READY TO RADDLE

The lease sticks are set up, the raddle is in place on the back beam, and



the raddle weights are attached to the warp bouts at the front.

The weights are red chip clips and are just barely visible under the front beam. These clips keep the warp under just enough tension to make it easy to separate the threads at the back of the loom and drop them into the raddle.

Some people just wind the bouts once or twice around the front beam. But silk is slippery. I find the clips much more effective.




This is when I get really nervous. What I am preparing to do has nothing to do with design, creativity, play, imagination, fun, let's try this............ This is about technique pure and simple. This is about getting a good warp on. A good warp is one that weaves off easily with no problems. And raddling is an important step.

And with a 60/2 silk warp, in a dark color, to be sett at 72 epi.......misgivings are welling up into my consciousness right and left! Already I have had problems just getting the warps on the rod and lease sticks correctly. At each step I stretch the warp out to give me a good view of any twists that might have developed.

I am just a bit nervous.

Related Post: Ready to Raddle: Some Problems

INTERESTING POSTS FRM OTHER WEAVING BLOGS

Here are some of the posts from the past week that I found particularly interesting:

Choosing Heddles and Threading the Loom -- Linda's Weblog
Teeny Handwovens -- Curious Weaver
Cutting Off Day, and other Violent Matters -- Weaverly
Documentation -- T'Katch
More M's and O's -- Charleen's Fiberblog
Colored Heddles -- Knitting in August

WRONG SILK?

I have just finished winding five skeins of tassar silk organzine from Habu Textiles. It seemed awfully fine to me. Too fine? I checked the yardage. 60/2 bombyx silk has 15,000 yards per pound. The n-12 silk organzine from Habu has roughly 32,000 yards per pound. Not what I wanted.

How did I get sucked in? Well, when I ordered the yarn from Habu, the one I wanted they did not have and they suggested this as an equivalent. The recommended epi is 30-60. The recommended epi for silk runs around 60-72, So I thought, fine.

VISUAL COMPARISONS

Not fine. But then I looked at the two yarns, the 60/2 bombyx and the n-12 organzine, side by side; frankly, the bombyx looked thinner. That can't be right! The bombyx weighs twice as much as the organzine!

Then I hooked a loop of the one around a loop of the other; the bombyx still looked a fraction thinner. Then I doubled the two yarns and hooked a loop of one doubled yarn around a loop of the other doubled yarn. Now the bombyx no longer looked thinner. But perhaps the organzine looked just a trifle thinner? Perhaps?

Doubts began to creep in. Should I use the organzine? Or was I just trying to rationalize not having to make more skeins?

SOFTNESS

The organzine is clearly softer than the bombyx. Perhaps the softness builds up thickness. Perhaps this is why Habu suggests an epi that can go as low as 30?

Softness in wool or cotton yarn certainly results in a bulkier yarn. Spinning worsted style results in a harder, and consequently thinner, yarn than does spinning woolen style.

But will it beat down to the equivalent of a 120/2 bombyx in the process of weaving? Will I need to adjust my beat to keep the organzine the soft thickness it has?


I AM GETTING INTRIGUED

Clearly there are lots of questions. Only weaving with the yarn can answer these questions. Sooooooooooooo....................I'm going with the organzine. The risk, of course, is, that I may have dyed a whole lot of yarn to no purpose. But that should show itself fairly quickly and I can save the rest of it for another project.

The Habu website does say that it makes both good warp and weft. I'm hesitant to use it as warp for in winding the skein I had one problem with the yarn unplying for a few inches. I had to unwind back to that problem area and knot a new yarn on.

Habu has wonderful yarns. Not just silk, but paper, bamboo, wool, cashmere. Check them out here.

ELECTRIC SPINNER QUESTION

bspinner suggested I might want to get a Woolee Winder for my electric spinner. The reason is that "it makes spinning so much more efficient."

She is right about the Woolee Winder. I have one on my Ashford and it turned my Ashford from an OK wheel to a wonderful wheel. Woolee Winders (and their bobbins), however, do not come cheaply. The cost would be more than that of my electric wheel!

I think it is silly to upgrade a wheel that hopefully I will replace anyway the next time it dies. My hope than is to get a better quality electric wheel and one with a Woolee Winder as well.

To find out more about Woolie Winders, go here.

SPINNING WEAVING YARN WITH AN ELECTRIC SPINNER

I really like to put on an occasional warp of yarn that I have spun and weave it off. It is so completely different from the crackle journey I am on. But it has always taken so long for me to spin enough yarn for weaving that I have done very little weaving with it. And I am not willing to devote huge chunks of my time to spinning.

BEGINNINGS

A year ago Christmas I was gifted with an electric spinning wheel. I had asked for it. I had been spinning for several years quite happily with my Ashford Traveller double drive. I did not know how I would like spinning with an electric wheel. So I asked for the cheapest one available.

BABE

The Babe I got was the cheapest one they make. I don't think they even make this particular model any more. Spinning on it was very different from spinning on my Ashford Traveller, even with the high speed-flyer. After awhile I got the hang of it and sort of enjoyed it. But after a few months I stopped using it. I just did not get to the point of its really being fun.

