THINKING ABOUT AFGHAN FROM HANDSPUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

I love to spin.  I do not get a lot of chances to do it, but when I can, I do.  I rarely spin for a particular project.  I spin because I have found some fiber I love.  The result of this is that I generally purchase only 4 ounces of any given fiber and the result of that is that I never have a lot of yardage of any one particular fiber. 

Spinning this way has never bothered me.  Spinning, for me, is simply an indulgence.

A piece in the latest Spin-off magazine* about using small amounts of fiber in hand knitting projects got me started thinking.  What about modular knitting?  I could design a modular knit afghan, not unlike the one I knit for our grandson when he was born.

And then I thought about weaving a patchwork afghan.  But when I thought about sewing the pieces together, I balked.  So I thought about weaving long strips.  Still didn’t like the idea of sewing strips together.

So, what about putting on a warp with narrow or broad stripes of the different handspun yarn and then weaving with those to create small or large checks.  And what about doing it double width.  Voila.  The germ of an idea finally arrived.

*The essay is by Ingrid Brundin and is called “Making Shells—Using up small bits of handspun with modular knitting.”

Related Post: 
Reflections on the Baby Blanket

“Thinking about Afghan from Handspun”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 22, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SCARF MODELLED

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

 

"Handspun Scarf Modelled” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 27, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

FINISHED HANDSPUN SCARF

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I had intended taking the photo of the scarf on me.  Time, however, prevented me from learning how to use the delay timer on my camera.

Merry Christmas!

 

"Finished Handspun Scarf” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 22, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

WET FINISHING THE HANDSPUN SCARF

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I followed the same procedure as I did for the sample.  I fulled it a tiny bit more so it was both a tiny bit narrower and shorter than predicted.

Final Width:  6”
Final Length: 65”

I let it dry and then steamed it with lots and lots of hot steam.  Never touched the iron to the fabric.  I simply used my hand to gently press at the just steamed areas.  It is lovely.

Will trim the fringes and get a picture up next week.  I want to learn how to use the delay timer on my camera.

"Wet Finishing the Handspun Scarf” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 14, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

 

SAMPLE WET FINISHED

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

WET FINISHED BY HAND

In the first set of images, the sample has been soaked for one hour in hot soapy (Johnson’s Baby Shampoo) for one hour, then massaged or otherwise tortured by hand for about three minutes.  The second image  is a detail view.

The width has stayed the same:  7”
The length has shrunk from 15” to 12”

The sample has lost some of the fragility it had when it first came off the loom.  But it is still quite delicate and soft.  Very feminine in its delicacy.  It needs to be washed again since this is to be a present for a man.

WET FINISHED IN THE WASHING MACHINE

The next set of images shows the sample after it has been washed by machine in hot water with Johnson’s Baby Shampoo for four minutes. I put it in a nylon lingerie bag.

 

 

The width has now drawn in to 6.25”
The length has shrunk down to 10.75”

The sample is still a bit delicate, but not at all fragile.  The fulling process has thickened it up just as bit, as well as softened the fabric.  I would be tempted to try fulling it just a bit more, but then I think it might start getting thicker than I want.  Plus it would be getting way too narrow.

Based on the on loom measurements (7” x 15”), this represents a widthwise loss of roughly 10% and a lengthwise loss of approximately 22%.  This means that, should I wash the scarf itself for the same amount of time, its length would shrink from from 88” (measurement on the loom) to roughly 68.5”.

The lengthwise shrinkage is in reality not that much.  The drop of 3” in length of the warp represents simply that the yarn was stretchy and stretched quite a bit as I beamed it on.  Likewise the length of the scarf  off the loom went from 88” to 78”. 

I had anticipated this kind of shrinkage from the beginning.  Even when I wound the yarn on the warping board, it snapped back probably about 5” after I removed each bout.

Related Post:  Winding the Handspun Warp

"Sample Wet Finished” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 13, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SCARF OFF LOOM

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Mended but not washed.

Actually, there was no real mending to be done.  Simply trimming off the ends left from changing bobbins.  I will trim the fringe after wet finishing.

Measurements:

Width: 7.25” (same as on loom)
Length: 78” (on loom, 88” = approximately 11% loss)

Dave Daniels commented on my last post:

FOURTEEN? Wow, good for you for getting that much extra out of it. Amazing!

The reason I could weave so close is that I have a big loom.  It is a Nilus II LeClerc with rear-hinged treadles and from front beam to back beam measures 47”. 

The longer warp length also reduces stress on the warp ends. That is why I can weave under high tension with little or no warp breakage.

Small looms are wonderful for little spaces and for travelling.  But nothing beats weaving on a larger loom.

