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Videos, videos, videos!

6/11/2022

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I am back to work on my blog after a long hiatus.  The first thing I want to do is share some videos with you that I have created.  Jane Stafford I am not, and I can promise you these videos are not professional, but I think that they do a pretty good job of showing my process for warping back to front.  I also think that even more experienced weavers might benefit from a host of tips that I share in the videos.

Over the past two years of the pandemic, I taught a "next step" Weave a Scarf class on Zoom.  The class was intended to be for students who had taken a beginning weaving class and warped a loom before but who might not be super comfortable yet going through the steps for getting their warp on the loom.  To prep for the class, I created 5 "refresher" videos to help my students get through the process of setting up their looms at home.

I hope you enjoy the videos.  Send me feedback!

To view the videos, click on the hyperlink (the blue title) or on the photo next to the video description.



Video 1: Preparing the warp  ​19:41
  • Reading your draft
  • Measuring & positioning your guide thread
  • Measuring the warp
  • Counting threads at the cross
  • Tying of the warp
  • Chaining off the warp
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Video 2: Moving to the loom  ​17:21
  • Moving the warp chains to the loom
  • Setting up the loom for back to front warping
  • Spreading the warp in the raddle
  • Winding on to the back beam
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Video 3: Threading the heddles  ​6:24
  • Getting the loom ready
  • Threading the heddles
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Video 4: Threading the reed  ​5:52
This is a brief video showing the most comfortable way of threading the reed that I have found.
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Video 5: Tying on to the apron rod 8:24
I have tried many methods of tying on to the apron rod over the years.  This is the best method I have found.
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Bonus video: Knots, knots, knots! 5:00
A review of some of the knots I use when warping the loom as shown in the videos above.
  • Overhand loop for the guide thread
  • Slipknot at the start of the warp
  • Slipknot for joining 2 threads
  • Overhand knot for joining 2 threads
  • Twining the counting thread
  • Tying off the warp chain
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Bonus video: Threading a loom/ Threading Tips   7:00
This is a short video that shows how I thread a loom and check my work. This method has been a life saver for me. I count out heddles and threads for a small section of my draft. This allows me to thread, check, and catch my mistakes before proceeding to the next group.
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Using Up Leftovers for my Fade

6/11/2019

1 Comment

 
Finding My Fade

​1 ½ years ago I made an impulse purchase of a shawl kit.  The kit contained 6 luscious colors of merino and a pattern for knitting a lace shawl.  Only one problem:  I am not much of a knitter, and I had never woven lace before.
 
The shawl pattern was for “Find Your Fade” – a very popular shawl pattern developed by Andrea Mowry.  I arranged the colors from gold to rust to cranberry to a variegated blend to medium gray to  light gray and back to gold.
PictureFind My Fade



Within a week, I cast on a few stitches and began the ultimate knitting challenge.  Many a bad word escaped my lips before I had knitted up a square inch of the shawl, much to the amusement of my friend Suanne – who is both a weaver and a knitter.
 
I struggled mightily with this pattern, which, I believe by knitters’ standards, is probably not very difficult – just stunningly beautiful. I learned that I am not very good at counting stitches, not very patient, and that my hands do not tolerate knitting for more than an hour at a time.  And trust me I am a SLOW knitter. 
 
The GOOD news was that I quickly learned how to TINK.  Little did I know that there was actually a word that means unknitting.  I got pretty darned good at it.  And if I do say so myself, unknitting lace is not easy.  So allow me to pat myself on the back.

​Over the next 14 months, I knit, I tinked, I counted stitches over and over again, and chose to ignore a couple of mistakes that I knit right on past.  My husband threatened to wear ear plugs while I was working on the shawl.  I would put the shawl away for a month at a time, and then I would work hard at it for another couple of weeks.  It was slow going, but I did finally finish it.  I even like it a lot.  Ironically, I can’t wear wool, so what do I do with it now?
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Find My Fade
Weaving My Fade

​I had finished my knitted shawl, but I had over half of the merino left over.  For a change, I decided I would try to use up the leftovers rather than hoarding it in my ever-growing stash.  I would weave a shawl inspired by the Find My Fade shawl.  Now weaving is something I am more comfortable with.

