Hi, its me Abelene. 

Here is Jens latest weaving in her ultra fine series! She thinks the attention to drape is really emphasized when the weaving is wrapped around something body-shaped, and not necessarily ladder-shaped, as she had been doing earlier, and so I am the designated weaver’s model, and giddy for the thoughtful attention. Besides, Jen says I’m the new It Girl!

I am trying not to take offense to be calling ” it ” but Jen assured me that an “It Girl” is an attractive and engaging young woman, originating from a 1920’s film all about the British upper-class society. Hey, then I am IT for sure! Mostly because I like to be attractive and engaging. Oh, and Jen thought it best to have a format for these weaving posts, where I get to focus on the dazzling visual affect, then afterward she will explain the boring weaverly aspects in a special note about the project below.

Ta ta, Abelene

Note from Jen: I’ve been exploring weaving in a series of ultra light 20/2 cotton, this being the fourth, and the 20 epi woven on the Ashford Table Loom, set up for weaving straight draw (that means using 4 harnesses threaded 1-2-3-4, which in itself, was a completely new and thoroughly difficult experience, with threads doubled through the reed. Gibberish to my knitting colleagues, but to the weavers who might be reading this, they know this is an absolute basic step to learning weaving on multiple shafts. In fact, the weavers who might be reading this will roll their eyes for the fact that I warped it the same direct method as I do rigid heddle looms – direct warp – drawing the warp from the front apron rod through the reed, and around a peg, and then threaded through the heddles as an in-between step before winding it all on to the back warp beam. I improvised with this and subsequently the warp had mistakes, but not willing to get bogged down with them, I wove the piece instead testing gleefully what seemed closest yet to a perfect balanced weave, with just one light tap of the real swinging beater. This project was first in its own series of multiple shaft fine weaving, and so this very exciting!

♣   Weaving Notes  ♣

• Yarn: 20/2 mercerized perle cotton, 8400yds / 1 lb, Maurice Brassard, in colors; Galaxy Blue (P-112), Light Beige (P-2), and Blanchi (white) (P-101). 
• Loom: Ashford Table Loom.
• Warping Method:  Direct warp, using an extra peg so I could get some extra length in the small space (because honestly , this table loom and stand take up a lot of space in the room. 1-2-3-4 straight draw, and 2 threads in every reed dent. Warp length is approx 110 inches from apron rod to warping peg.
• Number of warp ends: 360, plus 4 additional each selvedge. 368 ends total. 
• Reed: 10 dent reed, 2 ends through each dent.
• Width in reed: approx 18″
• Selvedges: Doubled for 4 ends each selvedge, and used a temple.
• Sett after finishing: Warp 22 epi, and weft 20 ppi. Still not perfectly balanced, but could be a situation of beating . I think a closer sett for warp would allow me to beat more consistently and get perfect balance, because with a slightly open weave the measuring overall is more difficult because of variations throughout.
• Color Pattern:   
  • Warp =  [20 slots with 2 ends each slot (40ends) blue, 20 slots with 2 ends each slot (40ends) light beige, 20 slots with 2 ends each slot (40ends) white] repeat. 20 slots with 2 ends each slot (40ends) blue. 
  • Weft = wound on to a 30″ stick shuttle for each color as follows: [30 wraps blue, 30 wraps light beige, 15 wraps blue, 15 wraps light beige] repeating sequence for the length of the warp.
• Finished: 1/4 inch turned hem, then washed and dried in machine, then pressed, measuring 76″ long and 17″ wide, and weighs 96g. 
• Yardage:  Total yardage used for finished piece = 1776y, figured from weight of finished piece and not including loom waste.
• What I will do different next time:  Warp back-to-front, again direct, but with longer warp needed due to the fact that the table loom has more loom waste than the rigid heddle loom, such as a minimum of 120″ from apron rod to peg for 80″ finished scarf.  Also I need to better organize heddles before attempting to thread, so mistakes don’t happen as easily. I will tie off bundles of 1″ in groups according to epi. 

How I change the colors . . .