"Handspun Scarf Off Loom” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 12, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SCARF: END OF THE LINE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Dave guessed that I would be able to weave a sample four inches long.  His guess was off by 14 inches……  Above is the apron spread from back beam to the heddles.

Waste at back: 17" x 98 ends = 1,666" ÷36" = 46 yards

Is this too much?  In this case, no, because I had more than enough handspun.  Still 46 yards of plied handspun seems like a lot to me. But the fact that I could weave as far as I could on the warp will cause me to think carefully next time as to whether or not I will use a dummy warp.

And here is a close up that shows just how close the rod came to the heddles.

Actually, too close for comfort.  The back rod was rubbing against the heddles and I didn’t like that one bit.  Had I been really intent on weaving as much as I could (and I could have woven possible two to three more inches), I would have taken the trouble to move the rod and apron back a wee bit.  But this was only a sample and I just wanted to finish the weaving.

The amazing thing was that this last bit of weaving created a great deal of tension on the warp because the warp ends, when sheds were created created terribly great angles when a shed was made.  But not a broken thread in the bunch.

And no floating shafts!  Why do I have trouble with floating shafts in my complex crackles and no floating shafts in plain twill?  It does not happen because of unequal distribution of warp ends on the shafts.  Give or take one end, there are always the same number on each shaft.

Related Posts: 
Floating Shafts
Handspun and Dummy Warps

"Handspun Scarf: End of the Line” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 11, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SCARF IS WOVEN AND I HAVE A QUESTION

Posted by Peg in South Carolina
 Here is the scarf, still on the loom.  On the loom, it is 88” long and the width is 7.25 inches (the width at the reed is 8.0 inches.

I have done the hemstitching…..after re-checking the directions! I find it amazing how easy it is to hemstitch this fabric as compared to hemstitching my 60/2 silk pieces.  And how much better the hemstitching looks here.

And now I have a question.
I wonder how long I will be able to make the end-of-the warp sample I would like to have for testing wet-finishing?

Related Posts: 
Handspun Shawl Done….Almost
Hemstitching

"Handspun Scarf is Woven and I Have a Question” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 10, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

 

ALMOST DONE WEAVING THE HANDSPUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have removed the raddle so that the back rod could move up onto the top of the back beam. 

I have woven 80 inches so far.  I plan on weaving only six more inches. That may (or may not) give me space to weave a short piece that I could use for sampling the finishing.

I have decided, by the way, that I like the sheds I get better with the raddle off the back beam.  So for the next warp, I will remove the raddle after I am done threading. Then, of course, I will leave the lease sticks in.

Related Post:  Finished

"Almost Done Weaving the Handspun” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 9, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

TWILL LINE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I am working at getting 12 picks per inch.  What I had intended to do was to use my right angle rectangle to place against the fabric to check the angle of the twill.  But this fabric is so busy with all its nubs that I cannot see the angle. At least not when I am looking straight down at the fabric.  For all anyone might care, this reads simply as plain weave.

But I wanted to weave twill, because the twill structure, even though the fabric does not read as twill, will allow the fabric to hang nicely around the neck.

I discovered quite by accident that if I looked at the woven fabric on the loom from a certain angle, I could clearly see the twill line.  So I tried to get it on a photograph.  After many failed attempts, I finally got this one.  If you look at the left side of the fabric, the twill line is visible.

"Twill Line” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 8, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

BEATING THE HANDSPUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

When I beat, I am used to slamming the beater into the fell.  Indeed, I have equipped this beater with a weight to take some of the work off my arms.  Adding the weight really goes back to my early years of weaving rugs.  I keep the weight on because it helps very much in beating my fine silk pieces.

But this is neither a rug nor a 60/2 silk piece.  Instead of using the beater to beat the weft into the fell, I use it to gently place the weft where it needs to be.  This is a two-step process for me:

1. I raise the shed, throw the weft, and bring the beater a couple of inches away  from the fell.

2. I change to the next shed and carefully bring the beater towards me to place the weft where my eye tells me it needs to be.

Actually, “bringing the beater towards me” is usually not quite accurate.  Because the beater is generally tipping more or less towards me (and remember that the beater is weighted), I am actually holding the beater away from the fell and then allowing it to go to the place I want it to go by resisting the force its weight is trying to exert.

"Beating the Handspun” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 7, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

WEAVING FINALLY BEGUN ON HANDSPUN WARP

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

This is a bird’s eye view of the piece.  It is still window screening.  Clicking on the image will raise it full size;  then the window screening will really show!  But it is window screening as it ought to be.  When the scarf comes off the loom, the fabric will close together a bit.  Washing it will close it up still more.