This would be EASY.

  • I decided to use the six colors grading from gold to light gray.
  • I would weave an 8-harness point twill because I wanted something simple to emphasize the color gradation. 
  • I worked up a plan for using each of the colors in sequence in an attempt to use up as much of each color as possible. 
  • I would wind a 3 ½ yard warp, 365 ends, sett at 16 epi
  • I decided (with a little help from my friend Sue) that rust would be the best color to use as weft.   I happened to have some 8/2 tencel in my ever-growing stash that would be perfect.

​OOPS, that didn’t quite work out. 
 
My calculations for how much of each color I needed didn’t exactly pan out as planned.  As I measured my warp, I came up shorter than expected in the rust and cranberry sections and had to adjust in the variegated and gray sections.  Fortunately, I was still able to eke out the 22 ½” width I wanted.  But I had very little left over of 4 of the colors and none of the rust.  Despite the trials of winding the warp, this was pretty easy. ​​
​
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The leftovers
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Weave My Fade
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Weave My Fade

​The inspiration shawl and the woven shawl are different yet related.  Both use the same colorway, both are soft and warm, and both made me happy, although for different reasons.  But just between you and me, I would choose weaving over knitting any day.

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​Hemstitching Can Be (More) Fun

5/3/2019

4 Comments

 
Well, that is really questionable in my opinion.  I have never enjoyed hemstitching.  However, I have 2 really good tips to make it a little easier.


​Tip 1:
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.
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  • Lay in the picks you want to hemstitch around.
  • Be careful to wrap the weft cleanly at the selvedges.
  • Begin hemstitching as usual
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After hemstitching simply continue weaving your piece, being careful to beat the first couple of picks in well.

Tip 2:
The second tip improves your visibility for hemstitching.  Depending on the color of my warp, I find that seeing t​he warp ends and counting them correctly can be challenging.  I place a contrasting sheet of paper UNDER the warp, and voila: visibility improves dramatically.
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BEFORE...
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And AFTER adding white paper under the warp.

4 Comments

New Life for a Little Rug

6/18/2017

12 Comments

 
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This is what the fringe USED to look like.
​Years ago I wove a little Rag Rug to use in front of my kitchen sink.  I finished the rug with twisted fringe and left the fringe about 4" long - probably too long.  Over the years I have had to periodically retie some of the fringe bouts,  but slowly but surely more and more of the bouts had become untied, frayed and I could no longer re-twist them and knot them back to their original length. In addition, some of the warp threads in the body of the rug had broken and the rug was really looking shabby and worn.
Remember: You can click on any picture to zoom in!

​Step 1:
I first decided to re-twist the fringe bouts that had come undone and to shorten all of the bouts to the shortest common denominator.  It seemed that I could get away with shortening them all to about 1 1/2". There are a couple of bouts where the ends were so frayed that I do not have high hopes for them holding up for much longer, but at least they are shorter now..
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The newly shortened fringe
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This shows a broken warp thread and a row of rag weft floats above it. These need to be repaired.
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These are the only tools I need: a tapestry needle and the matching rug warp

​Step 2: 
​I gathered the tools I would need for repairing the broken warp threads The warp used in this rug was 8/4 cotton rug warp used double, and luckily I still had some on hand (this will not surprise anyone who knows me and has seen my yarn stash).  

So now all I need was a tapestry needle threaded with a doubled strand of the warp thread and a little patience. The weaving should be easy because the rug was woven in plain weave.

