Making a "Pickle"

I wanted to get a quick warp on the Glimåkra.  I chose a block twill on 8 shafts and proceeded to wind a 10 inch warp of wool in assorted greens (yes - a variety of pickle colors).

I should add that for the last week I have had a horrible sinus infection, but battled on anyway.  BIG MISTAKE.  I counted cross threads and colors twice, got the warp beamed and look what happened - I was approximately 12 threads short.  I ended up having to add in supplementary ends which no doubt will cause awful twisting problems in addition to the weave being a 3 shuttle weave.  Just thinking about it makes my head ache even more!  Maybe I really have got myself in a pickle.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention!

I'm sure this has been done before, but I am quite "chuft" with my idea to solve the problem of releasing the warp beam to advance the warp on the "Starship Enterprise" size loom.
Here you can see the pulley that lifts the cord to disengage the pawl on the back ratchet.  It is normally attached to a long wooden handle that lifts both the cloth and warp pawls.  This loom has a ratchet and pawl on either side of each warp beam and cloth beam.  It is physically impossible to release the two opposite pawls at the same time.  I figured a way around it ~  as seen below, the cord is attached to the back pawl and through the pulleys to the cloth pawl.  I then looped an additional cord which travels through an eye hook underneath the beater support, and across to the other side where this is repeated.

 

Here the second cord is diverted through an eye hook and  accross the front of the loom.

Adjust the slack so that when gently tugged, the two back pawls release simultaneously.  A more severe tug will release all four pawls at once!  I love it!

Glimåkra 160cm Standard

This loom is not very old, but the wood was a little dry and dusty. I gave a wipe down with restore a finish, it does not affect the finish of the wood but gives a lustre and a little protection.  Then a light coat of feed and wax.  The result is a honey golden finish.

The loom is quite wide so a double flybox will be necessary at some point.  The beater to my AVL fits this loom so an AVL double box will do the job.  I plan to design an adjustable single box where the width can be adjusted.

As seen in the pictures I am installing the heddles.   I will put on an 8 shaft warp to set the height of the shafts and lams.  I am getting ready to install the pull board onto the front and extend the loom for damask weaving.

VAV arrived!  VAV is a scandanavian weave magazine translated to english.  This month's issue has a number or articles regarding drawloom weaving.  

TOIKA - looks like the Toika will go to a new home!  I am a little sad to have to sell but I will be kept busy with the two big gals in the basement.  

The Big Girl and Mouse Pooh

I picked up the Glimakra Standard today, a whopping 63 inch weave width!  It appears in very good condition, it is the model with longer lower lams and the slightly heavier beater.  It had been in a storage container so the mice decided that texsolv might be nice to take to the nest - hence there is a trace of "poop" that will need to be cleaned off.   I laid all the pieces out on the basement studio floor and it does not appear to take up as much space as I originally thought.

One thing I thoroughly enjoy is meeting the owners and hearing the story behind the loom.  People who weave or who are associated with weavers are quite interesting.  In this instance the loom belonged to the late wife of a gentleman who runs a spiritual retreat center located in NY.  Very interesting people and places!

So, now I need to strip the loom of all texsolv and heddles.  Heddles get tied in groups of 50 and soaked in a mild water and bleach solution.   Wood gets a Murphy's Oil Soap wash and then a rub of maybe a paste wax.  Re-assembly then will take place.  I will be building a single fly-box for this loom as the width is so wide.  I plan to do damask drawloom items, perfect for a one shuttle weave.  I am still researching adapting a design for a double flybox.

Keep weaving!

HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS!

This could be a double entendre!  For one, I LOVE my Toika loom!  It is sooooo pretty, yes I know I have mentioned this before.  I also love my AVL, but knowing my Toika can be computerized I may be tempted to stray.   But more importantly, how do I love my dear hubby? and just how much is he willing to put up with?


I was up front, "I'm bringing a loom into our living room to show a potential buyer and I want to buy a Glimakra for drawloom weaving before I sell it, is that ok?"


Well, he was slightly irritated but agreed (I count that as one way that I love thee!)


