Saving a Tangled Warp

About a week ago, I decided to wind a warp to make more Teddy bears for our two youngest grandchildren. I chose this fine yellow wool. I wanted a brown color though, so I prepared for dyeing by loosening the choke and cross ties on the warp so the dye could reach all the yarn.

After dyeing and drying the yarn, I could tell it was going to be a difficult warp because it had start to felt slightly and I could see several broken threads.

Sticky yarns are never fun to wind on a loom but can be done with some care.

 I started by stretching out the full six yards with weights for a couple days. In hindsight, I should have soaked the yarn in some dilute hair conditioner first before hanging with the weights to dry.

It was especially important to put this warp on the loom under tension, so as I usually do, I got out the trapeze to stretch out the warp as much as possible.

I warp back to front, so I slipped the end loops onto the back rod, inserted and secured the lease sticks so they wouldn’t accidentally slip out and then hung the weights.

I attempted to use the raddle that fits in the beater, but quickly realized it was working as a comb and broke a few more warp threads.

I switched to a raddle attached to the back beam so I could separate the yarn strands before it went through the raddle.

 To facilitate separating the yarn strands, I mixed up a diluted solution of hair conditioner and water and put it in a squirt bottle. I sprayed it on about a foot of warp at a time and gently worked it into the yarn.

I gently separated the yarn on both sides of the cross until I could move the lease sticks against the heddles in the back of the loom. I did not ever comb the yarn! If it was stuck together, I gently pulled the strands up and down and to the sides with my fingers.

When the warp was wound on as far as possible, I moved the lease sticks toward the back of the loom and secured them in my “angel wings” holder. Even though I always make two crosses on my warps, one at each end, I’m still really careful to not accidentally have the lease sticks fall out while trying to do something else.

The weights were removed. The ends were still pretty tangled at the front of the loom, so I sprayed the remaining yarn and worked it in well.

It was now time to cut the beginning loop off so I could prepare to thread the heddles.

Reaching to the back of the loom, I started separating two half inch sections at a time in the raddle and then up to the end of the warp in front of the loom.

I gently separated the last few inches of each section.

I was quite pleased with how small the difference was in the final length of warp, especially with something as stretchy as wool.

The warp is tamed and ready to thread.

Tension is key to preventing tangles with any warp, not just sticky yarns. Using this method with any yarn will keep it from becoming an unmanageable mess. Most smooth yarns will wind on without much fuss at all.

Teddy Bears Help Decorate the Christmas Tree

There is so much to get ready for a big family Christmas celebration.  It was coming up soon, and Grandma Jenny still had a lot to do, so Grandpa Bob and Uncle Edwin went outside and cut a tree and got it put in the stand.  The little bears were very excited that they would have a tree to climb inside the house.

Grandpa Bob set them straight about that right away, and told them they BETTER NOT!  It's bad enough having kittens climb it, and bears are a lot bigger.  He told them it was inside because he was going to decorate it.  Of course, they wanted to know all about that and started pawing through all the breakable ornaments as soon as he opened the first box.

Grandma came in to the living room and told the bears that she had very special ornaments for them to hang on the tree.  Each bear got it's own ornament with name (letter and number, actually) and the year 2011 painted on it.  She told them that when they got adopted, they would get to take their ornament with them as a reminder of their first Christmas and the year they got adopted.

The bears were so cute, stretching to try and reach the branches.  There were a few incidents of the domino effect, when one would lose it's balance, and the whole row of bears would topple over!
Starting from the left with the red bear, this photo is of T5, T7, T6, T3, T4, T11, and T9 in the back on the stool.

The photo on the left is of T10 on the top step of the ladder, T2 on the bottom step, T8, T1 (mostly hidden behind T8), and T5 again.
T1 is in the photo at right.

Just as a warning to anyone thinking about letting bears help decorate, Grandma Jenny says they do all right with the ornaments, as long as they are plastic.  Keep them away from the fragile glass ones, though, and don't let them help with the garland!  As you can see in the picture below, these little bears managed to get completely tangled with it!

T10

T8

T1

T7

T2

T3

T11

T4

T9

T5

T6

It was fun doing this shoot with the bears.  They all looked so adorable under the tree, and each one of them has such a different personality, that really came out in the photos.  I think they are all perfect matches for each grandchild.

In my next post, they get adopted and named.

Never So Thankful To See A Warp End!

This was one of my most hated warps!   I didn't have too much trouble with the paw fabrics or the first fabric, but this last fabric for T11 was nothing but trouble.  There were so many warp breaks, that I decided to measure another warp just in case I decided to throw in the towel with this one.  It sure was tempting, but I don't give up easily.  This was a very welcome sight, though, when I finally had enough woven.  Thankfully, the fabric is fulled and then fused with interfacing on the back, so it should be pretty stable when finished.

All these weights dangling off the back of the loom except for the two on the edges were weighting broken warps.  It's a good thing I had lots of hooks and fender washers.

The whole time I was weaving T-11, I was thinking I would use the side that I could see, but after finishing it and getting it off the loom, I decided the backside would be more suitable for a young man (my oldest grandson).  So here is what it looks like.  I was able to pull all the broken warps to the back, trim them fairly short, and then got the interfacing fused.  Marking, cutting, and sewing will come later this week.




 I dislike using table looms for anything but workshops, because they slow me down.  Someday, this little Glimakra Victoria will get a set of treadles, but for now, I'm doing what I can to make the weaving simpler.  Table looms have such a short area to actually weave, about an inch at best, that I was having to stop to release the ratchet too often.  Thank goodness I took a class from Kati Reeder Meek and learned about live weight tensioning.  It's such a sweet technique, especially for table looms.