​Step 3 - Fixing the Broken Threads
  • I started about 2-3" below the broken warp thread (photo 1)
  • I wove along the same warp thread with the repair thread for the 2" until I got to the break (photo 2)
  • At that point I have to weave over and under the rags in the same way the missing warp thread used to.  It helped to hold the needle in my right hand and put my left hand underneath the rug for support (photo 3)
  • When I reached the end of the damaged area, I continued to weave along the same warp thread for another 2-3 inches.  When I finished with the weaving I checked the weaving on both sides of the rug.  
  • When I was satisfied, I pulled on the ends of the repair threads where it entered and exited the weaving to "seat it" in the cloth.  
  • Then I trimmed the tails of the repair thread and the broken warp thread from the surface of the rug.​
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Photo 1: Starting 2-3" below the break. Broken warp thread can be seen at the top of the photo.
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Photo 2: Weaving up to and just beyond the break in the warp thread.
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Photo 3: Weaving continues above the break - over and under the weft floats.
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My supervisor
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Weaving is finished. The tails have not been trimmed yet. Lizzie is checking my work.
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The finished rug. Hopefully with a few more years of life in it.

​All done!  
And I think the rug looks better with short fringe anyway.

12 Comments

Calm Waters: Birth of 3 Baby Wraps

2/1/2017

3 Comments

 
My niece (and goddaughter), expecting her first baby, requested that I weave a handwoven baby wrap for her.  Favorite color: turquoise.  Style request: "grown up".  I knew she grew up around the water and teaches yoga so I immediately was thinking of something soft, peaceful, organic with colors flowing from one to another.  We discussed using shades of turquoise and grays and samples went on the loom. 
​
​I sent her two sets of samples: one woven on a traditional point twill threading and one woven on a modified point twill threading (for the weavers out there, I merged patterns from Strickler # 328 & 330).  The warp was a 10/2 pearl cotton warp in 2 shades of turquoise (a deep turq and an aqua) and 2 shades of gray.  I wove with several shades of pearl cotton and a fine white cottolin.

She preferred the "feathery look of the modified point twill on the far right, so that is what we went with.

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Samples: Plain weave and point twill on the left, zigzag twills and modified point twill on the right.
I would weave 3 sister wraps so I measured the warp: 6 chains, each 20 1/4 yards long.  A total of 1000 ends of 10/2 pearl cotton in random stripes of 4 colors: light gray, medium gray, light turquoise/aqua and deep turquoise, to be sett at 30 ends per inch.  I "ombred" the transitions from one color to the next so that the colors flowed smoothly from one to the next across the warp - all color changes being made on the warping mill.
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6 warp chains weighted and on the loom. Ready to be wound on.
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Warp wound onto the back beam
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View from the front of the loom
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Calm Waters I: woven with white cottolin weft in progress
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Middle marker applied (a tiny "LOL" label: Lamb on the Loom, Laugh out Loud, or Love Our Littles: take your pick.
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The Sister Wraps
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Calm Waters I: white cottolin weft. Given to my goddaughter
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Calm Waters II: woven with deep turquoise pearl cotton weft. Given to my eldest niece
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Calm Waters III: Woven with a light turquoise/aqua pearl cotton weft.
The wrap is a size 6, 100% cotton, and measures approximately 28 ½” x 186”.  Both ends of the wrap are hemmed.​ 
For sale in The SHOP






​SHOP
3 Comments

Weaving for a Wedding: A Labor of Love

1/19/2017

6 Comments

 
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​My son, Ryan married his darling bride Alex in Boulder, Colorado this past October.  I have posted pictures in my Gallery of the weaving I did for the wedding, but I have not yet shared much of the story of how the weaving got done.  Nor had I shared pictures of the finished pieces in use.  

​So now that story begins.  

