Let's see, this week in the studio was mostly rethreading and weaving the linen fabric, organizing more books, and learning more about huck lace.At the beginning of the week I rethreaded the reed so that I'm at 13 epi (ends per inch) instead of the original 10 epi. The sample I did last had the drape but it didn't feel like something you would wear. It felt more like a lacey curtain in order to give the fabric a bit more stability I knew to increase the sett. At first I was contemplating bumping the sett clear up to 15, since during my napkin test experiment I learned that fatter yarns have a narrow range of setts. And since I really wanted to change the fabric I'd have to significantly change it. However, once I started thinking about the balance between sturdier fabric & still having a fabric that draped enough for a garment I went over to the yarn chart. On the left is 20/2 yarn which is pretty thin yarn for handweaving and on the right is 10/2 a more common handweaving yarn weight. You'll also notice the three numbers at the bottom. These numbers are the recommended setts (epi) for lace, plain, twill fabrics in that order. For the 20/2 yarn the range is 30-48 that's a very large range which means it is extremely noticeable when you have more interlacements (plain weave- ish) versus less interlacements (fancy twills). Basically, you cannot switch between the two styles of interlacements without re-threading your reed to the new sett. However, the 10/2 yarn has a range from 20-28, which means there is a lot of forgiveness when going between more interlacements (plain weave) to less interlacements (fancy twill). During my napkin test that meant I didn't need to rethread anything when I switched from a mostly plain weave to a heavy twill. The difference in draw-in, ppi, and feel was negligible. Now, I said all of that as premise to how I found my new sett:
Yeah that was a brain dump, hopefully, that helps someone else out there. It was a lot of fun for me to write it out, forced me to properly think through my thought process. Which I love the fabric at 13epi, still enough drape for clothing but not flimsy like an old threadbare shirt. And moving on.... While weaving this I also decided I need to practice fixing warp threads during the weaving process. The linen yarn I purchased at the Legacy has a ridiculous amount of knots! I tried to get them all while I was warping but I missed a lot! At least it gave me good practice on dealing with them. While reading Sandra Rude's blog I came across a post about her teacher saying to always take time to fix your warp threads. Which apparently Sandra's teacher's teacher would walk around the classroom snipping warp threads just so her students would practice! Don't think that method would fly in the 21st century but I can still learn from it and diligently fix my warp threads. Well eventually, I finished weaving and was able to hem the edges and toss it into the wash. I usually cut the warp into it's separate pieces before laundering but for this time I didn't think it would matter much since linen doesn't change a whole lot after one washing. During all of the weaving I also continued to upload books. I'm up to 271 books/magazines on Library thing. Pretty sure I have more books than my guilds library at this point, but it's super fun going through them. Oh, and one gem I found this week is an old manual for something called the Masterweaver III, seems like a mash up of a rigid heddle loom and card weaving. All I know is that I want to tinker with it! Finally, I ended the week by starting a file about huck lace and my interpretation of all the information I have gained. I'm thinking it will aid me on my weaving journey as well as getting a file started for the COE I want to enter in 2024.
