Walking out in Spring on the fresh mown wild grass with Juno, I took photos with my phone, which look less than great as I’m a lousy phone photographer, but what the heck, it was hard to resist a glimpse of spring on the mountain that is recovering from wildfire for years to come. I have been tremendously busy, for months, out in the landscape working on the fire defensible space project that is all-consuming. On the creative front, I’ve been weaving ultra fine cotton in a series of rigid heddle loom experiments, and on what seems to be an eternal warp, and baking bread a lot, as well as other delicious things, like making chocolate!
Its difficult to believe that I have been weaving — and not knitting — for almost a whole year now, and I think although I don’t ever see slowing down with the weaving, I finally miss knitting. I miss spinning, and dying wools, and blending artful batts on my drum carder, and my Tweed Chronicles experiments too, but where do I find the time to do it all? I am feeling a time crunch and the panic of wildfire season just ahead, thinking to just get past the hard work, only a couple more months. Even though I can feel more at ease this year as the cool temperatures and rain has lasted wonderfully long, lingering and staving off the dry heat, the work presses on . . . and I am older, sore, and tired a lot. Scotty, beam me to late summer when the grass has stopped growing and the bonfires of the next rain season are still off the calendar, when the scorching dry weeks of August through September chase me indoors, desperately needing distraction from it . . . and then, surely there’ll be more time to relax into all of the creative projects!
This weaving taught me two new things. One is that I further explored color, using a different variation than I have yet; with two colors in the warp, and four in the weft. The color affect of the check is still lively and interesting, but without warping with the two lightest shades (beige and natural) the result gave a more muted and softened color variation, less dramatic with no light blocks. I would like to explore this idea even more!
I think the most challenging thing about this piece, and anything I’ve woven to date, is that I did a double heddle threading with two different size reeds. It was definitely another long and arduous threading process, and after discovering I miscalculated the spacing the first time, I resolved there really was no way of going around it, that it had to be done right, and be done over. Of course, in doing it over I discovered a formula for myself, where I was only guessing at first, and so I have written my formula in my weaving notes.
This is going to be the last of the double reed threading for a while, for not only is it a very intensive warping process, but also if a mistake is made in the warp (as there was one, if you’ll notice the long run throughout the whole weaving) it is just not something I know how to fix and it tests my patience. Such was the case again, some threads misaligned and right off the start, the flaw was blaringly obvious, but this was merely a sample to test the process. The reed sizes I wanted to thread together in this project were 15 dent and 12.5 dent (per inch), but easier calculated in the metric sizes 60/10(cm) and 50/10(cm) , to get a sett of 25 epi. Its all there in the weaving notes, with technical threading photo gallery.
♣ Weaving Notes ♣
Yarn: 20/2 mercerized perle cotton, 8400yds / 1 lb, Maurice Brassard, in colors; Rose Paudreux (P145), Natural (P100), Light Beige (P-2), and Flax (P-5109).
Loom: Ashford Knitters Loom 20″.
Warp: Double threaded 4 ends per dent on first reed, then through a second reed using this method ) also embedded in this post at the bottom) . Using a heddle stand is rather necessary, Jeff made the one I use in tech photos below. I don’t know how to suggest an alternative, but if one has a couple of heavy objects or uses a bit of cleverness, one could rig a reed stand. Now, with the second reed forward, threading it through in a very seemingly complex manner, but it really isn’t. Warp length is approx 110 inches from apron rod to warping peg. See formula below.
Number of warp ends: 432.
Reed: Two rigid heddle reeds, one 15 dent and one 12.5 dent. I threaded through the 15 dent reed first, skipping 1 slot after every 4 slots threaded, and the second reed I threaded every slot. End result is as two 12.5 dent reeds, with 25 epi. See formula below. Note: After both reeds were threaded, I held them together with thick rubberbands as shown in photos.
Sett on loom: Warp = 25 epi (ends/threads per inch), weft = 25 ppi.
Sett after finishing: Warp 28 epi, and weft 28 ppi.
Selvedges: I did not do floating selvedges, nor did I bother to double up and reinforce the selvedges, mostly because there was so much going on with threading through TWO reeds. I did use a temple.
Color Pattern:
Warp = [18 slots with 4 ends each slot (72 ends) flax, 18 slots with 4 ends each slot (72 ends) rose] REPEAT for a total of 3 pattern reps, and 432 ends.