The Bride's Shawl

The bride's shawl was the first project I undertook.  I wove samples for her shawl last winter and took them to her in March for her approval.  Originally I had intended to surprise her with the shawl but quickly realized that that was a really bad idea: a) she might not want a shawl, b) she might buy her own shawl, and c) the shawl might not look good with her dress.  I was very relieved that she loved the idea and that the samples of the Bronson Weave lace in 20/2 natural tencel matched her dress perfectly!
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Bronson Lace samples
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So the shawl warp was planned:  Hoping for shawls of 20" x 95", I put on a warp of 839 ends of 20/2 tencel sett at 36 epi (3/dent in a 12 dent reed), measuring 23.3" wide in the reed,  No floating selvedge was needed because the draft had a plain weave edge on each side.  I put on enough length to allow for weaving 2 shawls to 104" and allowing for 12" of fringe on each end and loom waste.

The draft was a simple 4 harness Bronson Lace weave with plain weave borders.  Click on the draft to zoom in
So the warp for two shawls went on the loom: one for the bride and one for a gift our outgoing guild president, Janice.  A dozen of our guild board members took turns in April weaving off the first shawl so that we could present it to her at the May board meeting.  I wove the bride's shawl off in  May.
  • Weaving with the 20/2 tencel was surprisingly trouble free
  • The fact that 12 people could weave on 1 shawl for our guild president and have virtually no problems and a very even beat was the biggest surprise of all!
  • My sister-in-law embroidered the bride and groom's initials and their wedding date on one end of the bride's shawl as a lovely finishing touch.
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Shawls on the loom
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Another guild member taking a turn on Janice's shawl
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Guild member weaving on Janice's shawl
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Guild member fringing Janic'e shawl
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Janice opening her shawl
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The bride's shawl
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The bride's shawl, detail
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The bride's shawl, detail
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The bride

Next... Shawls for the Wedding Party

I offered to weave shawls for each of the four bridesmaids and my daughter, the "best sister".    I put on a warp for 6 shawls: 5 for the wedding party and an extra:
  • 8/2 warp tencel in silver and light gray stripes sett at 20 epi
  • 22" in the reed, woven to about 95" in length.
  • Hemstitched on loom and  finished with 8" long twisted fringe 
  • Bronson weave threading that allowed for several treadlings: triangles, curves and extended curves
  • Charcoal gray wefts for all 4 bridesmaids' shawls and the extra shawl which is for sale in the SHOP
  • Burgundy weft for the "best sister" shawl
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Bronson Weave Triangles with charcoal weft
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Bronson Weave Curves with charcoal weft
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Bronson Weave Curves with burgundy weft
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The bride with her bridesmaids & my daughter/ "best sister" 
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The extra shawl, extended curves
For sale in the SHOP

Next... A Shawl for the Mother of the Bride

This shawl was a little more of a challenge.  Or at least it caused me a little more angst.  Mostly because I only had a photograph of Jamie's dress.  So after exchanging photos and yarn samples, I finally decided on a huck lace shawl in 2 shades of teal, charcoal gray and mauve in the warp.

​The huck lace pattern I used was adapted from a Handwoven scarf pattern (March/April 2008, p. 30–32).  I widened the draft to 22" and I used 4 colors in the warp.  I "ombred" the colors at each color change so there were no harsh stripes in the warp.
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Sticks padding the loose warp areas at the back of the loom
Tip!
This draft has huck lace stripes alternating with plain weave stripes.  Because the takeup was much less in the lace areas than the plain weave areas, it did not take long for the warp to get loose in the lace areas, and tension was becoming a problem.  I solved that by doing 2 things:
  1. After 20-25" I "wove" a stick under the loose area at the back of the loom and tied it to the back beam.  Every 20-25" I added another stick.
  2. I cut off after the first shawl and retied for the second shawl.