I have decided to weave this piece with a temple.  I think the selvedges will look better.  I think the whole piece will look better.  Despite the fact that I move the temple after 8 shots…….  I’m getting used to it, though.

If you go to the related post on temples, you will see that when I wrote that—in July of 2007—I said that I had never used a temple on my handspun, only on silk warps or wide warps that needed to be beaten very tightly.  A girl can change her mind…….

Related Post:  Temples

"Weaving Finally Begun on Handspun Warp” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 4, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

RESLEYING THE HANDSPUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

After I had spun the yarn, I soaked it in hot soapy water for 30 minutes, rinsed it well and let it dry. The yarn did not “bloom” though the textured bits did.  So I think I need to treat this as a worsted rather than a woolen spun yarn.  But I still need to account for the texture.

I once again used Asenhurst’s formula to figure out the maximum sett for twill and I got 10.72.  Well, I’m throwing Asenhurst out.  What I see on my loom does not support this sett at all.  So I am going to go for 12 epi.

And here is what it looks like sleyed at 12 epi.

Much better.  Clearly handspun is its own creature with its own demands.  Sampling is clearly in order.

The blue mohair is woven in plain weave and I have made no attempt to get the picks per inch correct.  I wanted only to get the selvedges pulled in the right amount and to see how the warp spacing looked.  This looks like a twill treadling is going to work very well.

Related Posts: 
Handspun Sett Still Too Open
Interlude

"Resleying the Handspun” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 3, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SETT STILL TOO OPEN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I went to the loom this morning ready to begin weaving the handspun scarf.  I threw some plain weave shots (visible at the top of the photo) with the purpose of drawing in the selvedge to where I wanted it to be when I started weaving.  And I had my hemstitching instructions at the ready (I always need to refresh my memory on how to begin the hemstitching).

Looking at what was happening, namely how easily this was going to become a weft-faced piece, I began having second thoughts about the sett.  Then I looked, really looked, at the warp.  Clearly, clearly, these ends were still too far apart from each other. Even taking into consideration the textured bumps in the warp.

So, time to pull out all those blue threads and get to work on resleying.

Related Posts: 
Determining Sett for Handspun Scarf
Handspun Sett Change

"Handspun Sett Still Too Open” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on December 2, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN TIED ON AND READY TO WEAVE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

The blue waste yarn is leftover mohair.  When I return to the loom to begin weaving, I will throw a few more shots of the mohair to draw in the selvedges to where I want them to be.

Related Posts: 
Lashing on to the Front of the Loom: Part One
Ready to Weave

"Handspun Tied on and Ready to Weave” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 30, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HANDSPUN SETT CHANGE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have not really been comfortable with a twill sett of 8 epi for this handspun warp.  And after I had beamed it on I saw why.  Here is a photo of the warp from the back after beaming, threading, sleying and removing of lease sticks.

The two warp ends visible on either side at the top of the shafts are the two floating selvedge warp ends.  Right now, they are sleyed and the ends that will hang over the back beam I have simply thrown up onto the top of the loom to keep them out of the way for now.

This next photo shows more clearly why I was uncomfortable with 8 epi for a twill sett for this yarn.

Here in the raddle, the warp is sett at 8 epi.  Looking at it, I see warp ends that are not close enough together. This would work for plain weave, but not for twill.  So I decided to sett the warp at 10 epi using a 5-dent reed set two ends per dent.

This means that the sides of the warp will not go straight from front to back but will angle a bit. But the angle is very slight. Once I start weaving, the angle will be a little greater because the woven fabric will pull in. 

The first photo, by the way, gives a good view of the LeClerc raddle.  It is attached to the back of the loom so that the tines point directly back.  I have removed the lease sticks but I am going to keep the raddle in while I weave the scarf.  The raddle should keep the ends sorted at the back as much as they need be for this particular warp.

Related Post:   Determining Sett for Handspun Scarf

"Handspun Sett Change” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 24, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

NOT DYEING THE WEFT YARNS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

I have three skeins of 60/2 silk ready for the dye pots.

“Life,” however, seems to be happening. 

For the next couple of weeks, it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to find any three-hour spaces that I need for even one dye session.  I won’t mention just yet how many dye sessions I think I am going to need.  That is a good way to head myself into a downward spiral!

Still I have enough tasks to do that can be done in smaller chunks of time.

1. The three skeins of warp yarn having been dyed can now be wound onto cones in preparation for winding warps.

2. I can wind the warp

3. I can beam, thread, sley, and tie on the warp.

These three alone I will be unable to finish in the next two weeks, even with more time at my disposal!   But because I can do them in bits and pieces of available time, I can make steady progress.

I have already made a start on #1.  Just enough of a start that I can tell the first skein is probably going to unwind onto the cone without much trouble.