So, the loom huffed and puffed up the 130 year old basement steps and is proudly perched in my living room (meanwhile the kids walk by and shake their heads along with dear hubby (count that as two.)


So now I move the 60 inch AVL to make room for the 63" Glimakra and think, oops, tight squeeze here,  I question my own sanity, then the devil on my shoulder says "of course you need 3 huge looms!"


Then I say, hold on, I can always sell my least favorite.  Problem? do I have one?


So, let me say..... To my lovely husband, I promise no more looms after this! and I will sell one big one at some point.  Thank you - even though you shake your head, grumble under your breathe.  I can think of many ways I love thee, but right now closest to mind are loom 1, loom 2 and loom 3.


An ode to a weaving Valentine


Happy Valentine's Day

Is Too Much Inspiration a Bad Thing?

YIKES, the store where I teach weaving has several years of old weaving magazines.  Shuttle, Spindle, Dyepot (comes with HWGA membership),  Handwoven and Weaver's.  Why is Weaver's no longer in print?  Great Mag!

Anyway, I was permitted to select magazines I might use and wanted to get some ideas for future classes.  BIG MISTAKE!  I have been weaving a while - lets say since college and my daughter is two years shy of her own college venture! SO MANY IDEAS, how do you choose, where do you start, if I live to be 104, I still don't think I can get through a fraction of the weaving that is out there to be explored!

That supports the theory that we are always learning.  Even if you take one, two, three structures and explore and experiment, you would still be confronted with many possibilities, color, fiber, finishing and adaptations and applications.

Welcome to the wonderful world of weaving.

Warping Back To Front

There is more than one way to skin a cat!  For all you animal lovers out there - no cruelty intended in that pun - but yes there are a number of ways to get that looooong warp onto your loom ready to weave.  As time goes on and you encounter various types of looms and learn their idiosyncrasies you will also discover that what works well for one loom/yarn may be different for another type of loom/yarn.

The whole idea is to get the warp, under tension and neatly in order onto your back warp beam.  Now if you find yourself considering some of the following things ie: the warp width, do I have three people to help me beam?, am I beaming alone?, I don't have a raddle (a what?), I have shaft support wires that run in the middle of my loom, do what the Swedish way?........ slow down and take it one method at a time!

If there is one method that works for almost all situations it is beaming back to front using a raddle (a device with pins or posts that lays across the back beam and spaces out the warp to the width you will be weaving).  It can be a nice store bought one with a nice cap, or a simple DIY with nails or dowels using rubber bands to keep your sections of yarn in place.

Place the warp apron rod in the end of the warp, and insert lease sticks in your cross.  

The apron rod will hang behind the raddle as you are facing the back of the loom (secure it with some string if necessary).  Your warp will be draped in front of you.  The next step is to  center your warp using the guide string or to measure to one end of the raddle.  For example; my warp  is 24 ends per inch, I would find the center of the raddle and measure 12 inches out (half of 24).  My raddle has pins spaced every half inch.  So 24 div by 2 = 12 ends per space. 

Use a folded piece of paper over the raddle pins to rest the warp on to prevent it getting caught in the pins while you are spacing the warp.  Choose your groups of threads using the cross at your lease sticks.  Use a rubber band over the top of the pins to prevent your raddled threads from coming out until you have finished the whole warp.

When the warp is spread you can interlace a lashing thread to attach the apron rod to the rod that is through the end loop of the warp.  That way when you start to beam the rods tied securely together.

Once you have spread the warp and secured the rods together, replace the raddle cap onto the raddle.  This secures the threads.  The warp is now ready to be beamed.  Keeping the warp under tension, start to wind onto the warp beam placing warp sticks - two to each revolution.  The wider your warp you will need someone to assist you in holding the tension.   Remove the raddle and position your warp ready for threading.

 NEXT: For wider warps when you have no help!    If your loom has no obstructions through the shafts or over      the shafts you can still beam back to front but feed the warp from the front - use weights to tension - and beam back to front.  Simply bring the warp from the front (if you are at the front of the loom your warp will be hanging on the floor).  Take the ends with lease sticks and the beam rod through the loom to the back and hang the beam rod over the front of the raddle (you are now looking at the back of the loom).  The lease sticks will be behind the raddle and the apron rod in front of the raddle.   Same process as before, place your threads in groups throughout the raddle using the cross to make your selections.  Then Secure the warp apron rod to the warp beam rod by lashing.  Temporarily secure your lease sticks and then go to the front of the loom.  