​Again, I wove 2 shawls: the first I wove with the greyed teal for the mother of the bride., and the second with the dark teal to sell.
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Mother of the Bride's shawl, woven with a greyed teal weft
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The bride and her parents, Jamie and David
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Extra Shawl, woven with a dark teal weft

Finally... Pocket Squares for the Groom and the Dads

I really wanted to weave a pocket square for my son, but I wasn't sure if I would have time and I wasn't sure exactly what would work.  After sampling quite a bit with 60/2 silk, I settled on a very simple plain weave square with some burgundy stripes on 2 sides and hemmed on 4 sides.  I made 4 squares: 1 for Ryan, 1 for each of the Dads and 1 extra.
  • 60/2 silk in natural and burgundy
  • 632 ends, sett at 40 epi , 15.8" wide on loom
  • woven in plain weave at 40 ppi
  • After hemming on all 4 sides the squares measured about 13.5" square
  • Weaving with the silk was a breeze
  • Hemming and mitering the corners was definitely the hardest part for me
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Pocket squares

And What Did I Wear?

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My scarf

​I don't often wear my own handwovens - other than a couple of beloved, very beat up scarves and shawls.  I was dressed in a simple sweater, silk pant and silk top and so I didn't think a shawl would work for me.  But I knew I would get cold.  So I did wear one of my silk scarves, woven with 60/2 silk in a pretty twill in my favorite color: teal.

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​A Visit to John C Campbell Folk School

8/27/2016

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​Earlier this month, my friends Jackie, Sue and I ventured to John C Campbell for our first ever adventure there.  We had signed up months ago for a class on Deflected Doubleweave (“Masters of Deflection” with Elisabeth Hill).  And a wonderful adventure it was!
We met in Cary so we could drive to the mountains together.  Sue came in from Connecticut (she had planned to fly, but had to drive because her flight was cancelled) and Jackie came up from Pinehurst).  We packed up the car and headed out on our road trip with no real idea of what to expect.
​
The drive took us about 6 hours, and the ride up the mountains was beautiful.  Finally we arrived in Brasstown, NC (population 46) which is situated in the far west corner of the state right around the corner from Clay’s Corner, home of the infamous New Year’s Eve Possum Drop (you have heard of the Possum Drop, right?)
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​The Folk School was founded in 1925.  It offers year-round 5-day and weekend classes on a large variety of topics including music, arts, crafts, and some unexpected subjects.  During the week that we were there, 140 people attended classes in weaving, nuno felting, enameling, jewelry making, Italian cooking, writing, mandolin playing, wood turning, wooden mantle carving, blacksmithing, watercolors, chair caning, woodworking, and book arts.
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Keith House, the administrative building
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View off the back porch of Keith House
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No explanation needed
Classes actually began on Friday evening after registration and dinner in the dining room.  After that we had daily class for four days each morning and afternoon with optional sessions in the evening after dinner. We were treated to stories and music at Morning Song each day before breakfast.  All meals were served in the dining room.  There were many optional activities at all times of the day including morning walks, tours of the campus and studios, chair massages, clogging demonstrations, contra dances, and the list goes on. ​​



​The classes were held in separate buildings scattered around the campus.  The weaving building was very large and very well equipped.  We had a class of 12, all weaving on 8 harness looms, and there were many looms that were not used.  The yarn “closet” was the size of a small apartment and their weaving library is quite enviable.  I don’t think anyone wanted for a piece of equipment that they did not have, and I did not hear any complaints about the looms – Baby Wolfs, Mighty Wolfs, Glimakras, Louets, all in good condition.
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The Weaving Building
The best part, however, was the class itself.  None of us knew anything about deflected doubleweave.  Lisa (Elisabeth) Hill was a wonderful, generous instructor.  She came with 2 tables full of yarn for us to use, pre-wound warps for anyone that chose to use them.  We used gorgeous tencel, silk and wool, alpaca and silk, and merino yarns to warp our looms with beautiful 6-yard long warps that were 10” wide. ​​
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The classroom
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Jackie, hard at work
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Sue, warping her loom
We had a 2 part mission: weave a sampler and weave a scarf! Our first assignment was to weave a nice long sampler using 2 different treadlings and a total of about 16 different treadlings.  We cut the samplers from the loom and washed and dried them so we could which decide which treadlings to use for a scarf.  ​
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​​Decisions made, we tied back on and wove our scarves.  We had time to twist our fringe, wash and dry (or almost dry) our scarves so they would be ready for the big presentation on Friday before everyone went home.  Thirteen scarves, thirteen completely different threadings and colorways. (Number thirteen was woven by Lisa’s pretty wonderful assistant, Lillian).  Pretty amazing results!
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That is not the end of the story. We spent a lot of time pouring over the many, many examples of deflected doubleweave Lisa brought with her, which included her beautiful shawls, scarves, runners, placemats, towels, clothing, bags, and samples.  They showed us so many ways to finish our pieces and how many different fibers would look woven in this technique.  She scattered short lectures throughout the weaving days so it gave us a break from the weaving without overwhelming us with technicalities. For those of us who finished our scarves early, Lisa helped us plan additional warps, and we spent the time measuring warps for those projects.  

