Well, that is the end of the posts from the old site. I guess it would be cheating to count those as real posts.
In any case, there are still plenty of projects that I never got around to posting on the old site. I just need to remember how I did them! (I am kind of wishing was the note-taking kind of weaver and spinner.)
Placemats woven to tryout the techniques learned in a class on warp-face weaving.
After taking another class from Tom Knisely at the Mannings on warp-face weaving, I fell in love with this pattern. It just so happened that Christmas was coming up and my mother was complaining that she needed new placemats. The warp-face structure provides a strong fabric that is great for rugs and… placemats! The colors were chosen to coordinate with my mother’s every day dinnerware.
The warp is a cotton rug warp, while the weft is a cotton broadcloth cut into inch and a half strips, as well as the cotton rug warp.
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. The weave structure for these placemats is called ripsmatta, or warp-face. The pattern requires 4 harnesses, and the sett is 32 e.p.i.
The results of a study group meeting on shadowweave produced these towels.
I was hosting evening study group for the weaving guild and the topic was shadowweave. I was also giving the demonstration of how this color and weave effect could be used. Since I had to warp the loom anyway for this, I figured I might as well put something on that I had always wanted to try, a plaid shadowweave. This particular plaid shows how the structure reacts to the different color values. These towels are even more striking in person!
The warp and the weft for this towel is a cottolin (60% cotton/40% linen.) The colors used in this plaid shadowweave are a green and a white with a larger yellow as the base.
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. This pattern is a shadow weave. The pattern requires 4 harnesses, and the sett is 18 e.p.i.
The unbalanced nature of the thread used in these towels helps give it an additional pattern.
Yarns that are overspun or underspun (either commercial or handspun) tend not to lie flat when woven in a plain weave. Often, diagonal hills and valleys will appear in the weave. This is called tracking; and can be used to great effect, adding interest to a fabric.
The warp and the weft for this towel is a 6/2 unmercerized cotton. The colors used in this plaid are a pale mustard and a sage.
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. This is a simple plain weave. The pattern requires 2 harnesses, and the sett is 18 e.p.i.
This is dishtowel was inspired by candy canes.
I had just recently purchased a small 4 harness loom and was anxious to try it out. Since Christmas was coming, this was the way to do it. This pattern is commonly referred to as log cabin and is a color and weave effect.
The warp and the weft for this towel is a cotton flake. The colors are Christmas red and snowflake white (what else for Christmas!)
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. This is a simple plain weave. The pattern requires 2 harnesses, and the sett is 18 e.p.i.
This is scarf has a great feel and drape due to the fiber and the weave structure.
I wove this scarf as a birthday present for my best friend. And he has to be a good friend, with the cursing that I did with this yarn. I never felt I could get a good, consistent beat; and there were too many knots in the yarn for my liking. But the finished product made it all worth it.
The warp and the weft for this scarf is Zephyr, which is half merino and half silk. The warp color is mushroom and the weft color is sage. The idea behind using two colors so close in value was to allow the weave pattern to be since without being distracting. The softness of the yarn combined with the weave structure gives this scarf a great drape. (Twill typically drape better than plain weave.)
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. It is a combination of a dornic twill and a basketweave, and the sett is 24 e.p.i.
This is my experiment with warp painting.
See what happens when I have idle time on my hands. I had always wanted to try warp painting; and since I had accumulated all of the supplies, I went for it.
The warp and the weft for this scarf is a cotton novelty yarn that was purchased at The Mannings in Pennsylvania. The dyes used were from a Procion sampler pack. Both the warp and the weft were dyed with the blue, then the warp yarn was painted additional colors using a cool red and a yellow before the warp was placed on the loom.
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. It is a simple plain weave. The pattern requires 2 harnesses, and the sett is 10 e.p.i.
This is what happens when I try to spin wool to make socks.
I originally purchased the wool to spin this yarn intending to make socks. after spinning the yarn (I hadn’t yet mastered, at that point, the art of controlling the type of yarn that I spun,) I decided that it wasn’t strong enough to sustain the wear that are required of socks. Since socks were out of the question, I decided to weave a shawl with the yarn.
The warp and the weft for this shawl is yarn that I spun from the purple and golden orange wool batts that I purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The yarn was spun on a Louet S10, and is a single that was washed and blocked before being used for weaving. Four skeins resulted for the spinning of the pound of wool, with the two larger skeins being used for winding the warp and the two smaller skeins used as weft.
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. It is a 3-1 rib twill. The pattern requires 8 harnesses, and the sett is 16 e.p.i.
This is a pillow from the same warp as the pillow given to my parents.
This was a pillow that I had initially intended to be a Christmas gift for my parents; but since the weave for this particular pillow was not balanced (the same number of threads per inch for both weft and warp,) I did a different striping for the weft on the same warp to make the pillow that actually became the gift. The difference is not noticeable to most people, but it is to me.
The warp and the weft are both 5/2 mercerized cotton. The color treadling for this pillow is tromp as writ (in other words, the color pattern for the weft is the same as it is for the warp.)
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. The weave structure for these pillows is 2-2 twill. The pattern requires 4 harnesses, and the sett is 24 e.p.i.
This is a pillow that was given to my parents.
This was a second attempt to make a gift pillow on this warp. The sett is pretty tight for this pillow because I generally treat fabric for pillows as upholstery, thus requiring a tighter weave. With the striping being different between the warp and the weft meant that a perfectly balanced weave was not required.
The warp and the weft are both 5/2 mercerized cotton. The color treadling for this pillow is at a proportion of 5:2.
Below is a close up view of the weave structure. The weave structure for these pillows is 2-2 twill. The pattern requires 4 harnesses, and the sett is 24 e.p.i.