NEW FOOT CONTROLLER

Then about a month before this Christmas I started spinning on it again. I decided I did not like the electronic foot controller so I purchased another one on an Ebay site. It worked better than the one that came with the electric wheel. I was happier. But still I was not totally happy. Nevertheless, I continued to spin on it.

DEAD MOTOR

Then one day I sat down to spin only to discover that the motor had died. I am sure it had not overheated and burned out. It just died. What to do? I am not at all mechanical. Just taking off the old foot controller and putting on a new one was nothing short of terrifying. Well, actually trying to find the right one was not exactly a walk in the park.

WRONG MOTOR

A couple of blocks from our house is a Singer sewing machine and also a vacuum cleaner dealer. He just happens to repair small motors. So I took the wheel in to him. Of course I had to explain. In less than 15 minutes he had put on a new motor. This motor, he said, was identical to the original.

NEW MOTOR

I took it home. It spun the wrong way---counter clockwise instead of clockwise. I won't know go into my initial disappointment in not being able to set up this machine to ply........... So I took it back. It needed a reverse motor. He had to order it. Four days later I had my spinning machine back and started spinning.

It spun like I had a whole different electric wheel. It spun smoothly. It accelerated fairly gradually. And I had a great deal more control over the speed. So now my poor Ashford sits, not unused, but not used very much. At the moment I am spinning a very very fine merino on it, something that is taking me ages but which the electric wheel could not handle because the draw is too strong.

CURRENT SPINNING PROJECT

I am spinning some gorgeous fiber. That's it on my Babe electric at the top of the page. It is from Crosspatch Creations and is sold by The Bellwether. I have spun their stuff before and have woven with the resulting yarn and it has always turned out marvelously soft.

Now, with this electric wheel I realize that it is much more realistic for me to spin for weaving because I can spin so quickly. I just spun 4 ounces of fiber in less than a week without really trying. With the other wheel, it would take me a month, maybe longer to spin that much fiber. At least devoting the kind of time I am willing to devote to spinning.

I am so excited by this current project. I have another 4 ounces. And I see The Bellwether has a marvelous darkish green by Crosspatch Creations that would be perfect................ Ohh, I really want to put on a handspun warp after this next crackle project................. I've even cast my eye on some possible drawdowns...........

Related Post: Spinning for Weaving

QUESTIONS ON PREPARING WARP BOUTS

Janice asked two questions about my warp preparation process: "I know you have used Angel Wings in the past. When do you put the lease sticks in those? Finally, why do you wind lots of small warp bouts rather than one or two larger ones?"

ANGEL WINGS

Angel Wings are an accessory made by Purrington Looms. They are designed to hold your lease sticks at either the front or the back beam while you warp the loom. Also, if you keep your lease sticks in while you weave, they are helpful To see what they look like, click here, go to accessories, and scroll down the page until you get to Angel Wings.

With my current warping technique I do not use Angel Wings. To use Angel Wings, the warp has to be level. When I am ready to beam on, I throw the warp up over the top of the loom. I trust that this will become clearer in future posts.

The last two warps I did not leave my lease sticks in while I wove. Instead, I left the raddle on the loom. This seemed to work very well.

WHY SMALL BOUTS?

I wind lots of small bouts because silk is very very slippery and delights in twisting around itself. Bombyx silk is what I am using and that is one of the most slippery silks there is. (I am using a silk that is even more slippery for the weft, however.)

This love of twisting was evident even in the stage of inserting rod and lease sticks. But sometimes when I get to the raddling, I see more twists that I hadn't caught at this first stage.

When I beam on, the warp continues to want to twist as it moves towards the lease sticks. Really really twists. I am continually untwisting. Even with choke ties on, those funky silk warps want to twist. This is where small bouts are invaluable. It is much much easier to control that twisting with small individual bouts than with large bouts.

Also, when I beam on, I attach weights to the warp bouts. With the small bouts of slippery yarn there is less chance of lengthwise slippage than there would be with large bouts.

In short, small bouts make for a better warp.

PREPARING THE WARP BOUTS FOR THE LOOM

Trust me, I am keeping my eye on kitty! I've brought the wound bouts into the dining room, laid them on the table and slipped the back beam rod through the loops at the end of the crosses. I've slipped the lease sticks through the crosses. But..........all is not well!





I looked carefully at all the warps, examining how the came through the lease sticks and onto the rod. Keeping one eye on kitty.......... On your left you see what I found: a twisted bout. It twists as it leaves the lease stick closest to the rod and moves to the rod. The lease stick is in wrong. So I slipped out the lease stick, re-arranged the cross, and all is well.



And here is the loom, waiting for the warp. The raddle is on (yes I made it, and the nails are very crooked). Paper is over the nails to keep the warp from slipping into the wrong places. Sticks are placed to support the lease sticks and rods. And a table is there ready for me to pull the back rod down onto.