Welp that's it for this week, Happy weaving! Cheers, Val
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This week in the studio was an adventure in cleaning, sorting, writing, and weaving. At the estate sale last weekend I took home a 72-bobbin spool rack and a ton of books. That meant I needed to clean and sort my treasures. Plus this week was the deadline to enter the Complex Weaver's Sandra Rude grant! Even with all that I still found time to weave a sample of the huck lace warp I have on Oreo (my new name for the David loom).On Monday I couldn't focus on my computer studies with an amazing spool rack in the living room. So after so after studying for 4 hours and a lunch I got to work cleaning it up! When I found this spool rack at the estate sale it was in a barn out back of the house and judging by the dirt and spiderwebs I'd say it was sitting out there for a bit. I took some old rags and dusted them outside then brought them in a used a multi-purpose spray to clean it. The spray ended up taking some of the finish off the wood so I wouldn't recommend it, but considering the finish wasn't in great shape anyway I forged ahead. Once all the pieces were cleaned up I took them into the studio and applied a wood oil to each piece. It really shined them up! Eventually, I should put an actual finish on the wood but for now I'll enjoy my very fancy spool rack! Which is perfect since I recently purchased an AVL workshop dobby loom (24-shafts) but since it was second hand it didn't come with a way to warp it! I thought about just using a homemade raddle to warp it but then I noticed there wasn't an apron rod on the warp beam. Which annoyed me and so I left it at that. Well now I have a spool rack with a tension box so all I need is to add an apron rod with the Texslov cord, I found at the estate sale, and boom I have a loom that can be warped. hmmm.... what is this loom's name going to be?? After that it was time to finish the grant proposal for the Sandra Rude Learner's grant through the Complex Weaver's group. As part of the grant you need to submit an article to their published magazine, Complex Weaver's Journal, following the learning activity. Well as a 3-year weaver and knowing that my favorite weaving authors receive this magazine I started racking my brain for something that I could contribute as a newbie weaver. Eventually, I thought of how I'm a 21st century weaver, and how I appreciate 20th century weavers. Then, my brain went to the difference between the two. BOOM! There is a ton different! If you were weaving in 1922 you didn't have even half the information nor materials that a person in 2022 has. So that's what I proposed. If they help me pay to go to the Complex Weaver's Seminar and Convergence this July, then I will record the available information, materials, and focus that is seen at the US weaver's event of the year. It might be a bit to take on but I thought it would be super interesting for me to write about and as a 3-yo weaver, might be something interesting to 30-yo weaver as well. So off I sent my application, and now it is wait and see what happens. After that it was on to sorting through books, lots and lots of books! I decided I needed to sort them and after enjoying the Complex Weaver's library I decided to join the LibraryThing and use their database for my booklist. If you want to see what I have cataloged you can find me here. I've only just begun adding books and am maybe a little afraid to think of how many I will be adding! And finally weaving! I'm working with a 2-ply linen I found at the Legacy a few weeks ago as the warp and a chain ply linen I found at Rumpelstiltskin's in Sacramento as the weft. Not sure if you can see the two different yarns, but I thought this was a cool picture anyway. While I was weaving I was trying to mimic the ppi I had during the Rosalie Nielson workshop, but it just didn't look right for some reason. Since I should probably sample fabric anyway I decided to weave up about 20 inches and then wash it to see what happens. Well, now that it is washed but I'm not a fan of how the fabric feels or looks for a sleeveless tunic. It also shrunk 3.5 inches in the weft direction! Now I'm thinking of increasing the sett, from 10epi to probably 15epi, but then it will be stiffer so maybe it become will be a vest or jacket? I also realized that since the yarn is so thick the huck lace design is too large to be an all over pattern. But it would be awesome as an embellishment at the bottom third of the body. Kind of make it a bell shaped tunic, well if the fabric is soft enough. Oh and the color I was hoping for a bit of sheen, which there was lots of while it was on the loom. But after washing no sheen as all. Definitely, the 'papery' linen look which is cool in itself, probably half of my shirts are linen, but initially I thought that the two yarns would create a sheen and that definitely did not happen. However, I do think that the two yarns together create a deeper red hue. Like how a shadow behind a tree gives depth and creates a rich color. Well, it's Easter weekend so between family and friends I'll play with my books some more, or just happily rethread some linen. Until next time Happy Weaving & Happy Easter!
