Kind of into the Fall time of year!

October 7, 2011

This one has actually been done for a couple of weeks.  I have to smile when I look at it, reminds me of candy corn.  LOL  I Just forgot to post it.  It is my first piece with 100% linen.  The yellow was sent to me by a fellow Ravelry member, Mr. cphilip, and it is the linen.  

I had actually decided to go for some supplemental weft (brocade) but didn't like it at all.  So I just did it in plain weave.  I usually don't like orange at all, but have of late been craving it.  I had intended to use it for the supplemental weft, so I am still craving it.  I even added in some of the copper mystery yarn that I found hidden away.  I love the sheen of it peeking out of the regular brown.  

It comes as a surprise to me that the yellow linen has some sheen also.

I do like the finished piece though.  I think it will make a nice table topper for the Thanksgiving time of year.

Plain weave wall hanging.

September 13, 2011

Who says plain weave has to be plain...I am thinking of making it into a wall hanging with the vine you also see in the pictures.

The table my backstrap loom is hooked to came off the side of the road...thus the crappy finish on top.  But it is substantially heavy and this allows me to weave on it comfortable.  It also has one drawer in the front.

The woven web is 32 in. long.

Completed project!

September 6, 2011

I have completed (in one day believe it or not) my prototype, plain weave back-scrubber on the backstrap loom.  I learned alot.

Wow!  What a joy to open heddles that are far enough from each other that they don't stick to each other.  Wow!  This is a much, much gentler type of weaving.  Wow!  Talk about faster!  I will definitely be doing more of this as I have tons of yarns that are suitable for it.

Here we have the completed project.  28 in. long, without straps (including the one fringed end) from a 34 in. warp, and it is 5 in. wide.

If you look closely you can see where I got two stripes that tracked a little...kind of odd looking.  But remember, it is a practice piece.  Lots of learning going on here.

This end is gathered because that's what it wanted to do naturally.  I didn't do my knots properly at that beginning end of the warp wile winding onto the warp board (i.e. changing colors) and so I couldn't make a selvaged end there.  Next time I know what to do though.

All the way across I thought I had my purple thread on the right of the pink in my double threading...the tracking that you see is where it was accidently reversed...thus 2 pinks side by side and two purple's side by side.  Further down the piece it didn't do this...I guess the warp's got twisted while weaving without my noticing.

This is the twined edge.  I love this!  Because I was able to tie the ends of the twining on both outer edges in with the knot on the strap at either side (so that it doesn't slip around) it doesn't gather.

What a nice neat edge it makes!  Next I might even try and edging cord for the sides!

So this one is mine, with all of its little character flaws!  Stay tuned though, as I intend to perfect it!

Plain weave double weave...eventually!

September 5, 2011

SOoooooo…I just had to give it a try. There is a new Weave-A-Long on Ravelry, in the backstrap group.  It is for plain weave...be it warp face or plain weave.  In the beginning it didn't interest me as I am usually doing more design/warp floats than plain weave.  But I changed my mind and I guess I will be the one doing plain weave without a heddle/reed. 

I twined my warp for spacing, at both ends. I also doubled my worsted cotton to make my string heddles, hoping this would also help spacing. I got that idea from a fellow Ravelry member, she used a plastic bag cut into strips for heddles. I figure if they are ‘fat’ they will help with the spacing.

I originally warped up to try balance dbl wv…finnweave. But I decided as this is waste yarn (small balls left over from other projects), and I am new to this twining for spacing thing, and continuous string heddles are not my strong suit (normally I use individual heddle loops), and I want to see if I can keep a consistent width, that it was plenty enough to contend with at one time. 

I actually am wondering if I can pick my even weave dbl wv by hand, like we do for warp face dbl wv??? until I can get the hang of all of the threading/heddles/shafts.

Anyway, I have 2 threads in each heddle, a pink and a purple, for both sheds, just like for warp face dbl wv. I decided to leave them that way and use a dble strand of weft, one pink one purple, basket weave at this point, and see how close I could get to a balanced fabric. My twining was originally one thread at a time…but I re-twined it using the pairs so that I could just leave the sheds like they were wound on the warp board, instead of repicking and making them individuals.

The camera flash (which I can’t figure out how to shut off) made them a little big glared…but here are some pictures.

When it grows up it will be back scrubbie!

The bottom twined, and bound to the breast beam.

Twined and bound to the warp beam.

A better view.

Continuous string heddles, made with double strands of worsted cotton.

The beginning of the weaving.  Later I un-wove this and inserted a braided purple cord to make a handle for the back-scrubber.  Believe it or not I finished this 34 in. warp in one day.  It turned out very well.  I will take pictures and post tomorrow.  I think the prototype back-scrubber turned out well.  That and maybe a washcloth or two will make great gifts.

Another failed double weave warp!

March 27, 2011

I have a goal.  It is to do warp weave pick ups with a solid background.  OF course there are MANY ways and techniques to achieve, one of which is double weave.

I find double weave a bit tedious.  It makes a reversible band that is double thick.  I have a hard time seeing #10 threads and the #3 is heavier than I would like...I haven't quite figured out some of the other techniques.  Some I have even disregarded due to the intricate warping process.  I just haven't quite figured out which technique will meet my needs without stressing/taxing me.  In other words will satisfy my weaving creativity without thoroughly aggravating me.

Keep in mind that I want to be able to do my own designs also, narrowing the field even further.  So in my question to meet this goal, I have discovered that peyote bead weaving designs/charts are kind of like basket weave.  As is double weave charts.  

Thus, I am working on applying the peyote pattern to a double weave piece.  I have it figured out, but unfortunately when I warped up this time I chose a sticky/hairy cotton.  Mistake #1.  I also figured out that the chart will make a reverse image.  No problem, as the reverse is on the under side of a double weave.  Then I figured out that I had to read left to right, then right to left in the written verbiage as peyote bead work is flipped over every other row.  Then I realized that to make a 32 bead wide pattern, I don't need 32 warp revolutions...Mistake #2...I only needed 16.  This means I need to double my counts.

Lots of converting, icky warp.  SOOOOO, I decided not to fight with it.  I cut off the VERY small portion of double weave and decided to finish it in plain weave so as not to waste the cotton 4 ft. warp.  By time I retied to the cloth beam I knew the warp was at least 18 in. shorter.  So as I was weaving I was also thinking...what can I do with this band.

Here is what I came up with.  A back scrubber.

I actually needed one as quite some time ago my daughter re-claimed hers.  I like it and it was easy peasy.  And even better, I didn't waste the warp.  I hate waste.  Check it out.