8 Crackle Blocks on 4 Shafts: Sett

I am now in the process of sleying the reed. I am using a 12-dent reed sleyed 2 ends per dent. This gives me an epi of 24.

24 was the epi I had originally intended to use. But when I discovered that my warp consisted not of 10/2 pearl cotton but a combination of 10/2 and 20/2, I began to have concerns.

My previous warp (the fabric I am now finishing) was sett at 30 epi. It consisted solely of 20/2 pearl cotton. The result seemed to me a too loose sleying. The jury is still out on that decision by the way. However, the way I had woven that crackle was essentially a twill treadling, not a plain weave setting. Had a done a plain weave kind of treadling, the sett would have been fine.

The warp I am currently sleying is half 20/2 pearl cotton and half 10/2. Osterkamp recommends a sett of 19 for 10/2 and a sett of 27 for 20/2 if you are weaving clothing for garments. 24 seems comfortably in the middle. So, even though I will probably experiment with a bit of polychrome, I have decided to stick with a sett of 24.

Of course, having looked at Osterkamp, I now realize that if the warp had consisted solely of 10/2 pearl cotton, I should have tried a 20 epi sett instead of a 24 epi sett. The only reason, by the way, that I did not use 27 epi for the 20/2 warp is that I wanted the same number of ends in each dent and with the reeds in my collection, that would have meant choosing between 24 epi and 30 epi. I knew that 24 epi would be way too loose, so I settled for 30 epi.

Perhaps I should have named this blog, My Weaving Misadventures!

I like Peggy Osterkamp's books very much, including her sett charts These very detailed charts can be found in her Volume I, Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle. She also devotes a chapter to how to work out your own sett with a yarn which is not covered in her chart. I have found that chapter invaluable. Well, actually, I have found the whole volume invaluable.

For more on Peggy Osterkamp, go here. Or just Google her name!