​
​Meanwhile, Lisa's trusty assistant, Lillian was at our beck and call, helping us with any problems we had and keeping us all on schedule.
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Lisa (on the left) and her assistant Lillian

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Jackie, Pattie and Sue


​In a few short days, Lisa showed us just how magical this structure can be, and all three of us came away itching to try more.
​


​For more information on John C Campbell or to see their online catalog, go to their website,  
www.folkschool.org
 
To visit Elisabeth Hill’s website, 
​click here -->  www.plainweave.net

​

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Treadling for Dummies: Walking the Treadles

8/8/2016

13 Comments

 
When we first learn to weave we usually are taught to tie up our treadles from left to right just as they are written in a typical draft.
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​

​​In a simple example, to weave straight twill you would need to set up 4 treadles as indicated below:
  • Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 4 & 1
Traditionally, you would set up the treadles from left to right as they are written in the tieup:
 
           Treadle           1        2     Center      3       4
            Lifting           12      23                34     41
            Foot                --Left--                   --Right--              
 
To weave this pattern, you would use your left foot to weave treadle 1 followed by treadle 2, then switch to your right foot to weave treadles 3 followed by treadle 4.

Walking the treadles is a much more comfortable, ergonomic alternative to this.  The treadles still lift the same harnesses in the same order in order to get the same pattern.  The difference is that the treadles under the loom are not tied up from left to right.  They are tied up so that you can “walk” the treadles left-right-left-right from the center out.  Your odd numbered treadles will be on the left, even on the right.  ​
For the straight twill shown above the treadles would be tied up as indicated in the draft above, but they would be in a different order under the loom as follows:
 
           Treadle           3        1     Center     2       4
            Lifting           34      12               23     41
            Foot                --Left--                   --Right--               
 
This allows you to comfortably rock from left to right as you throw the shuttle from left to right. ​​
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Note the rubber bands on the center treadles.
My personal preference is to throw the shuttle towards the foot that is treadling, so I treadle 1(left foot is down) and throw to the left, treadle 2 (right foot is down) and throw to the right, treadle 3 and throw to the left, treadle 4 and throw to the right.  Then I move both feet back to the center (where I have rubber bands to help me find the center without peeking).
Tip!

Advantages to walking the treadles:
  • You develop a nice rocking motion that is very comfortable,
  • It allows you to improve your rhythm and speed up your weaving
  • The fact that your shuttle is always heading towards the depressed foot helps “cue you in” if you accidentally get off pattern.  If suddenly your shuttle is going left and your right foot is down, it means you have made a treadling error.