Then there is the handspun scarf warp.  I have made the warp, beamed it on  and am ready to thread.

And a 4-dent reed sits against the wall waiting to be put to use.

So, to be realistic, I think I am looking to early January to begin the actual weaving on the green silk crackle project. I mean, Christmas is almost here, my gosh!

Related Posts: 
Handspun Warp Question
Interlude

"Not Dyeing the Weft Yarns” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 17, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

 

 

HANDSPUN AND DUMMY WARPS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

In the past I have always used a dummy warp with my handspun.  My dummy warps consisted of about one-and-a-half yards of a similar sized cotton.  I warped and beamed this cotton onto the loom. Then I tied the handspun warp to it and continued beaming on.  But not this time.

Why not?

First, I had plenty of yarn, so I did not feel the urgent need to conserve it as carefully as I could. 

Second, when I have used a dummy warp, I found that I could weave on the handspun warp until the knots got to and even through the heddles.  Because I have an apron on the back beam (and on the front beam as well), I am thinking that maybe I can weave until the apron itself gets to the heddles.  In that case, there would be no real reason to use a dummy warp. 

Related Posts:   
Tying the Handspun to the Dummy Warp 
Handspun Shawl: The Dummy Warp

"Handspun and Dummy Warps” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 11, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

WINDING THE HANDSPUN WARP

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

To wind the handspun warp I converted two skeins of the handspun into balls. Not cones.  Balls.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Winding from balls is jerky at best.  Winding from cones is smooth and easy.  I knew this.  So why, why, why did I make balls?  With my cone winder it is just as easy to make cones as it is to make balls with my ball winder.

Well, there were not many ends, and I just wanted to see if I had been wrong about the balls.  If my experience had changed.  Nope.  So, to wind bobbins, I will convert the remaining skeins to cones.  I may even convert what is left on the second ball to a cone.

Cone/ball issue aside, there is really only one major issue to confront when I make a handspun warp.  The stretch factor.  Handspun has lovely resilience.  That means it stretches and bounces right back.  That means that when I removed the warp from the warping board, I immediately lost eight inches.  Sigh.   And I had tried to be so careful to wind the warp tautly but without stretching it.

I did make allowances for the stretch factor when I worked out the figures.  I’m not totally dumb!

Related Post:  Spinning for Weaving 

"Winding the Handspun Warp” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 11, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

DETERMINING SETT FOR HANDSPUN SCARF

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I checked Osterkamp’s extensive discussion of figuring out sett in her book, Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle. Usually I go the yards-per-pound route. This time, however, I decided I wasn’t going to fiddle with that. Instead I decided to work with the wraps per inch*.

My measurements of the wpi came in at 16.  I’m never sure of the accuracy of these measurements.  The finer the yarn gets, the more problematic it can be. But 16, accurate or inaccurate, is what is is going to be.

YARN WEIGHT PER POUND VERSUS WRAPS PER INCH

Yarn weight per-pound is much more accurate than working with wraps per inch. Working with 60/2 silk forces me into using yards-per-pound.  However, that figure is already provided by the manufacturer. For me to work that out on my own, I would have to use the McMorran Balance**. But I’m not so sure of my ability to be accurate with that either.

16 wraps per inch it is.

CALCULATING SETT: STEP ONE

The next step is to multiply 16 by 0.67 (or 2/3) to get the maximum sett for twill.  The answer to that calculation is 10.72.  That, however, would be the maximum sett for twill.  I want a softer fabric than that.

STEP TWO:  CORRECTING FOR KIND OF FABRIC

To get a sett for a softer fabric I multiplied 6.9 by 0.65, the number that Osterkamp suggests for woolen.  That calculation gave me a sett of  6.9.  So the sett I would then use should be 7 epi. 

STEP THREE: MAKE A CONSIDERED JUDGMENT

However, the last handspun I wove, with identical grist, was sett at 8 epi for twill.  And this was decided only after enormous amounts of time spent thinking and worrying. I still have the piece so I checked it. That sett was exactly right.  I will use 8 epi as my sett for this piece. 

There is another reason I prefer a sett of 8 epi over one of 7. At 8-epi I can sley an 8-dent reed with one end per dent, instead of using a 5- or 6-dent reed with varying numbers of 1 and 2 ends in each dent.  I worry about possible warp streaks when I have to mix the number of ends in a dent.

*To learn how to measure wraps per inch, go to this illustrated explanation:  http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/wpi.shtm

**To learn how to use a McMorran Yarn Balance, go to this illustrated explanation:   http://www.allfiberarts.com/library/aa00/aa022800.htm

Related Post:  Thoughts on Designing

"Determining Sett for Handspun Scarf” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 10, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.