Weft = wound on to a 30″ stick shuttle; [30 wraps of flax, 50 wraps of light beige, 30 wraps of rose, 50 wraps of natural] repeat the sequence to end of warp.
Finished: 1/4 inch turned hem, then washed and dried in machine, then pressed, measuring 80″ long and 15.5″ wide, and weighs 105g.
Yardage: Total yardage used for finished piece = 1943y, figured from weight of finished piece and not including loom waste.
My formula for threading two graduating sized heddles together: All of the reed sizes for the Ashford rigid heddle looms, which many rigid heddle weavers have a size graduation of reeds:
I have most of the reed sizes for my Knitters Loom, but for the sake of very fine cloth weaving with my rigid heddle looms, I am writing down my formula for threading two reeds of graduating larger sizes together so that I can achieve epi’s greater than the finest single reed available for this loom, which is a 15 dent (60/10). I’ll add that It is far easier to use a single reed than to thread two together, so in the case of coupling the lower-dent reeds — I recommend just buying the single 15 dent reed, instead of double threading 40/10 with 30/10 (or two 30/10) reeds to get 15 epi, but for the sake of example I listed all the rigid heddle reed pairings in sequence, in the situation that it applies.
The reed that has fewer dents should be in front of the other, facing forward toward the weaving, where every slot and hole is threaded. The reed with more dents should be behind it, and when threading, skip 1 slot/hole as needed to align to the front reed. Off of the warp beam there will be spaces in the threading, but the reed facing the weaving is even with no empty slots/holes. Here are my calculations for a balanced threading across the warp . . .
60/10 & 50/10, thread as two 50/10 (thread 5, skip1) same as two 12.5/in= 25epi
50/10 & 40/10, thread as two 40/10 (thread 4, skip1), same as two 10/in = 20epi
40/10 & 30/10, thread as two 30/10 (thread 3, skip1), same as two 7.5/in = 15epi
30/10 & 20/10, thread as two 20/10 (thread 2, skip1), same as two 5/in = 10epi
20/10 and 10/10, thread as two 10/10 (thread 1, skip1), same as two 2.5/in = 5epi
Sakiori was developed long ago by the peasants of Japan, who when faced with a shortage of cloth, made their own by cutting and tearing strips of old used cloth items, and wove them into new cloth for their clothing and home. These days an over-abundance of cloth is everywhere, providing such an opportunity to weave sakiori cloth, from rustic heavy rugs to delicate scarves. I am immensely inspired by the Sakiori style of weaving, and so I bought Ashfords attachable auxiliary cloth beam for my 48″ rigid heddle loom (the Freedom Roller) so that I can weave Sakiori cloth and rag rugs until the cows come home!
Sakiori is like rag rug weaving, that similarly uses cloth strips, but alternates cloth wefts with yarn wefts, so that is a whole element that adds possibility in design. This being my very first sakiori weaving, I have kept it simple, one color for warp and weft. Although I barely even put 5 rounds of sakiori cloth on it with this weaving, the attachment seems to me an essential addition for a rigid heddle loom to make bulky weaves like this, but even for yards of finer fabric, or any situation that benefits from having extra room to wind on a cloth beam, the Freedom Roller frees up the original cloth beam to be used as a secure and stationary front/breast beam, giving the weaving area in front of the reed more room too. I am hoping to weave some heavy wool blankets, rag rugs, and heavier table linens woven in the near future, to fill up that secondary cloth beam with some substantial weaving, and this piece was my first opportunity.
For this style of rag weaving, and in general on the rigid heddle loom, I’ve had to come up with heavy beating tools, because the rigid heddle reeds can not withstand that kind of muscle, and they are expensive, so one must come up with beater tools just for rigid heddle weaving situation like this. I am using the sword from my backstrap loom for this particular weaving that is only 19″ wide, but also tried out the weighted tapestry beater by Schacht. The sword is a heavy piece of wood that has a beveled edge and a slight curve to it so that it can be rocked a little forward and backward, to really pack in that weft. A tapestry beater is a heavy object with grooves like a comb, intended to hit along the weaving edge, allowing the warp to pass between the grooves, and really pack in the weft. These tools slow down the weaving a bit, but with the rigid heddle loom not having a heavy beater like a floor loom, I think these two tools are and will be an essential part of sakiori weaving.