Divide the warp into sections make a choke tie around the warp group and hang a weight (I use S hooks and a weight).  Do this across the warp width until the warp is evenly tensioned.  Start to beam as usual, when the weights reach the front breast beam,  slide the ties down the warp with the weights and beam that length of warp until it is all finished.  See following photos:

Preparing a warp

Once you have established your design then comes the calculating. I have developed my own worksheet which allows me to figure out not only my yarn requirements for warp and weft but also includes information about the vendor from which the yarn was purchased down to cost per ounce. Yours can be a simple warp and weft calculation, remember to calculate your sett and how many dents in the reed for your chosen width!  There are many factors to consider including the take up (how much the yarn pulls up in length) draw in and shrinkage. There are many books and resources for how to figure out these amounts.

Once you have arrived at these figures you can begin to warp. It is always preferable to do a sample first, this will help you determine if your sett is good, if the pattern requires changing and many other factors. Better to make an error on a mini warp and sample than waste a lot of yarn!

When you have figured out the the details of your warp you can move to the warping board with your yarn. On my warping board the width across is 36″ or 1 yard. I measure out a guide string using a different color from my yarn and make it the length of my warp and tie that onto the board, using the same route/cross that will use for my warp. Then I know my warp is the correct length. Tie your yarn with a loop over the first peg at the top of the board.

Then go under the next peg and over the third peg – then the yarn will start to travel the board in a zig zag pattern until you reach your desired length. I like to go over and under the top pegs making two interlacements called a “cross”. The figure 8 cross at the top is called a “porrey cross” and consists of single interlacements. THis cross is used for threading heddles when dressing the loom. This will keep your yarn in order for all the following processes.

The second picture shows how, when you come back up to the top you will cross in the other direction; under and over. At the bottom of the board you should make one more cross, always better to have a cross in the top and the bottom of the warp! The second cross at the bottom of the warping board is the “portee cross” and can consist of groups of threads and be used for sectioning the warp in the raddle.

These pictures show how the warp builds up on the board. Notice at the bottom, the yarn also goes over and under. You have calculated for example that the warp is 5 yards long and consists of 280 threads. You will need to track how many travels of the board you have = how many ends of thread will you have.  A top to bottom zig zag is 1 end, come all the way back up zig zag is 2 ends. You can use a piece of string and count how many threads you have, this is called a counting thread or string.

Of course it all sounds terribly confusing unless you have seen it in action. But this is meant to be a refresher of what we have accomplished in class. HERE I am placing my fingers in the cross so I can count the threads.

HERE you can see the counting string. You loop it over and around to secure your counted batch of threads – called a bout – you can count in any number of bouts, use even numbers of 20, 50, 100, whatever suits the warp numbers the best. I like to mark where the middle of my warp is also using this thread. When you have the correct number of ends, mine is 280, you need to secure the warp before removing it from the board (trust me – better to use a lot of little pieces of string securing the warp than losing ALL that lovely yarn).

You want to mark and save the cross. I make a cross string that will be a loop going through the cross that is a little wider than my warp. If my warp is 20 ” wide I might make it 22-24″, I thread the yarn through the spaces in the cross and tie the end. This is where the lease sticks will go and is where you will “choose” threads when threading etc.

Now I am going to put a tie around each section of the cross, 2 in the top and 2 in the bottom. This will hold open the space for the lease sticks to go through.

Next we have to choke tie the rest of the length of the warp. I like to use an over and under or in and out method.

Now its time to stand back and admire your handy work!

Now for the scary part, we are going to remove the whole thing! Starting at the bottom, put your hand through the hole of the bottom chain and pull the end off – carefully!

With your hand through the hole, reach through and grab the warp and pull through the hole to make a chain. This sounds very confusing, again, once you see it done it makes sense!

Keep on chaining until the whole warp looks like – well – Rapunzels multi colored braid!