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 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.

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.

 

WINDING THE SILK WARP

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

My original intention had been to wind three bouts with 98 ends and one bout with 96 ends.  That would give me the total number of ends I need for the scarf/sample warp, sett at 60 epi. 

This would give me bouts more than one inch wide.  Actually, more than one-and-a-half inches wide.

Memory niggled at me.  I had read that fine warps should be wound in one-inch bouts AT THE MOST.  I don’t remember where I read this but from my own experience, I knew this was reasonable though tiresome to do.

Yes, I am lazy.  I am just as eager as the next person to take shortcuts.  But this weaving is just too important to me to let that laziness control me.  So I am making bouts slightly less than an inch wide.  I am winding six bouts with 56 ends and one bout with 54 ends.  Yes, this is tiresome.

Related Post: Warping Work Station with Coffee

“Winding the Silk Warp” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 3, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

WEAVING HAS BEGUN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

WATCH THE SHAFTS

Here is a photo after I have woven the first 20 inches. The placement of the treadles has not been a problem. In fact, it has become a good thing. I am always looking at the shafts to make sure that the correct shafts have risen. One of my first weaving teacher’s mantra was “watch the shafts.” When I watch the shafts, there is far less risk of a treadling error than if I watch the treadles.

SELVEDGES

I am having to do something, however, that I normally avoid. I am touching the selvedges…… If I had included either a plain weave or basket weave at the selvedges, I would have been OK. Isn’t hindsight wonderful?! But the way the warps group together, it is difficult to weave without touching them. And in the case of the double shots on the pattern treadles, the floating selvedge, on the second shot, pulls the floating selvedge way into the warp that I have to literally grab it and pull it out to where it should be.

PLACING THE WEFT

I am having great fun weaving this because of the continually shifting colors. But it is still slow weaving (though not the slow weaving of fine silk!). I have found that the easiest way to place the weft shots is to do the following:

1. Open the shed
2. Throw the shuttle
3. With the shed still open, pull the beater part way to the fell.
4. Change the shed
5. Pull the beat to the exact point where I want the weft to lie.

Following this procedure I am getting 8 shots per inch, which exactly balances the 8 warps per inch. The way I check this visually as I weave is to look at the empty squares formed by the crossing of warp and weft. At the fell, where I have just beat, they are just ever so slightly taller than they are wide, or so I try to keep them. Farther down, as a result of the impact of more beating, they square up. These little squares are visible in the second photo to the left, but blowing up the photo will make it even more prominent.

POSTSCRIPT ONE: SHUTTLES

I started weaving with the boat shuttle, since the yarn on the shuttle, after the unweaving, was attached to the weaving. I was surprised to find two things:

1. How light the boat shuttle was.

1. How much easier it was to get the Bluster Bay end feed shuttle through the entire web when throwing it.

Had I continued to weave with the boat shuttle, I would have learned how much more energy I would have to expend to get the shuttle all the way across. But I could see how the issue of lightness would be important for people with shoulder issues. But using the boat shuttle would mean continually changing bobbins because it holds a great deal less yarn than the Bluster Bay end feed shuttle. And so far, at least, it does not both my shoulders.

This photo shows three of my shuttles. The first one one the left is a Schacht end-feed shuttle. The middle one is my Bluster Bay. And the one on the right is a LeClerc boat shuttle. The Bluster Bay is clearly the largest!

POSTSCRIPT TWO: COLOR

The colors in the two photos seem different. The difference comes from perspective. Looked at from a greater distance, the colors soften and blur. Looked at from the loom bench, they are quite vivid. So the colors in each of the photos are accurate from the perspective each photo was shot.

“Weaving Has Begun” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on March 6, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

Related Posts:
Window Screening
Window Screening Continued
Never Touch the Selvedges
Slow Weaving

DESIGN CONTINUED: HOW MANY BLOCKS?

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

My attention may be on the handspun shawl I am getting close to being able to warp, but I still continue to think and make notes about the silk crackle shawl which will follow. Here are some of the issues I am concerned with.

1. NUMBER OF THREADING BLOCKS

The most immediate issue is to determine how many blocks across the width of the warp I want. The art pieces, all of the based on Zielinski’s notion of creating 8 crackle blocks on 4 shafts, consisted of 17 blocks across the warp, but that was a much narrower warp. This shawl will be 28” wide.