I want to close in saying how amazingly gratifying weaving Sakiori is, because it really weaves up so incredibly fast, especially on the rigid heddle loom where direct warping is in itself so speedy. I am finding I can set up a project like this one and be done warping and tying on in about an hour and be well on my way weaving the weft body by the end of the day. This respite of instant gratification weaving is so refreshing after my many ultra fine weaving projects I’ve been experimenting with over the last couple of months.
♣ Weaving Notes ♣
Warp Yarn: 8/4 cotton yarn, Maurice Brassard, 8.0 oz (~227g) tube = 840 yds. (1680 yds./lb, in color blue. Approx 80″ from apron rod to peg.
Reed: One 12.5 dent rigid heddle reed, about 19″ width in reed.
Sett on loom: Warp= 12 epi (ends/threads per inch), weft= 8 cloth picks and 8 yarn pick = 3″.
Edges: I did not do floating selvedges, nor did I bother to double up selvedges, but did use a temple. I did weave plain weave with the 8/4 cotton for approx 2″ before and after cloth strips, so that I could make a turned hem.
Finished: 1/2 inch turned hem, sewn against the underside of ends. Rinse & Dry cycle in machine, final measurement after shrinking 8% in length = 9″ x 44″.
Yardage: I did not measure or weigh the actual fabric I tore into strips, but I had a 2 yard piece of brushed plaid, and I have quite a few strips left over, so all I can say is about 1.5 – 1.75 yards of cloth. As for the cotton warp yarn, I didn’t think well about this particular weaving, as it is mostly cloth strips, however I will say I didn’t use the whole warp, I had about 10″ left of warp and didn’t even use the whole cone of yarn for warp and weft.
What I will do differently next time:
Use floating selvedges! The rag weft is so thick that if it doesn’t encase the last threads, they sometimes ended up floating over vertically, and I found myself having to catch outer warp threads every pick to keep that from happening, and even had to sew in at the finish some of the long floated warps I missed. 🙁
Measure a piece of string that is the length I want to weave the project, and weave it or pin it to the actual cloth as it winds on to the beam. I did this but let it wind around next to the cloth, and the diameter was much smaller, therefore not accurate, and my end project was about 6 inches longer than I planned for.
Take the time to prepare the cloth strips a bit better; pre-roll and iron the weft, hiding all raw fuzzy edges of torn strips, perhaps use a bias tape folding tool.
This thickness was fine for table runner but could have been finer with cloth strips only 1″ wide. For rug I would make cloth strips 2″ wide minimum.
This ultra fine cloth finished has 32 threads per inch in the warp, and was woven on my 20″ Ashford Knitters (rigid heddle) Loom, which is a fabulous sample loom for all the fine weight threads I have been so curious to try. This particular project is extremely fine cotton, was threaded through two 15 dent reeds, and I have no desire to go finer, this is the limit. Famous last words, eh?
One must look and wonder how all these gazillion threads in the warp can be kept track of, and I for one, can not. I thought all the threads were there, but as I begin to weave, there’s empty slots where warp threads are suppose to be, maybe one or two were mis-threaded, or broke, and I missed them, but as I weave further, more threads have disappeared, likely in not catching them when I was threading the reeds. I just can’t pull my hair out over it, these are sample weavings, total leaps of faith and hoping for the best, I can’t take it too seriously.
The most impressive thing to me about this piece is that it was threaded through tworigid heddle reeds; double threading is a mind bend at first, but then after my first try using these instructions the process gelled and suddenly I felt like I was born knowing how to do it. So I’m weaving on in spite of the mysteriously thinning warp, it is a thrill to be weaving such ultra fine fabric on a simple, nearly primitive loom, even though weaving 30 epi on the rigid heddle loom means I am having to do the extra work of using a stick shuttle for both passing the weft and beating down to try for a balanced weave, and still it is not. Weaving on the rigid heddle in this way slows weaving down a great deal, and there is a lot to pay attention to.
Once I am finished with this piece I may try another similar double threading sample with a different reed combination, coupling a 15 and a 12 dent together, achieving a 24 epi, and maybe then I can beat with only a tap of the rigid heddle reed instead of having to beat it down with the stick shuttle. I strive to find the sweet spot where weaving is truly balanced, not forced, and ultimately what I want to achieve with plain weave.
