FAITH AND WEAVING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I just found the following tidbit on a sewing blog.  I couldn’t resist making the connection to weaving and wrecking thousands upon thousands of yards of yarn (not to mention, fabric).

To paraphrase Kenneth King (big shot teacher), if you don't wreck thousands of yards of fabric, you're not really learning to
sew. That makes me feel good and terrible, all at the same time. I mean, hello, I'm well on my way to meeting that goal :-).
And yet, really, who has that much fortitude?

From a post called Faith-Based Education by K-Line.

“Faith and Weaving” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 26, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

RE-THREADING: GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

THE GOOD NEWS

I carefully checked the threading errors in the draft itself against the actual threading on the loom.  I discovered that there are no problems at all on the right side.  The major threading error in the draft I must have caught while I was threading, because the threading at that point is absolutely correct.    The other possible errors on the right side were not errors at all, at least visually.

In short, the threading errors begin on the left side, a little left of center.  I pinpointed where I needed to start the re-threading, both on the warp itself and on the the draft.  With great confidence, I then cut off the left side close to the fell.  I should always worry when I do things with great confidence.  For that led to

THE BAD NEWS

I no longer had the lease sticks in.  I no longer had a cross.  Once a pulled the threads out of the heddles I would have to way to tell what order to pick up the threads for threading in the heddles.

BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLY BAD NEWS

1. I still had the raddle on the back beam.  There are 15 ends in each raddle section.  That represents 1/4-inch worth of warp ends.  So I could use the raddle to select my threads from.  How would the weaving go?  Definitely better than having no order.  Otherwise, I don’t know.  I would worry about crossed ends, so at least for awhile I would  always be checking the back of the loom each time I moved the warp forward.

2. I have a husband who I think could hold the ends taut and step on the appropriate treadle.  Standing at the back of the loom, I could then insert the warp sticks into the sheds.  The sheds would not be perfect tabbies, as that is impossible on this kind of warp.  And it will not be easy to clear the sheds in order to put in the lease sticks.  But I think it is worth a try.  So tonight I will put him to use. 

QUESTIONS

1. I almost always leave the lease sticks in when I weave.  Maybe 3 times in my weaving life have I removed them.  Why did this have to be one of them?!?

2. Having removed the lease sticks, why didn’t I think to put them in before I cut off the warp?

“Re-threading: Good News and Bad News” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 24, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CHECKING THE THREADING IN THE SOFTWARE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

And it does not look promising.  At this point, just looking at

1. The threading – noting the blocks and finding some definite problems and some possible ones

2. The fabric as it appears on the computer screen – finding definite problems

Here is a view of part of the fabric as it appears, treadled in the Italian manner.  This is the treadling I am strongly favoring right now:

How many threading errors can you find?  Two of them really stand out, but there are others.  Why, why, why did I not do this before I even started to thread?  Truly, I am not stupid!  I guess I simply did not realize just how well the software could display the smallest of errors if I used it well.

And here is a clear threading error illustrated in the threading—actually a small cluster of threading errors covering 12 ends:

If you can’t find it in the threading, look at the drawdown and the error is clearly visible.  This, by the way, is on the RIGHT side of the warp, where I did not think there were any errors.  I had seen errors only on the left side…………..

Of course, once I am done with this, I will have to check all this against the actual fabric and threading.  It is possible that

1. I corrected some of the threadings as I did the threading

2. That I simply did not see some of the threading errors in the woven cloth. Alerted, I will now probably see them.

It seems likely at this point (not yet finished with the analysis) that I am going to rethread the whole thing. 

Well, I am not done yet.  And tomorrow we leave for a weekend in Charlotte.  That will get me away from all of thlis and I will return ready to tackle anything that needs to be tackled.  Or, at that is the hope!

Related Post:  Process versus Product

“Checking the Threading in the Software” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 19, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CRACKLE THREADING ISSUES EMERGE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

PLEASED BUT A FEW ISSUES ANYWAY

I am very pleased with how the warp is handling during this test weaving.  I still have some problems with clean sheds.  The problem is clearly visible in the mirror I use and it is easiily resolved by simply strumming with my hand the top part of the warp.  Since I am sampling, I am fairly easily prone to treadling errors, but once I settle on the treadling structure, that problem should begin to clear itself up.

I am also having problems with the selvedges.  The selvedges themselves are fine.  The problem is that weft threads tend to get caught there and form loops—sometimes long loops.  I am using 3 shuttles and that is a normal problem.  I have not been particularly concerned with it during the test weave, but when I start the real stuff, I will have to become concerned.