2. SIZE OF BLOCKS

But even before I can decide the number of blocks, I need to determine how many units in each of the blocks. Yes, I do plan (at least at this point) to keep each block the same size. To determine the number of units I need to determine how wide I want the blocks.

3. ENDS PER INCH (EPI)

The epi for the shawl will be different from that for the art pieces: 60 epi instead of 72. 72 epi is generally the best setting for 60/2 silk woven in a twill pattern. Since I am weaving this crackle in what is essentially twill fashion, 72 would be the right sett. And it worked quite well for the art pieces.

But weaving a much wider piece at the same sett as a narrow piece would, for me, create difficulties. More difficult because it would be easier for the closely sett warp ends to hang up on each other and so create bad sheds. It would also be much harder to pack in the weft on the wider piece than on the narrow piece. So I have decided to make life a bit easier for me and sett this shawl at 60 epi. I will also consider using a temple to help with both issues.

Changing the epi from 72 to 60 will in and of itself make the blocks a bit wider. But my inclination is to make the blocks even wider because of the larger proportions of the shawl. So I am for now settling on 10 units per block. With 4 ends in an individual crackle unit, plus 1 accidental end at the end of any given block, that would result in a block being 41 ends wide. That means a block would be approximately 2/3-inch wide. With 44 blocks, I would get a shawl requiring 1,804 ends, four more ends than I had originally planned on in order to achieve a shawl with a final width (off loom and washed) of 28”.

4. ORDER OF THE BLOCKS

I have also made another design decision regarding the blocks. I had intended on trying ordering the blocks differently from that in the art pieces. There they were aligned in straight twill order, but reflected:

A B C D E F G F G F E D C B A

And in reflecting, the center of the scarf had some repeating blocks which created a change in the design there. Always wanting to try something a little different, I started to think about changing the order. But then sanity prevailed. The weaving itself is going to be a challenge, and by weaving, I mean, the planning of the treadling combined with the colors. I have physically available to me what can happen with threading twill order reflected. But not any other kind of threading. So I am going to stick to the concept of straight twill reflected.

But just how and where and how often that reflecting process will happen—in other words, the actual block order—I have not decided.

Related Posts:
Temples
Temples (these are two different posts!)
Much Ado About Not a Whole Lot
Threading Four-Shaft Crackle
8 Crackle Blocks on 4 Shafts

"Design Continued: How Many Blocks?” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on February 5, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

TOWEL ONE WOVEN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Weaving these towels is very different from the weaving I normally do. First of all, it is really fast!  Well, not as fast as Laura Fry weaves, but certainly a lot faster than the crackle I have been weaving.

I recently purchased Laura Fry’s latest CD.  One of the things on it is a video clip of Laura weaving.  Talk about fast weaving! If I were interested in doing production weaving where speed was essential, I would definitely use Laura’s performance in this video clip as my model.  I would look at it and try to imitate.  Look again, refine the imitation.  And so on. By the time I get to the fifth towel on this warp, I may be looking at how to speed things up…. To learn more about Laura’s CD, go to her website here.

Another thing that I am finding intriguing is the slant of the twill.  Since I sett the yarn at 24 epi, I intended to weave it at 24 ppi.  This would give me the 90-degree angle twill I was after.  Well, it’s close.  But the ppi is 20.  And while I am not slamming the beater into the fell, I am beating quite hard. 

The cause of this is no doubt in the draw-in.  There is quite a bit of draw-in and the selvedges have closed up considerably.  So it is probably the closeness of the selvedge threads that is preventing me from easily beating any more weft into a given inch.

I could use temples to keep the warp yarns spread out during the beating.  But I am weaving towels.  Towels that I hope will get hard use.  Those tight selvedges will protect the edges of the towels very nicely. 

One thing Laura said on her CD which I take to heart:  if you can’t do it perfectly, do it consistently.

By the way, while the color in the cloth is accurate, the color of the floor is definitely NOT accurate!

"Towel One Begun" was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 24, 2008. © 2008 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

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!

Off the Loom but not Finished

The fabric is off the loom, and waiting....... The first and main yardage is, as I was beginning to guess, a bit sleazy. The reason for this is that the sett was for plain weave but the treadling was really a twill treadling. Twill treadlings require a closer sett than plain weave treadling. The photo does show how nicely it drapes, even unfinished, but it does not show the sleaziness of the fabric. I am hoping that washing and pressing will help reduce that. I'm sure it can be made up into the jacket that I planned.


