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A young woman named Collette emailed me last spring about possibly weaving bridesmaids shawls for her September wedding,   I really enjoyed weaving shawls for my son's bride and their bridesmaids a few years ago , so I was definitely interested.  Collette and I talked and planned over the next couple  of months to make sure the shawls would be just what she had in mind.

First, Collette sent me a picture of the flowers she was that going to use and a picture of the fabric in the bridesmaids' gowns.   She wanted to pick up the colors in the flowers and, initially, thought she wanted to use some form of cream, blue, teal, and a deep red.

​I pulled some Tencel off my shelf and mailed her several yarn wraps to give her some ideas. 

She settled on yarn wrap #2 but wanted to swap the azure for grey blue to better match the dress fabric.

Now to plan the warp.

​Collette had seen a shawl in my online shop and decided she like the plaited twill in that shawl.  So all I had to do was work with the colors in Fiberworks to work out the proportions of the colors in  the gradation.  We came to an agreement, and I got busy measuring warps, getting them on loom,  and weaving color samples.

​In September, Collette and Kyle were married at a beautiful setting in New Hampshire. 

The bridesmaids and moms wore shawls that I created. 

​The bride was wearing a  gorgeous shawl woven for her by her aunt.

• Spreading warp in the raddle
• Winding onto the back beam
• Threading the heddles
• Sleying the reed
• Tying onto the apron rod
• Tying up the treadles
• Winding bobbins

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Total time 3-12 hours ​

​-- Pattie Lamb

​Planning a blanket
​A mixed wrap was made from assorted wool yarns.​

Result:
The sample at right was woven with a black wool weft to determine the sett for a blanket.

Designing a rug
​Peggy from the Triangle Weavers Guild  was inspired by this painting to do a series of wraps

​Split complementary color scheme
​
Fibonacci series used randomly for stripes

• Lark's Head Knot
• Basic Overhand Knot
• Overhand Knot
• Overhand Loop Knot
• Slip Knot
• Half Surgeons Knot

• Half Bow
• Weaver's Knot
• Counting Thread or Infinity Tie
• Half Hitch
• Repair "Knot"/ Figure 8
• A new way to tie your shoes

Lark’s Head Knot
This is the knot I use most in my studio.  Can be used to:

• Attach yarn to starting peg on warping board when measuring your warp
• Attach pantyhose loops to warp chains
• Attach apron rods to front and back of loom
• Attach closed loop of cord to a stick like an apron rod
• Attach warp bout to back beam apron rod for front to back warping
• Temporarily attach one cord to another cord
• Make an adjustable closed loop from one cord

Larks’s Head How-To Method 1 (use when using an unanchored cord or loop):
Fold cord in half, put loop end around whatever you are anchoring to (stick, other cord, or warp chain) and pull both ends of cord through its own loop.  If using a closed loop, put one end of the loop around whatever you are anchoring to and pull the other end of the loop through that end of the loop and snug up.
​

Larks’s Head How-To Method 2 (when using an anchored cord or loop):
Place your right thumb and forefinger into the loop pointing away from you and spread the end of the loop out to form a triangle.  Now bring your thumb and forefingers together around the sides of the triangle until your fingers touch.  Use the fingers on your left hand to slide the “sides” of the triangle off of your right fingers to form the larks’s head loop.  Insert stick, another cord, or warp bout into the loop as desired and tighten.

Larks’s Head How-To Method 3 (use when making an adjustable closed loop):
Fold cord in half with loop on the right side.  Form the lark’s head loop as in Method 2.  Insert the loose ends of the cord into the newly formed loop and snug up.  Adjust your adjustable loop to the desired size and secure with a basic overhand knot with the loose ends (like the beginning of a bow knot when tying your shoes
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​​Basic Overhand Knot
Joining two cords or yarn by wrapping one around the other one time – like the beginning of a bow knot when you tie your shoes.

Overhand Knot
Permanent knot that ties 2 lengths of yarn together

• Use to join 2 threads as a repair when a smaller knot is not needed
• Use to join 2 threads when changing colors on the warping board at the cross end

Overhand Knot How-To:
To join two pieces of yarn, lay the 2 pieces of yarn side by side, wrap the ends together around 2 or 3 fingers and pull both ends all the way through the loop on your fingers.  Pull tight.
To secure the end of a bout of twisted fringe, wrap the end of the twisted fringe around 2 or 3 fingers and pull the cut end through the loop on your fingers.  Pull tight.

Overhand Loop Knot
Knot that can be used at the end of a length of cord or yarn to create a permanent loop

• Use an overhand loop knot at the ends of your guide thread on your warping board

Overhand Loop Knot How-To:
Depending on the size of the loop you need, fold end of yarn over, wrap the loop formed around 2 or 3 fingers and pull the end of the loop all the way through the loop on your fingers.  Pull tight.