Cheers, Val This week in the studio was less about weaving and more about planning. Starting off the week I found out that our main guild presentation leader would not be able to make it to our first guild hybrid meeting. That meant I needed to step up and make sure the technology was in place for our event on Wednesday. As for the event I loved the presenter, even if I could only give about half my attention to it while I stayed on top of tech stuff. When that was over I finally looked at the Complex Weaver’s guild learner’s grant, and eventually, it was time to be with David (my loom)! Lastly, a surprise weavers estate sale, that I may have gone a little crazy at, whoops!Our guild presentation this month had Suzanne da Rosa present her antique lace knitting. Which was beautiful! Oh! And I loved how she said that people would have a specific item they always knitted. Like someone knew socks and would always knit socks, or someone else knew sweaters and would always knit sweater. That meant knitter’s books in the 1850’s were just the knit patterns, so that knitters could work whatever new pattern into their specific item. I love this concept because that is exactly what I’m doing during my TV time. Thus far I’ve knit 3 sweaters, and now I’m taking the same pattern and making it a cardigan. Maybe in 20 years I’ll start to incorporate cabling or fair isle or heck maybe even knitted lace! Suzanne was also a champ at staying relaxed while I went a little crazy making sure all the mics, laptops, cameras, and Zoom participates were ready. Lots of little things getting setup and turned on. Which I’m happy to say our first hybrid meeting was a success! WooHooo! Honestly, we have such an amazing bunch in our guild it would’ve been impossible for it to have been a bust. My favorite comment I received after the meeting was how calm I was during everything. Helped me realize that that’s half the battle when dealing with tech. As soon as you get frustrated you’ve already lost the ability to find the simplest solution! As my favorite teacher in high school used to say “a computer does EXACTLY what you tell it to”. Hahaha! I would get so mad when something wouldn’t work in my CAD/industrial tech class and that would be his response. But now I 100% agree and having been forced to think tech problems through deliberately it really made me an amazing problem solver, thanks Mr. Miller!! After the guild meeting I sat down and looked through the requirements for the Complex Weavers Grant proposal. Of course I got intimidated but I could hear my good friend Sheila cheering me on in the back of my head. Now I've thought about it for three days and I think I finally settled on a topic and article I could write for their Journal. Not going to say much more on that until I’m finished, deadline is this coming Friday, eek! Finally, it was time to sit at my loom. Which started with renting an audiobook from the library, ‘The shadows of London’ by Nick Jones, then sat down and started threading my heddles. My first experience with linen taught me that linen loves having space, so this is sett at 10 epi in a 10 dent reed. Which I just so happen to have warped 290 threads... and I have a 27 inch wide loom... Once you do the math you'll shake your head at me. That means there are only 270 dents in 27inch/10dent reed. Which did not occur to me until I sat down and was threading. Facepalm* Alas, I ended up putting 2 ends/dent in the first and last 5 dents. When I looked at my calculations it looks like I put in 11 epi (instead of 10) for the warp which is what gave me too many threads. But I’m left wondering if it might be better this way. Since the huck lace towels I made in Rosalie’s class had a lot of draw in on the loom, maybe this sturdier edge will keep that from happening this time? Oh lame! I just realized since I’m weaving the full width of my loom I’ll have to advance more often, bleh, jk! I don’t mind although sometimes I get in the zone and forget to advance until I start wondering why the shuttle is touching the yarns on the top of the shed. And lastly, my hoarding issues shall be revealed to you today. I love crafting books! Like a crazy person I snatch them all up! I love reading them, perusing them for ideas, looking at what people did, seeing all the inspiration of decades gone by. I love craft books! So having heard about a weaver's estate sale off I went thinking I would only get the spool rack if they still had it (which they did) but they also had a full on library!!! I feel I mostly restrained myself. In fact I moved all of the, what I would call required weavers reading, over to the side for any one who came after me and needed a good read. And I didn’t take any of the card weaving or inkle weaving books. Good job Valerie! There were also sample record binders, which are my fave!!!! But I only took three out of the seven binders since I’m pretty sure it’s most people’s favorite estate sale item too. I’m half tempted to go back tomorrow when they finish the sale but I truly have enough. But I am thinking about selling old crafting books considering my love of them, but we’ll see. Now off to dust these beautiful inspirational treasures!