A bit about the design; I crave bold block design in a subtle contrast, so developing my elongated big check blocks with or without a stripe, and selecting the two very low contrast neutral colors for the background check, for this piece was an attempt to get a “barely there” colorway, yet it is still bold enough, and I really love it!
♣ Weaving Notes ♣
Yarn: 20/2 mercerized perle cotton, 8400yds / 1 lb, Maurice Brassard, in colors; Natural (P100), Light Beige (P-2), and Flax (P-5109).
Loom: Ashford Knitters Loom 20″.
Warp: Double threaded 4 ends per dent on first reed, then through a second reed using this method. Using a heddle stand is rather necessary, Jeff made the one I use in tech photos below. I don’t know how to suggest an alternative, but if one has a couple of heavy objects or uses a bit of cleverness, one could rig a reed stand. Now, with the second reed forward, threading it through in a very seemingly complex manner, but it really isn’t. Warp length is approx 110 inches from apron rod to warping peg.
Number of warp ends: 600 , or there about, as I lost some along the way.
Reed: Two 15 dent rigid heddle reeds, about 19.5″ width in reed.
Sett on loom: Warp = 30 epi (ends/threads per inch), weft = ?? (forgot to measure).
Selvedges: I did not do floating selvedges, nor did I bother to double up and reinforce the selvedges, mostly because there was so much going on with threading through TWO reeds , but a real positive thing about such a tight weave and having to beat with the stick shuttle to get the weft in place, there seems to be no draw-in on the edges. After about 12″ of weaving I noticed a little draw-in, so I started using the temple.
Sett after finishing: Warp 32 epi, and weft 24 ppi.
Color Pattern:
Warp = [12 slots with 4 ends each slot (48ends) light beige , 1 slot with 4 ends (4 ends) flax, 12 slots with 4 ends each slot (48ends) light beige. 12 slots with 4 ends each slot (48ends) natural, 1 slot with 4 ends (4 ends) flax, 12 slots with 4 ends each slot (48ends) natural, 12 slots with 4 ends each slot (48ends) natural. ] REPEAT for a total of 3 pattern reps, and 600 ends.
Weft = wound 60 full wraps on to a 30″ stick shuttle for each color, in repeating sequence natural and light beige.
Finished: 1/4 inch turned hem, then washed and dried in machine, then pressed, measuring 81″ long and 18″ wide, and weighs 130g.
Yardage: Total yardage used for finished piece = 2405y, figured from weight of finished piece and not including loom waste.
What I will do differently next time:
Again, I ran out of room on the reed(s) while threading, and had to sacrifice the left 12 threads, but its so fine, that is like a quarter inch I am guessing. Second is I didn’t catch it, but there’s a few threads missing in the slots, and that is okay with me.
Glimakra slim boat shuttle actually fit in the shed! I am so anxious to finally use it, I found I had to use the stick shuttle as a beater anyway, why not refine the movements and wind the stick shuttle with thread and omit the boat shuttle this time… but next time, with 24 epi , using 12 and 15 dent reeds double threaded, maybe it will be balanced.
I have to confess mild disappointment, as I thought I could do better on my first twill project than I have. I planned it to be full width of 32″ and at least 72″ long. I planned it to be soft and fluffy and light, a lap blanket or shawl, whichever it wanted to be. But there was a double learning curve within this piece as not only have I not yet woven alpaca, which I realize now this particular superfine two ply worsted weight is quite slippery, but neither have I woven twill, or anything on multiple shaft loom. This was to be the first piece on the new table loom, a test run, using alpaca yarn that I happened to have the exact amount of in my yarn drawers, and meticulously planned to use up every yard of my light grey and cream that I had.
I set off with things going nearly right, having been lucky with the warping and keeping it organized, I had to improvise a front-to-back method. The work of sleying the reed and threading heddles entailed so much fussing I bore down under the yoke of determination and eventually, miraculously, got it done. Threading through the texsolv heddles in a straight draw, and finally with Jeff’s help I got it wound on to the warp beam nicely and firmly, with a lot of cardboard warp separators. Then there was testing the shed and fixing crossed threads for quite some time, not knowing what I was doing really, I really was at my limit. Presently, my first impression is that I don’t really love texsolv heddles, oh, yes, they’re quiet, and ultimately lightweight, just that threading them is a chore! I don’t know what wire heddles are like either, but they must be easier to thread.