I used a small cotton cord (less than 1/4" diam.) from the hardware store and some barbell weights that were not being used.  The cord is wrapped three wraps around the backbeam with no overlaps.  The heavy weights are hung on one end of the rope and a lighter counter weight on the other end.

So, which end gets the heavy weight?  On my loom, the warp is winding off from the inside of the loom, so that end of the rope gets the heavy weights.  If the loom had the warp coming off the outside of the loom, the heavy weights would go on that end of the rope.

Here is a closer photo.  The beam has to have a clear space in order for this to work.  This warp, which is only about 12" wide, has one five pound weight, two three pounders, and one two pound weight on the heavy end, and one two pound weight for the counterweight.  I tried eight pounds at first, but it wasn't enough.  Once the weights are installed and dangling, then the back ratchet can be released.  Now when I need to move my warp forward, I just turn it from the front.  I don't have to release anything, and it stays a constant tension.  I love it!  Thanks Kati!

Since this was my first time using the loom, except for a doubleweave class, I looked through my book of eight shaft patterns and picked a dornick twill because I liked the looks of it, and because the treadling had leavers grouped together.  I figured that would help speed things up, and made for a logical progression of leaver pulls.

I am quite happy with the resulting fabric, and am probably destined to add another bear to the Griswold bear family. 

This photo is more accurate for the color.  For scale, the woven black area is only 1" deep.  The fine gray yarn came from my Alice Griswold collection, and the black is from my stash.  It is a 9/2 size wool and is a bit thicker than the gray wool warp.  I need to weave about 52" for a bear, not counting the paws, and so far, I have almost 18".

Next photos will probably be when I finish T10 and T11.  Hopefully soon!

T2, T3, and T4 Have Arrived!

A lot has been accomplished since my last post.  I did the sewing in two stages--everything I could do before pressing seams open, and then additional sewing after pressing.  Here are the stacks for eight bears.

Here is everything pinned after the first pressing.  I tried to work on a new step every day after coming home from work, and on my days off.

All the parts are turned after the second sewing.  My 25 year old pattern book is propped up on the box.  I have seen it on ebay, so I know it is still available, and maybe on Amazon, too.  I put eyes and noses in two bears.

A couple bears joints are installed, and are waiting to get packed up to go see Great Grandma and Grandpa.  I was able to get all the joints installed while we drove downstate.

I had this much done by Thursday bedtime.  Three of them are starting to take shape, and the rest are all jointed and waiting for stuffing.  

All of them were stuffed by Friday.  Now I am working on the tedious hand work:  stitching the openings closed and adding the eyes and nose to the head before stuffing it, sewing the head on, adding mouth and toe details, and finally tacking on the ears.

From left to right I am holding T2, T4, and T3, the three that were finished before the trip home.  They were pretty good bears on the long ride, and only started whining "Are we were there yet?" for the last half hour.  By then, though, there were two more, so I was glad to get home and put them to bed!  Tomorrow, if it is nice outside, I may treat them to something special.  T5 was still sore from getting poked with a needle, and T6 still needs ears tacked on, so I won't get their photo until tomorrow.

Teddy Bears Continued

The weaving continues on the two remaining bear fabrics, plus the paws for five bears.  Click on any photo for better viewing.

This is the pattern for the fabric above.  The threading is a variation of Rose Path.  It is probably in a book somewhere, but I haven't found it.  I'm sure it isn't original, but I came up with it by playing around with the Fiberworks weaving software.  I think the closest to tabby that I can get with this threading and treadling is shown at the bottom.

All the bear fabrics that are woven have been marked with the pattern pieces, and each shape has been stitched around to stabilize the edges, and all openings that have to be hand sewn have been stay-stitched.  I have started on the next part of the assembly line--cutting out half the pieces to sew together.

With the first bear, I thought I would have more control of the fabric, especially with the narrow (1/4") seams, if I cut out only one of the two pieces that need to be sewn together.  It did work out well, so that is what I am doing now.  There is a lot of cutting to do before I get back to the sewing machine.  Sounds like a good excuse to get out Pride and Prejudice and watch it again while I'm cutting!

Started Sewing Teddy Bears Today

More Teddy bear fabric is finished, but I still need to weave a few more.  This is number four from the Finnish Twill warp (Davison, pg 37, version IV).  This one is my favorite, and is very easy to weave.  Both sides are different, but both look nice. 

This is the final fabric from this warp.  It is plain weave, and I will use it for the paws of the bears.  I like the faint stripes from closer denting in the reed.  The warp was sleyed in the reed: 2-2-3-2-2, and then repeated, to give 22 ends per inch in a 10 dent reed.

Here is the line-up of five fabrics.

 Five fabrics fulled and drying in the sunshine.  Because of the different sett, these fabrics were a bit wider than my first ones.  They are all fused, using my new steam press, which I love!  The fabric in the center is mohair, and is very hairy.  I clipped the other mohair that I wove on the backside before fusing the interfacing, but I decided to try brushing this one first to try and bring as much of the long hair to the surface.  It seemed to work, so I was able to iron the interfacing to the backside without clipping.

I traced around my pattern pieces with magic marker, and here I am stitching just inside the marks to further stabilize the edges.  I have been worried that the fabric will start to unravel with the narrow seams, so the stitching is just added insurance.

I have been cutting out one piece, laying it on the uncut piece I'm sewing it to, and then stitching them together.

I'm cutting the underneath piece after stitching.

Here are arms and ears stitched and turned, and the rest of the pieces marked on the cloth, ready to cut and stitch together.  So far, everything on this first bear has gone together without problems.  I'm not looking forward to all the openings that will need handstitching, especially since my right thumb is giving me some trouble lately.

I will need to get to the hardware store to get the joint hardware in the next couple days.  I will finish this one before starting another, so I can see if I will have trouble with any of it.  If it's too hard, I'll look for another pattern.