Related to that problem is little loops of weft sometimes appearing somewhere across the warp.  They are probably also on the underside.  I should be able to resolve that by tightening the tension just a bit on my end feed shuttles.

I am ready to start sampling with the yarns I dyed for this project. No more stash yarns!  I have a good idea of what I want to do, but I will have to test it.  I was getting so excited.

Yes, the tense of the verb is correct – “I WAS getting so excited.”

THE “BIGGIE”

I have been watching a nasty line develop along the length of the warp in one spot on the left side.  The detail below shows it quite distinctly.

I finally checked it out.  As I suspected, a threading error.

A SOLUTION

I figured that I could insert the 4 necessary repair heddles on the correct shafts.  I could lengthen the 4 yarns by tying on more length to each of them.  Then, after threading and sleying, I could put a pin in the weaving and wind the yarns around the pin to tension them.  Or I could just weight them off the front of the loom.

Doing this was going to be a bear.  I decided to wait until this evening when my husband was home.  That way he could hold each shaft up for me while I attached the repair heddles.

But…

ANOTHER SOLUTION

There is at least one more similar threading error on the left side.  So I really think re-threading the left side is in order.  Also, the sett 0f 60 epi means that the heddles are pretty close together and in the problem area I would have 4 empty heddles taking up the same amount of space that the 4 repair heddles would take up.  This, it seems to me, could affect the cleanness of the sheds.  Sigh

So, right how this is my plan.

Cut off the warp at the fell, but only on the left side, beginning with the first threading error.  To keep the warp rod level and steady, I will insert a piece of wood for it to rest on. I will pool the ends out of the reed and out of the heddles and re-thread that side.  First, of course, I have to find in my threading draft where that starts. 

I will re-thread, praying that I make no new and surprising threading errors.  Resley.  Then cut the rest of the warp off at the fell, remove the weaving and tie on the warp again.

Hoping all that goes uneventfully, I will then  test-weave one more sample with stash yarns;  then start using the real yarns………..

WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?

Am I getting discouraged?  Well, yes.  At least at times I feel discouraged.  But really, a better word to describe my feelings right now is a kind of calmness.  Actually almost a sense of numbness.  I no longer care about getting this finished, at least in any particular time frame.  I just kind of feel like I am in some kind of time warp (pun?) where the piece is in control.   It is going to be ready to weaving only when it  is ready.

Related Posts: 
Test Weaving the Warp
Finished Sleying? Well, No

“Crackle Threading Issues Emerge” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 14, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

BLOGGER SIGN-IN SOLVED

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

The magic phrase?  Enable 3rd-party cookies.  As soon as I did that and restarted Firefox, the issue was solved.

“Blogger Sign-in Solved” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 14, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

BLOGGER PROBLEMS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I cannot leave comments on Blogger blogs. I can publish blog posts. But I can edit my own published blog posts only through Blogger’s dashboard.  The dashboard always has me signed in but my blog always has me signed out.

I use Firefox for my internet browser.  This started about a week ago.  I discovered that there are no problems with Internet Explorer.  So it is clearly a Firefox problem.  I have not changed any settings.  And I double-checked them to make sure they were OK.  I have used Blogger Help to see if there is anything else, and there doesn’t seem to be.

My greatest frustration is not being able to leave comments.

Suggestions anyone?

“Blogger Problems” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 11, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I continued weaving on the beginning of the warp. I wasn’t exactly falling over my feet crazy in love with the results.  Here is what I wove:

1. Alternating shafts 1 and 2, using blue 60/2 silk for pattern weft and 120/2 orange for tabby weft.
2. Alternating shafts 3 and 4, with some colors.
3. Treadling 1 shaft after another, alternating 60/2 green with 60/2 blue.

I tried to tell myself I kind of liked what was happening.  It would improve once I started using the intended colors.

TABBIES?

What on earth was I thinking?  This threading is NOT for a traditional 4-shaft crackle (though threaded on 8 shafts). It is for and 8-crackle-blocks on 4 shafts structure.  THERE ARE NO TABBIES POSSIBLE!!!!

I had tied up the treadles for traditional 4-shaft crackle:

1,2; 2,3; 3,4; 1,4;  and tabbies 1,3 and 2,4

But I had threaded for 8 crackle blocks on 4 shafts (spreading them out to 8 shafts.).

Won’t work.

I think this blog needs a category for “senior moments”, though this was certainly longer than a moment……….

“What Was I Thinking?” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 10, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

PROCESS VERSUS PRODUCT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

“When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to

where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may

not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be

there.”

 

I found this quote, credited to The Incomplete Manifesto of Bruce Mau on a recent post in the blog, “From the Studio of”

I don’t think I have ever found a statement that so completely represents my approach to much of what I weave.

