Card or Tablet Weaving

Oh, dear! I've done it again! I've found something else that is absolutely fascinating to do! Cardweaving is a mindboggling way of making cords and belts with punched cards holding the threads and keeping them in order. See the huge pack of cards on the cover of the book? Each of those cards has 4 threads that it controls. Each turn of cards (1/4 turn actually) brings a different thread to the surface of the work.


I wasn't very brave and made my first project very simple! I used only three cards and each card had 4 threads of the same color. My first piece is in the picture with the book. The center white line has a zig-zag effect because of the way I turned the cards 4-1/4 turns forward, followed by 4-1/4 turns backwards. My second piece has the white line without zigs or zags, but the entire piece twists. I turned the cards one direction for the entire piece.

See the twists?
I changed tensioning devices in the middle of the second piece and the change in my tension is obvious in person. The twisting of the piece at the beginning is less than at the end. Good to know--tension matters!


The book is "Card Weaving" by Candace Crockett. It belongs to my library...and it came complete with a set of cards! Now it's time to make myself a set!

From the Same Cloth

I really wanted to title this post "Sisters" because these two bags are like sisters. They are made from the same fabric, but the personalities are significantly altered by the edge treatments.











Bag #1 seemed to take forever! The sides of the bag are knit together in a modified I-cord treatment. It was a bear to knit, but the edge seems to let the background color of the weaving continue into the edging. The top edge is a simple overcast stitch to keep the loose warp threads under control (there is a line of backstitching underneath it).






Bag #2 was a speed demon! Even with all that fringe, it was finished in one evening! The warp threads on the front edge were braided. Every few wraps of the braid, I would pick up a new bundle of warp threads and let an old set hang down for fringe. The sides of the bag are sewn, and a braided cord sewn on for trim and a handle.

Hodge-Podge

I purchased some buffalo fiber at the Michigan Fiber Festival last weekend. The woman who sold it suggested blending it with some wool because it is apparently very warm by itself (not to mention expensive & I bought less than an ounce!). Here are my buffalo "sandwiches". There are at least three batts stacked together in the photo. I'm not sure yet how I want this to be spun. It may need to sit and wait for a day or two!






This is an edge treatment that we didn't cover in my workshop last weekend! This is a thick, twill fabric intended to become a shoulder bag. To finish the edges at the top of the bag I backstitched a line across the piece about3/8" from the edge. Then I stitched around the raw edge with the yellow yarn, taking care to place the loops right next to each other. The rounded edge looks good from both sides and covers all the loose warp threads.




And, just because it's canning season, here's a photo of my stewed tomatoes in process. I started with a bushel of tomatoes--big slicers--got almost half of them canned, did some salsa, and gave the rest away. Boy how I admire those who do big time canning! It is a lot of work! (But the end result is very satisfying!)

"There and Back Again"

I spent the last few days at the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, Michigan. My "excuse" for going was a finishing techniques class taught by Joan Sheridan Hoover titled "Take it All Off". My sampler is the lovely green thing in the photo. It is decorated with no less than 10 finishing techniques! My favorite technique is the one that doesn't show well in the photograph--it's on the top edge, second in from the right. It is a netting made by tying overhand knots at the edge of the weaving, followed by a second or third row of overhand knots lower down the fringe to create a simple netting.

Some of the best parts of taking a workshop class include:
-interacting with other weavers--we are an amazingly diverse group of people!
-interacting with instructors--these are people who in some way, shape or form, "do" weaving for a living (or some portion thereof). I like seeing who these people are...learning skills and techniques. Technically, Joan was teaching a finishing class. However, she was also teaching teaching skills. I learned lots listening to her.
-working on samplers! Samplers are cool! I want to have an excuse to do more samplers! Silly, I know, but look at all the information I have in that one piece of weaving! 10 edge treatments!

Waste Warp

A trick for minimizing waste with handspun warps is to use a "waste warp". A strong yarn is tied to the back beam and threaded through the heddles. The handspun warp is threaded through the reed and tied to the waste warp, one thread at a time. The waste warp can be reused. The handspun warp can be woven, theoretically, up to the knots that join the two warps.






When the threading is done, the warp is beamed, as usual, and the weaving begins! My waste
warp is the waste from my curtains. It was already threaded in a twill variant. I played around with the treadling to get a different pattern for this project. I think this fabric will be felted, due to some long floats, and then turned into a bag. The yarn is a friend's handspun.










Here is the draft I am using. The long floats occur at the sides of the three dots. Hmm. I'd point to them, but that doesn't work! As you move to the left from the tie-up square, the threading is: 12343214. Follow that second 4 down into the drawdown of the draft and there are three black squares. To the left and right of those squares are the long warp floats.

