Friday, May 25, 2007

Tying on new warps and planning a project with handspun yarn



When I finished the runners a few days ago, I decided I wanted to weave more with the same pattern. Tying on a new warp is supposed to save time and warp yarn. I am not sure about either but I like doing it anyway. I tied on a white carpet warp and used for weft all of the remaining carpet warp I had around here. Enough for three small table runners. About 24" x 30" . I really like the pattern.



A closeup of the pattern structure, a point twill. I think my favorite one is the white one.



I had hemstitched them, off the loom and into the washer and a bit in the dryer. Then the fringe!


I twisted it and now I will go snip, snip snip. On the white one I am going to trim the fringe and leave it untwisted.



This is for an exchange the destination can not be disclosed at this time. But I can show the yarn and the plan. It is handspun Colonial top. Spun to about 20 wpi. The weft is the green on on the top left corner. It is commercial wool about 30/2 hand dyed for this cloth. I think the green looks nice with the warp colors, at least it does when I interweave them with my fingers.



Here is the penny picture for the scale.



And here is the draft. I love the mathematical precision of weaving. Since it is handspun and I do not have anymore roving it has to do with what I have. I have never mixed structures so this is a first. The original draft is from Sharon Alderman's book Mastering Weave Structures. I figured out the width needed for the finished garment. Then the sett. An played with the blocks until I found the exact combination of twill and plain weave needed. I did not use the three warp colors in the draft but it is close enough that I have pretty good idea of how it will turn out. Planning takes about 50% of my time when weaving. Now I have to finish winding the skeins into the bobbins and wind the warp.

4 comments:

Lacefreak said...

Beautiful weaving! I've always been tempted to try that but I can't think of how I would ever find more time. I love the symmetry of the pattern you are using. Really lovely work.

Marina said...

The runners are so pretty!

Is there anything you can't do?!! The handspun yarn looks wonderful.

Romi said...

Wow! Those are stunning. I love the colors, too. :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous, just gorgeous. As someone still in weaving kindergarten, I am awestruck. I am struggling this week with my plain weave samples!