottom three are done.

This is a combination of two projects.  Quite a while ago, I decided to weave a bag with green rug warp and old video tapes.  It was  designed as I wove, so I have some twill in different directions, plus some plain weave, or basket weave.  It didn't have straps, so I never finished the bag. 

While my daughter-in-law was up at Easter, I showed her how to wind a warp and put it on the loom, thinking that it could be the straps, but I didn't like how it looked.  The warp was too narrow  for the heavy Fanny, so I scraped that project.  It did serve a good purpose, though, because Rebecca got a nice bit of experience on the loom with beaming the warp, threading, and weaving twill in two directions, and doing some basketweave.  Wish she could be around more.  I enjoy teaching her weaving.

I had a band of red and black that was done on my inkle loom quite a while ago when I was testing it after making the loom.  It has been hanging around, decorating my wall, but I've decided to use it for one of the bag straps, and I threaded another one.  Whenever I get that one completed, I will have a nifty conversation piece grocery bag.  I'm calling this  bag my Secret Message Bag, since the message is on the video tapes.

Enough projects and enough yacking for now, since I have to be to work early tomorrow.

Linen Towel Project

This week, I have been working on using more of my stash.  I purchased quite a lot of yarn at an estate sale a while back, and one of the things I bought was a large bundle of linen that was a cut off warp with no cross.  It was about four yards long, and a mix of a plyed smooth linen singles and tow linen singles. 

It's a good thing I am not a production weaver, because it took forever, or so it seemed, to get it on my Leclerc Artisat loom. 

Because the tow linen was so sticky, I decided to thread front to back so I could control the tangles better.  I worked with small bundles of pattern units and threaded the heddles first.  I wanted a cross, so as I threaded each bundle, I put the ends over and under my lease sticks attached to the back beam.

Once I threaded the heddles, added two floating selveges, and tied onto the backbeam, I was able to put some weights on the warp ends.  I moved the lease sticks to the front of the loom and worked it slowly toward the end of the warp.  The yarn was soooo sticky, and I was beginning to hope I wouldn't have to ditch the project.  Patience! 

It paid off!  But very slowly.  No warps broke while winding on the back beam. 

The warp is spaced 25 epi in a 15 dent reed.  It is sleyed 1-2-2.  The first dishtowel I am working on is mainly plain weave, with a border at each end.  The threading came from Marguerite Davison's book, Twill Miniature, on pg. 39.







 I'm using the first half of treadling #1 for the borders, with a little bit of plain weave between them.  With no tabby for this version, the weaving is going quickly.  So far, with tight tension, I have had minimal warp sticking together, but have had one broken warp thread so far. 

The weft is a turquoise blue 6/2 cotton, and seems to be working perfectly with the sett of the linen.  I love it when my guess turns our right the first time.  I wasn't planning on a towel with borders, but as I was spreading the warp and testing for correct threading, I kind of liked the look of it.  It is pretty typical of me changing the pattern in some way after I get started.

I use the Golden Ratio to determine the length of the towel and then use adding machine paper for a weaving guide to my towel length.   I can mark where the first borders are, and then mark where they should be on the other end of the towel.  Once the towel gets wound onto the front beam, I can't look back at what was woven.  I tend to get interrupted while weaving, and then forget what I did at the beginning, especially since I'm not a cookbook type of weaver.  My adding machine paper has saved me many a time, since I write a lot of notes on it, along with the inch marks.  It gets pinned to the edge of my towel while weaving with two pins.  It is kept loose, so I can see the whole length of the tape.  I use it again for the next towel if I am weaving something similar.
I'm hoping to get 3-4 towels out of this warp.