“Process versus Product” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 5, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

TEST WEAVING THE WARP

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I finally got the warp lashed on successfully.  The next step was to treadle tabbies to discover problems.  And there was a problem.

CROSSED WARP ENDS

A bad spot where warp ends were crossed at the reed.  It took me three attempts before I finally got it right.  I always have problems trying to figure out how to fix this kind of a problem.  It always involves experimenting.  But I’m much calmer about it that I was.  Especially when it occurs in only one place.

CLEARING SHEDS

The orange you see consists of shots of tabbies in some 60/2 silk I had leftover from another project.  Throwing these involved dealing with sheds that did not want to clear big time.  Each time I treadled I had to clear the sheds manually before I threw the shuttle. I used a long pickup stick and my hands to clear the sheds.  Gradually there were fewer and fewer threads blocking the sheds.

MIRROR

I have a cosmetics mirror standing on a table next to the loom, positioned so that I can see through the sheds from one end to the other. I used to use two mirrors, one on each side of the loom.  I broke one of the mirrors.  And now I’m finding that one mirror is sufficient.

STARTING TO TEST-WEAVE CRACKLE

When things started settling down a bit, I started weaving crackle.  It’s not very visible here but I was throwing shots of blue 60/2 silk pattern weft alternating with shots of orange 120/2 silk for the tabby wefts.  Again, lots of clearing of sheds.  But slowly in got to the point where strumming the top of warp would clear the sheds and I would need need only a few ends to clear.

I still have two more sheds to work on till they start clearing more easily.

It is typical for my silk warps to take a bit of weaving before the clearing of sheds really settles out.  Maybe five or six inches.  In any case, right now I am going to use this test weaving, so to speak, for trying out part of the treadling design I have worked out, and trying different ways of using colors in the treadling.  I will continue to use leftover yarn, partly because I still have to wind the bobbins for this warp.  But also, I think it will be kind of fun to try using wildly different and unplanned colors just to see what happens.

I had been worried about how such a wide warp would handle in 60/2 silk.  Up till now I have only woven narrow things, generally 10” to 12” wide.  I am pleased that this warp is behaving so very well.  It is nice to be weaving again!

“Test Weaving the Warp” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 4, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

NEW COMPUTER AND WEAVING (NOT EXACTLY)

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

My new computer arrived last Monday.  It took three hours for him to set it up and move files and folders (but not programs).  During that time I worked on tying my warp onto the front beam.  My loom is in the next room, so I could easily respond to questions.  And the tying-on process is an interruptible process.

First I tied each of the one-inch bouts with overhand knots.  Then I cut off a LONG length of slippery cord and used that to lash the war; on to the front rod.  I then decided to tie up the treadles.  Finally, I realized I had not removed the lease sticks from behind the heddles.  Normally by this time I would have moved them from that position to the back of the loom where I would sit them in my Angel Wings from Purrington.  But I had not done that. 

Big mistake.

So I removed the lease sticks entirely.  The raddle was still on the loom.  That would reduce any trouble I might have in locating warp ends should one decide to up and break.  But what I had not counted on was…………..all the various loose ends at the back of the warp!

I went to the front to pull on them.  Didn’t help.  All I could do was pull those ends that were loose up to the front of the loom and that, believe me was a royal mess.  I ended up pull everything tight up to the front and reknotting the warp ends.  And then trimming them.  I am only partway through this.
Because

1. I’m just a bit tired of doing this.
2. I am heavily involved in getting all my programs back onto the computer.

The real slowdown with this last has been that I am missing some passwords.  I printed them all out of my program before I turned my old computer over to the computer expert.  What I did not know until the computer had been removed, taken apart for spare parts, and discarded by the company that built my new computer, was that two pages failed to print.  Pages that contained passwords beginning roughly with F and G, and with R and S.  This has sorely tested my patience.

Also testing my patience is also being tested by one of my programs, InfoSelect.   This is a wonderful piece of software for keeping notes about all sorts of things.  And everything is in the same place.  Very very often it is far easier to bring up a page into that program than to open Word Perfect or Microsoft Word.

Problem.

The software would only read my backup.  It refused to save it because it said I did not have administrative privileges.  Sorry.   I do. But apparently there was no way to communicate that.   So, I ended up copying individual entries and pasting it into the program. I did a lot of cleanup in the process.  I.e., there are a lot of files I didn’t copy because I didn’t need them anymore.  I am almost done……… 

Related Posts:
Lashed On
Lashing on to the Front of the Loom Part Two

“New Computer and Weaving (Not Exactly)”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 2, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.