Tips for not losing your place and other notes:
  • After pressing a treadle, I keep my foot there (lightly) until ready to use that foot again.  In other words I never move my foot completely off a treadle so I always know what I did last.
  • If I am doing a sequence that starts over at treadles 1&2 (center treadles), I move my feet back to center together.
  • I use heavy rubber bands to mark my center treadles and other significant treadles to help my feet find the correct treadles without peeking. 
Tips!
  • For example, if I am doing a straight twill with 4 treadles, I would put rubber bands on just the center treadles (1&2). 
  • If I have a twill pattern that I am walking with 6 treadles like the point twill pattern below, I would put rubber bands on the center treadles and the outer treadles (5&6).  This helps me easily find the center treadles when I am returning to center but also helps me distinguish between 3 vs 5 and 4 vs 6 so that I don’t accidently press a treadle in error (because 3&4 are “naked” and 5&6 have bands).
  • Note: I do NOT recommend leaving “space” (untied) treadles between your treadles.  I think it disturbs the rhythm of weaving and the farther from center your treadle is, the more tiring the weaving will be.  SO keep them as close to the center of your body as possible.

A harder example:
 
​Suppose you have a simple point twill treadling.  Normally the tieup would be presented as shown with 4 treadles.  One full repeat consists of the six shots or picks shown above the red line in the draft to the right:
  • Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 1 & 4
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
You could set those 4 treadles up in the traditional left to right configuration or walking style.  The problem with this is that anytime you are treadling 2 or 3, you need to remember whether you were going toward treadle 4 or returning from treadle 4.  The possibility of confusion is high.
​

Picture
Everything above the red line is one repeat
6 treadle walking option​:
​

But we can take it one step farther (assuming you have 6 treadles) and assign each of the 6 picks in the repeat their own treadle. Set those 6 treadles up walking style and you will find this treadling pattern easier to weave with no confusion.
  • Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
  • Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
  • Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 4 & 1
  • Treadle 5 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
  • Treadle 6 lifts harnesses 2 & 3 
Picture
Everything above the red line is one repeat and weaves the same cloth as the repeat in the draft above.

​​Set the treadles up for walking as follows:
     
    Treadle      5          3        1      Center     2       4        6
    Lifting        34       34      12                23     41     23
    Foot             -----Left-----                         -----Right-----      

Rubber bands on the center treadles help your feet find the center at the end of the sequence. Bands on 5 & 6 also help your feet with the "no peek" treadling.   
 ​
Picture

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Life History of a Scarf: Day 1 - Inspiration

2/1/2016

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This scarf was inspired by the project I did for the 2015 Triangle Weavers Guild Weaver's Challenge.  For that challenge, I drew 4 slips of paper that told me I had to weave something with the following criteria:
 
  1. Use bamboo only
  2. Use dark and bright colors
  3. Use 2 different weave structures
  4. Use hemstitching
​
​Now, these challenges are usually, well, challenging.  But this one seemed pretty manageable for a change.  I decided to weave a scarf with mostly teals and reds, using a mixture of 8/2 and 10/2 bamboo, and using a combination of plain weave and point twill.  I sett the bamboo at 27 epi.  And to make a long story short, I loved the results.  The scarf had a gorgeous hand, and my only concern was that the scarf may have looked a little like a Scottish plaid - nothing wrong with that - it is just not what I had in mind when I started.
Picture
The inspiration scarf
​
The challenge scarf was really quick and easy to weave.  Plain weave selvedges - so nice clean selvedges with no need for floating selvedges.  Easy treadling pattern - so nice easy rhythm of weaving. So I decided to do it again with a few changes:
  1. Different colorway
  2. Slightly wider warp
  3. Weave 2 scarves instead of 1 (why not?) with 2 different weft colors
  4. 8/2 bamboo only (because that is the only size I had on hand in the new colors)
​
Stay tuned
to this thread (Life History of a Scarf) for more on the planning, weaving and finishing of the new scarves that were inspired by the challenge scarf.  Check out Life History-Day2 for the next installment.
​

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    Pattie Lamb

    I have been happily weaving since my son was born in 1988.

    All pictures on my blog are "zoomable" - just click on them to enlarge.

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