Happy Weaving! Valerie This week in the studio I was forming a plan on what to do with the linen knitting yarn I purchased last weekend. Then it was finishing time for some of the 10/2 test napkins and the huck lace towels, followed by a trip to the Legacy in Sebastopol. Oh and then ending with a fantastic surprise!Initially, I purchased the linen knitting yarn to weave huck lace kitchen towels. The HGA's COE requires that huck lace be done in linen, and the linen at Rumpelstiltskin was super pliable so I figured what better way to practice with linen! But when I got home and started feeling the yarn, holding it, draping it, thinking about it as a towel I just couldn't go through with it. The linen yarn is chain plied which creates a compressible yarn that feels light and airy and is not something needed in a kitchen towel (at least in my brain right now, I reserve the right to change my mind later), but maybe this yarn could be a fun summer tunic, or better yet a tank top. For the weaving pattern idea I looked through some Handwoven magazines. Eventually, I stumbled onto Tein Chiu’ s article in Handwoven Jan/Feb 2014 showing a cute huck lace ‘X’ pattern. Then looking at the pictures in the article I started thinking about contrast and depth and how maybe I want to get a second yarn to accentuate the huck. That meant a trip to the Legacy shop over in Sebastopol to look for any yarns that needed a new home. The Legacy shop is the greatest store idea ever. It’s a thrift store that does only craft material. And since it operates with volunteer help all profit goes to the local hospice center. Off we went to the Legacy and I sorted through lots and lots of yarn looking for a similar color in linen or a linen blend. I actually had so much fun sorting I asked if they needed volunteers, though now I’m thinking I really don’t have time – but I still want to – we’ll see... Any way... While sorting through lots of different yarns I found a decent red linen/rayon blend which is what I wanted but it was slubby and a mix, and I wanted to practice with 100% linen. Well needless to say as I was about to leave the section I noticed some cones marked cotton and thought what the heck let’s try this just in case, and yep there was a cone of 100% red linen in there mislabeled. Now I'll have a monochromatic fabric with light reflecting different in different areas from both the lace sections and the different yarn twist, chain plied and 2-ply. Well I should say it felt and looked like linen since the tube didn’t have any original identifying stickers. While in the store I couldn't do my tried and true burn test, so instead I did my own mock experiment. Knowing that cotton is a soft yarn with a short staple length and linen is a stiff yarn with a long staple length I thought I could try plying it onto itself and crimping the yarn to see if there was a difference. First, I took a strand and plied it to itself then ran my fingernail down the strands to where the yarn was bent trying to crimp the yarn. With the cotton yarn nothing really happened, it just stayed soft and bouncy, but the linen crimped right at the bend. Since that is just based off my own ideas and tactile experiences I also did a burn test when I got home. Yes, it caught fire easily and burned on its own until I blew it out. Then there was a glow followed by a grey ash at the end. This lead me too officially call it linen, and decide to use it as my warp with the knitting linen yarn as my weft. So, I transferred the idea to my official weaving journal, and wound 290 threads 4 yards long. If you want here is a burn test table from Tauton Press There was also sewing this week since I need to finish up the huck lace towels and some of the 10/2 test napkins. Which lead me to notice there was dust everywhere from the handwoven fabric so I had to do some sewing machine maintenance. For the hems on huck towels Rosalie had us make about a 2-3 inch sections with a yarn of a different color placed at the final turning line. I decided to try her method and though I don’t like the chucky different colored yarn, I do love having a 1 inch hem! It is much easier to sew and it’s not as bulky. However, the thread I used didn’t match my base yarn color in the towels but hopefully it doesn’t detract too much from the weaving. Now, I just need to wash and dry them and get my pictures ready for the class' google drive and for the upcoming RGFA meeting. Towards the end of the week I started getting frustrated that all of my yarn, books, and tools are in the storage unit awaiting the new garage. So, I started thinking about how Sheila recommended that I join the Complex Weavers group. And how last year I started checking them out because their work is amazingly beautiful and I hope to someday weave like that. Then I remembered, their library selection was amazing! I signed up immediately and OMG! So much wonderful information about weaving and the history, and structure, and color, and events! It’s beautiful! I’ve had so much fun reading their Journals & Newsletters that I haven’t even checked out a book at their library yet, ha! Now back to finishing. Happy Weaving! |
Author: Vader
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