Random Artistic Moments

I got to color a t-shirt! This started out as a black print on a white t-shirt. My 4-year-old got to choose which color went with each dinosaur, but I got to color! Coloring with crayons (even the fabric version) is somehow therapeutic!

Wool Socks & Summer

These socks lasted on my feet for about two seconds after I put the camera down! It's hot here and these are 100% wool.

This is the "Tipsy Knitter Socks" pattern from "Socks, Socks, Socks". My gauge is a little off--these are hard to get over my ankle--but perhaps in winter that will be less of an issue. The yarn is hand-dyed, hand-spun Cotswold wool from my parents flock.

Notice how the two socks don't really match colorwise? I should have split the roving lengthwise and spun each half into yarn for one sock. That would have kept the color more consistent between the two.

New Tools

I got some new tools recently. This one (being explored by my youngest) is a spool rack. It is different from other rack I've seen, but will work well for storing yarn and also for putting cones of yarn together to see if I like the color.

















This is an amazing tool--it's a bobbing winder! It winds almost as fast as the little hand mixer winder I made! It's nice because it allows for greater control in winding speed and doesn't use any electricity! Plus, it's easy to wind!


Good tools are amazing!

Tonna's Blanket

My just turned 7 year old made the 18 squares for this blanket. The yarn is Lion Brand Woolease (leftovers from other projects). Each square is roughly 4". The first few squares were hard for her, but by the end she could weave them with her eyes closed. I'm so proud of her!

Plain Weave Challenge

I have read that plainweave is not something for beginning weavers. It's harder than it looks!

The good news is that my selvages look ok. I'm really pleased with them!

Can you see the tracking? The reed is threaded 1-2-2-2 and the tracking matches with the single thread in the reed. Theoretically the fabric will relax and that will disappear when I wet finish it.










The frustration is that my throwing of the shuttle often (once every 3" or so) catches some of the wrong threads. If I catch it early enough I back up and fix the error. If I don't catch it, I've given myself permission to shrug my shoulders and call this a learning/imperfect piece. A friend thinks no one will notice (Ha!). I believe her enough to keep going and not kill myself over these imperfections...but I know they are there!

Dye Day

When the temperature drops enough that I can run the oven I dye! These two rovings were inspired by the dyes left in my dye-bottles. The first one is mostly red and green...with a hint of magenta. I call it "Not-quite Christmas".








The second set has greens, blues, and pink. It's really pretty. It was so nice that I had to take a bit and see how it looked spun. I like it!

Oven dyeing like this is still an art form that I'm working on mastering. I soak the rovings in warm water and white vinegar. Then I drain the rovings, place them in my oven dyepots, and squirt acid dyes on them. I've learned that I like a lot of dye (intense colors, fewer white sections), but there is still a puddling effect with the dyes on the bottom layer in the dyepot. I place the pots in a cool oven, set the temp for 350 F and the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer dings, out come amazing surprises!

In the works

This is a swatch for a handspun/handknit sweater. The yarn is almost all spun. The birthday date looms near! Time to get the swatch done so I can make the calculations to determine (aside from just how crazy I am!) if I have enough yarn to do this!

The pattern (which does not want to photograph well) is Peerie Brocade by Charlie Hada from the Fall '99 issue of Knitter's Magazine.

The Power of Knowledge (and Experience)

The men and women of Wabash Weavers are amazing! Last time I put an 11 yard warp on this loom it took me at least a week to comb out all the tangles and get it beamed.

This time it took less than 1/2 hour! Some of the tricks I used: (1) a warping paddle to keep multiple threads from tangling as I wrapped them around the pegs on the warping board. (2) two rolls of brown paper set up so they rolled onto the backbeam without human interference (3) the "pullbackhard/snap" technique to straighten the threads from the warp chains.


Thank you all for your suggestions on improving the warping process! The last time was drudgery. This was bliss!

















Here is the first few inches of weaving. As I went back to take this photo I discovered a threading error right in the middle of the piece. Hmm. What method am I going to use to fix this? (Tune in next time! :)

Not Again!

Yup. I'm at it again. This is the second 11-yard warp for front room curtains. No, I haven't sewn the first set yet. This is the fabric for the windows on the north side of the room. I'm not sure yet if it will be the same diamond twill pattern as the first set or if I'll just weave it plain.

Right now I have the entire warp measured and threaded through the reed. I'm close to the halfway point of threading the heddles (I am threading the diamond pattern, I just don't know if I'll use it yet!).

From past experience, I know that this is still the easy part of dressing my loom with a warp this long. Last time when I wound the warp on the back beam I had so many tangles that I had to painstakingly comb out the warp. This time I hope to have to do that less. I used a paddle to help separate the threads as I wrapped them on the warping board and I have been trying very hard to keep things tangle free (I know it doesn't look that way from the mess of warp chains, but I'm trying!!!).