Slip Knot
Temporary knot to create a loop in the end of a length of yarn, for example to attach a length of yarn to a post

• Useful for starting a new color on a warping board

Slip Knot How-To:
Similar to the Overhand knot except you do not pull the end all the way through:  With one piece of yarn proceed as if you were going to tie a basic overhand knot in the end of a single piece of yarn.  Wrap the short end around 2 or 3 fingers and pull the short end through the loop on your fingers, but DO NOT PULL THE END ALL THE WAY THROUGH.  Only pull the loop through, and snug up the loop (it helps to hold both the short and long ends while you snug).  Now if you pull on the short end you can quickly release the knot.

Half Surgeon’s Knot (a.k.a.Double Overhand Knot)
More secure, non-slip start to a bow or half bow. 

• Great to use on the warping board for your cinch ties.
• More secure start to tying your warp bouts to the apron rod on the loom.  For added security, finish with a half bow on top of each half surgeon’s knot after you have tied all of your bouts across the warp.
• Good way to start tying your shoes

Half Surgeon’s Knot How-To:
You know what you normally do to start tying your shoes – before the bow.  This is the same; only you go around twice instead of once.

Half Bow
Used with a half surgeon’s knot (double overhand knot) to secure the knot or use instead of a normal “bunny ears” bow.  Easier release than a bow.

• Use instead of a bow anywhere you normally use a bunny ears bow.
• Great to secure the surgeon's knot when tying onto the front apron rod.

Half Bow Knot How-To:
Start like you would to tie you shoes (a basic overhand knot) or with a half surgeon’s knot (a double overhand knot).  Hold the cord that is in your left hand taut and push it toward the right with your left index finger.  With the cord in your right hand, make one “bunny ear” bow around the cord in your left hand, pull it through, and snug it up.

Weaver’s Knot
A tie to join two pieces of thread or yarn.  Very secure and makes a small knot.

• Traditional weaver’s choice of knot used to repair a broken thread on the loom.
• Used for tying on a new warp end to an old warp end
• Forgive me if my instructions are not clear (I rarely use this knot).  Refer to online YouTube videos or the Knots-3D app for clarity

Weaver’s Knot How To Method 1:
Make a loop in the end of cord 1 and hold in your left hand.  Poke the end of cord 2 up through the loop (back to front) and pass it around the loop (over the top, behind and out from the bottom).  Now poke the end of cord 2 behind itself but in front of the loop formed by cord 1.  Tighten.

Weaver’s Knot How To Method 2:
Make a slip knot in the end of cord 1 (red) and hold in your left hand.  Poke the end of cord 2 (blue) up through the slip knot.  Pull both ends of the slip knot tight.  You should feel a “snap” as the knot tightens around cord 2.

Square Knot
A tie to join two pieces of thread or yarn. A more secure version of a Granny knot. It is this weaver’s opinion that this knot is easier to tie than the weaver’s knot

• Can be used to repair a broken thread on the loom. 

Square Knot How-To:
Tie 2 cords together as follows.  Take the left cord in front of and around the right one.  It is now on the right.  Take the “new” right cord (in other word, continue tying with the same cord) in front of and around the cord on the left.  Snug up the knot.  Your Mantra:” Left over right, right over left.”

Counting Thread or Infinity Tie
A single cord that twines in and out of a warp chain to divide into sections.  You can use any scrap yarn for this.  Shoelaces work well and last forever.  Secure with a simple bow or half bow.

• Use to section off bouts of warp into 1” sections for warping or ½” sections for laying into the raddle.

Half Hitch
A twist placed in the yarn to create a basic overhand knot when the free end is not available.

• Use it to wrap around the bobbin holding a weight for a repair warp thread or floating selvedge – allows easy advancing of thread when needed, while preventing slipping while the weight dangles off the back of the loom. 

​Repair “Knot”
Nothing more than a figure eight around a T-pin of the loose end of the repair thread.  Pin the t-pin into the woven cloth, wind the repair end around the T-pin “figure-8-wise” 2 or 3 times, and insert the end of the pin into the cloth to secure.

A new way to tie your shoes
Bet you thought you knew how to do this! This is a free tip passed on to you by a mom with a medical background who got tired of re-tying her kids’ shoes:

Tie the first pass with a Half Surgeon’s Knot, then tie with a double bow (bow on top of another bow).  Your shoes will RARELY come untied!  Why should this be for kids only??  I hate bending over!

Tip!
Lunatic Fringe Jazz Bands (designed for Schacht Baby Wolf and Wolf Pup looms), work really well to add a little tension to the treadles.  This helps prevent you from accidentally lifting or slightly lifting a shaft you are not using - even if you leave your foot on that treadle.

​Hair bands & treadle divider:
I have hair bands on each of my treadles.  In fact I put 3 hair bands on each treadle because I simply can feel them better with my feet. The purpose of the hair bands is to help my feet identify which treadle is which. Depending on my pattern, I slide the hair bands down where I can feel them or up out of the way.
Typically, I am walking my treadles from the center to the outside, so I might move hair bands down on the middle 2  treadles (treadles 1 & 2), I leave the next 2 treadles (3 & 4) in sequence “naked”, move bands down on the next 2 treadles and so forth.

No need to remove the hair bands between projects.  Just move them up or down on the treadle as needed.