The second yardage, designed for trim, is nice, not at all sleazy. It is woven on opposites. It is in essence a plain weave. The sett, really a rather firm sett, seems to have been just right. Washing and pressing will reveal the truth of this.



The colors are a little strange on the photo of this last sampling. I guess I was losing patience..........As in the second yardage, this sampling is not sleazy. However, it is a bit firmer and thicker than the second yardage. The fabric's resistance to draping seems quite clear. It is treadled in the same way as that yardage--on opposites. But instead of the 20/2 mercerized cotton, I used 10/2 mercerized cotton. The 10/2 is twice as thick. Perhaps a slightly looser sett was in order there? Only sampling would really tell the truth of that. But again, washing and pressing might change some things here.




So now I am ready to finish the fabric.

But first, there is the loom to clean up. Things to put away. Dusting to be done. Vacuuming to be done. Then my weaving space will be bright and clean and ready for work.

Then there is the machine zigzagging to do on the fabric to keep the ends from ravelling. But then comes one of my unfavorite activities: checking both sides of all three pieces for errors. In unrolling it off the loom I noticed one place which is probably a treadling error. Regularly long lengths of yellow weft appear across the width in one shot. Can this be mended? We shall see. In any case, I have a new warp to put on, so I can always take my time with the checking and re-weaving........ I'm fairly good at procrastinating.

Then there is the measuring. Lengths and widths.

Then comes the washing and then the pressing. And more measuring.

All in all, I am not unhappy with what the loom has produced. One way I can tell is that I am suddenly getting inspired to get the details of the next silk warp in order so that I can start the dyeing, so that I can make the warp, so that I can weave..........

However, the next warp is still going to be the dark red 10/2 mercerized cotton warp. I am much too curious about what that is going to teach me.

Surprise: Picks Per Inch

Amount woven yesterday: 2.5"
Amount woven to date: 27"

I decided to figure out how many picks per inch I was getting on a warp that was 20 ends per inch. When I checked, was I surprised! I am getting about 65 shots (or weft throws, or picks) per inch. No wonder the weaving proceeds at snail-like pace.

How on earth can I get so many picks to an inch on this warp?

In the first shed, warps 1 and 2 go up, 3 and 4 go down
In the second shed, warp 1 goes down, 2 and 3 go up and 4 (like warp 1) goes down.
In the third shed warps 1 and 2 go down, 3 and 4 go up.
And in the fourth shed warp 1 goes up, 2 and 3 go down, and 4 (like 1) goes up.

As a result, there are places in each shed were the thread will lie in the same shed as it did in the previous shed, and so will lie neatly next to the thread from the previous shed; and then there are places where it will lie in a different shed, and so will lie neatly on top of the previous thrown thread in those places. And with each of the four sheds, these positions shift by one warp end. Because there are always places where 2 warp ends sit on top of one another and so take the space of only one warp end. i 4 warp ends will take less space along the warp than they would have if they had been woven as plain weave.

Something similar happens in twill. Is this what happens with twill? Is this the real reason that twill is woven at a closer sett than plain weave and is treadled with more picks per inch than its plain weave equivalent?

My analysis of what is going on here has finally led me to realize why some people say to weave crackle at a twill sett! 30 epi is a tight plain weave sett for 20/2 but the twill sett would have been more like 40 epi. At left is a closeup of the fabric and you can see the kind of open cell effect that appears while it is on the loom. It almost a very very slight waffle-weave effect. There is a sense of texture or depth to the cloth.

I do not know what will happen when I wash and press the fabric when I remove it from the loom.. Nor do I know what would happen to this effect if I were to sett the warp closer. But I can see that I might explore different setts in weaving polychrome crackle such as this, though I am not sure about other kinds of crackle. On my next warp I have made a note to think about trying 30/2 silk at a twill sett just to see what happens. I cannot bear the thought of threading 60/2 silk at a twill sett...........

By the way, near the bottom of the photo there is a whitish streak across the warp And, if you look carefully you might see two more streaks as you move your eyes up. though these are less clear in the picture. These streaks are evenly spaces and are not treadling errors. This is what happens when I begin treadling the next block. I haven't yet figure out what to do to prevent this from happening it, so I am thinking of it as a design element! At least for now!