Cast-On (a podcast for knitters--www.cast-on.com) episode #51 reminded me why I do some of this crazy stuff. I used to be a Camp Fire Blue Bird (similar to the Brownies/Girl Scouts) and part of the "Camp Fire Wish" --which I looked up after listening to the episode--contains the phrase "remember to finish what I begin". It's the only phrase I remember from the Wish. But I was so terrible at finishing things back then that it's the one I repeated the most! And so now, years later, I do crazy deeds like repeating the longest weaving I've ever done...because I want to finish the project I have already begun. :)

A Frayed Knot

The handspun warp that I mentioned in my last post didn't take well to the motion of the beater. See how it is fraying? This yarn was not spun tight enough to hold together as a good warp should.
















Here is the interaction of a frayed bit of yarn with its neighbors. It made getting a good shed challenging--not impossible, and not horribly hard--I could usually encourage the fibers to let go of each other by placing my hand or the shuttle in the shed and moving it back and forth.








Here is the shot off the back of the loom when I had two weighted replacement threads. By the end I had at least three weights and four or five threads that I was able to just knot back together. I eventually gave up on the weaving....the whole warp was slowly pulling apart!














But I like the finished piece! It is reasonably soft and has a nice drape--and I have no idea how I want to use it! I was hoping to get enough yardage to make a vest. I guess I'll just have to try again! :)

Handspun in Weaving

This is a first for me! I am using a handspun single for my warp and weft! I am impressed that the single is strong enough to work as a warp. I have had two threads pull apart, but it wasn't hard to repair them.

This yarn is from the first (and possibly only) raw fleece I purchased. It was a pain to remove the vegetable matter--yuck! But, it was a good test yarn. I have enough to do a good sized sample project (20"x60" on loom). The end goal is to explore the creation of woolen fabric to make my husband a vest to wear with his Lord of the Rings cloak. A secondary goal is to gain confidence with handspun so I can weave a scarf out of the fiber (now yarn) that my mom gave me when I first started to spin. It's been waiting patiently for a couple of years now! So far, I think there is hope!

A dyeing we will go...

It was another day for solar dyeing. Local temperatures were a little lower than the last day I did this, but I tried it anyway! Today I put a board covered with aluminum foil under my dye pots to increase solar reflection and put all my pots in big, clear plastic bags to help insulate them. Did I take any pictures? No! I was busy watching the kids play in the kiddie pool in the front yard! But the dyes just amaze me!


Green, purple and a touch of orange. This set was in my big roaster. I had to add some extra heat via the microwave at the end of the day because there was quite a bit of excess dye in the pot when I started rinsing.









Pink, purple, blue. This one was fun dye--I just poured the dye onto the fiber and let it soak in! The presoaked fiber was in a glass casserole (dyes only) dish with a lid.
















Check on the rainbow colors! Each of these were dyed in my old canning jars (now dye pots). Color is so amazing!









And with all this dyeing going on, guess what is waiting patiently for its turn to become curtains!

:)

Finished fabric

This is the semi-artistic shot of my finished fabric for curtains. I wet finished it in my bathtub and then put it in the washer on a rinse/spin cycle (front loading washer) to get some of the water out. I used the dryer to get the fabric 3/4's dry, then put it outside on the line.



















With the fabric weaving finished, I spun some hand-dyed cotswold wool and cast on for a scarf. This is a simple lace pattern and I liked knitting it, but the resulting fabric didn't work. It had columns of 'slip one,knit two together, pass slipped stitch over' separating the yarn-over holes that were too stiff for me.

So, this scarf is now working on becoming my socks (at least I think they'll be mine!).

Works in progress

My last dye-day produced some gorgeous rovings. Most of them were on a light grey wool and done in families of color. This purple one has some blue in it. I started spinning it last night... I like it!













Lest I forget...This is my new bobbin winder. One of my weaving guild members suggested this to me. It's a $7 hand mixer from WalMart. I used the tin snips and removed the cross bars from the beater, then wrapped tape around it so the bobbins would be snug on the post. It works pretty well--the speed control could be improved (it goes really fast on the slowest setting), but I'm not ready to take it apart to play with the gear ratios yet!




The weaving is progressing! That's almost an inch of yardage wrapped on that beam. I hate to tell you how hard it has been to work on this big project. I can only work on it a little each day. I have a paper where I'm keeping track of my progress. It's about half full of measurement numbers now. I think the end is in sight!

Spinning wheel!

My incredible husband helped me cut, create, and position the flyer assembly on the treddle base I refinished earlier this spring. Right now it has a cotton drive band and slips a little at high speeds, but it works! I was able to treddle and spin roving into yarn! Yee-haw!

There are a few things that are probably going to happen before we call this done, but it's amazing to see it actually work!