If desired you can put a divider between the center treadles to remind your feet not to cross the midline.

Tip!
Heavy rubber bands can be used instead of hair bands, but BEWARE: they dry rot fairly quickly and will have to be replaced.

Tip!
When you are first learning to walk the treadles, you can create a second cheat sheet to remind you  which treadles are where and which treadles have hair bands on them.  Once you get used to this system, you will not need this second cheat sheet.

Added bonus: 
​I do not ever have to label my treadles with that dreaded tape!

The first tip is outright stolen from Jane Stafford’s Online Guild episodes.  If you are not a member of her guild, I highly recommend it: https://janestaffordtextiles.com/online-guild/
 
I used to weave a header, begin my woven fabric by weaving 8-10 picks, and then hemstitch the leading edge of the piece.  There is a problem with that technique.  Isolating the 2, 3 or 4 picks and the warp ends you want to hemstitch around can be a real challenge, because you have weaving on both sides of the picks to be hemstitched.
 
I even tried weaving in a slippery yarn as a separator pick before I would start weaving the piece.  This slippery yarn, in theory, would be removed after weaving a few picks of the piece, thereby making the hemstitching a little easier.  Well,  the “slippery” yarn is not always so easy to remove.
 
Along comes Jane Stafford who showed me that you really only need to carefully lay in the picks you want to hemstitch around and begin hemstitching.  No header, no weaving extra picks before starting the hemstitching. 

This is SO much easier that I cannot believe it never occurred to me.   Simply hemstitch around those picks and then proceed to weave you piece as usual.

After hemstitching simply continue weaving your piece, being careful to beat the first couple of picks in well.

It all started with a beautiful skein of variegated yarn - a gift from my friend Sue - and a memory of seeing a scarf that had  weft-wise stripes on one side of the scarf that magically disappeared on the other.

The yarn I wanted to use was a 10/2 mercerized cotton called "Boot Camp", handpainted by Claudia Yarns.

The magically striped scarf remained a complete mystery until recently when Jane Stafford dropped a hint on one of her early videos that unlocked the key for me: the scarf can be woven in a turned twill and the trick to the disappearing stripes lies in the tie-up.

Here is the draft for a 2 block twill that I use frequently for scarves (click on the draft to zoom in):

This is a tencel scarf that uses a very similar draft with several colors in the warp, including one variegated yarn.

Nice, but there are two things here I wanted to change:

1. The twill lines are going in opposite directions on the two sides of the cloth
2. The stripes appear on both sides of the scarf

Next I changed the tie-up so I had the continuous twill line that I wanted across the whole scarf:

The Cats' Pajamas Scarf
This scarf is the result of these experiments.  The warp is 10/2 cotton - One side is the "Boot Camp" handpainted  yarn by Claudia Yarns, the other is a solid green.  The weft was a turquoise 30/2 silk.  I wove regularly placed stripes on one side of the scarf for the first half of the scarf and then wove the most of the remainder of the scarf with just a few scattered stripes

The first half of the scarf was woven with treadles 1-8.  Then treadles 5-8 were RETIED and the second half of the scarf was woven with only  treadles 5-8.​

Mossy Stones Scarf
This scarf was woven on the same warp as "The Cat's Pajamas".  The warp is 10/2 cotton - one side is the "Boot Camp" handpainted  yarn by Claudia Yarns, the other is a solid green.  The weft was slightly variegated gray 30/2 silk.  I wove regularly placed stripes on the variegated side of the scarf for the first half of the scarf and then wove no stripes for the remainder of the scarf.

Heddle Bar Clips
​Officemate OIC Slide On Plastic Clips, Assorted Translucent Colors, Tub of 60
Amazon $4.29 as of 6/2018

​I use these on my heddle bars to keep the extra, unused heddles back away from the weaving - a vast improvement over tying them back with string and MUCH easier to use than those little binder clips

Shoelaces!
​These are "DIY White Shoelaces"
Oriental Trading Company $5.99 for 12 pairs as of 6/2018

I use shoelaces for tying off my warp chains, among other things in the studio.   These are great because they last forever.  I have shoelaces in my studio that are 25 years old!
These are 48” long.  I cut them in half, so 12 pairs gives me 48 shoelaces!

Pick Counter
UltraOptix Linen Tester-Loupe Magnifier
Amazon, $9.52 as of 6/2018

This is an inexpensive magnifier that helps you count picks per inch (or examine your cloth for errors).  The window is exactly 1” square.  You place the window on the cloth and look through the magnifier while you count.

Curved Scissors
Beadalon Squeeze Scissors, Curved
Amazon, $7.79 as of 6/2018
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I use these for trimming threads close to the surface of my finished cloth. The curved blades let you get close to the cloth without cutting the cloth.

Fringe Twister
This one is the Lacis Fringe Twister
A newer version is on Amazon, $21.96 as of 6/2018
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I use this for twisting all of my fringe (I only use 2 of the prongs).  It is battery powered and has been a life saver.  There are other versions of this on the market.  Shop around.