After I started my first few inches of weft, just about everything went wrong that could go wrong; warp threads started to break within the first 12 inches of weaving, as well as the floating selvedge, and I noticed how uneven the twill angle was, all over the place, beating so inconsistently as I am not use to a beater at all, it seemed I was barely pressing the weft into place. In retrospect I suspect that it is because the warp was too spread out, and I should have used at least one size smaller reed, if not two, and being so spread out, the weft just sunk heavily into place practically covering the warp, in some places almost like tapestry weaving. I did not and could not predict this weft-heavy twill because of my complete lack of experience. So now I know, especially for this alpaca that is slick, pack the warp in double that I have, and then I will have some choice about how the weft beats down.
I should be laughing, I knew so well that I’d make hash of the twill thing, but I also knew I’d learn a lot, and I most certainly did. The good news is that it was a lovely cold snowy morning yesterday when I brought this hand-made gift of goodwill over to my dearest friend (who agreed ahead of time to accept it as the learning curve it is), that I had finished it in time before it became hot as it does often in mid March, and who wants a heavy alpaca thing then? I am hopeful the alpaca will most certainly bloom and soften and become a perfect accessory in her rustic mountain cabin where it will now live, strewn over the back of some truly antique leather chair next to an old stone fireplace hearth, and even though it is lumpy, bumpy, and unintentionally striped with uneven twill angle, it will bloom out and fit in wonderfully.
Anyway, the list of Next Times are long and detailed and for documenting purposes, I have included them in my weaving notes below, and I shall find them useful in the future.
Special thanks to Ruth, the chat help at The Woolery, who has taught me more than any books or class!
♣ Weaving Notes ♣
Yarn: Simply Alpaca by Knit Picks. Superfine alpaca, approx 12 wraps per inch, 247 yds = 100g. Color for warp is natural “Alaina”, and color for weft is light grey “Alfie”.
Loom: Ashford 8-shaft Table Loom, 32″.
Warping method: Traditional warping peg with cross, improvised back to front, but I forgot to measure the warp before winding on beam.
Weft pattern: 2/2 twill.
Selvedges: 1 end of floating selvedge each side.
Number of warp ends: I ended up improvising adding some, doubling up some dents to try to use up all the warping yarn, and never counted.
Reed: 8 dent.
Sett after finishing: Warp 10 epi, and weft between 5 – 7 ppi.
Finished: 30″ wide by 60″ long, plus a 5″ knotted fringe. I did not wash but steamed well.
Yardage: Total yardage used = 1654 y, figured from weight (670g) of finished piece and not including loom waste.
What I will do differently the next time I weave this alpaca:
Start with way more than enough yarn, nearly double the amount I need for warp, so that being frugal doesn’t affect my planning!
For this alpaca I will use a sett of 12 epi for plain weave, and perhaps 14 or 16 epi for twill. doubling ends through the 8 dent reed for twill. I do suspect the reason the twill is so weft heavy and at such a shallow angle is because of the warp being too spaced out, I don’t know actually, only a guess. Setting up the warp erring on too close probably better than too far apart, for the weaving would not stand up to even a light beat, as if it just wanted to squish together and the warp hardly visible.
Originally I wanted to use my 10 dent reed that it came with, but didn’t think I could get the 72″ length full width of the loom, and I wanted it to be as wide as possible. So, I recalculated an epi of 9, and got an 8 dent reed, so I improvised 2 ends through one dent every 11 dents, it was crazy doing this, and I think it actually caused a vertical stripe in the warp ! As it ended up, I ran out of weft and had to cut the piece off the warp with another 12-18″ that could be woven –frugality backfired into waste! That was wasted warp that could have been reconfigured into a 10 or 12 dent reed for the warp I ended up using in the end. In future, it has got to be easier, a simple rule of start with plenty, and warp evenly 1 or 2 ends in the dent, every dent the same number of ends, all the way across the warp, with exception of the selvedges being more if reinforcing the edges.
Not use the full width of the reed, this must be a universal thing, for one needs room for floating selvedges, and to add a couple of warps if necessary. Leave at least an inch on either side of the warp for fixes, at least until I know for sure, at least until I know what I’m doing.
Add more twist to this alpaca if I can, before warping! The weft can be fluffy and barely twisted, that’s okay, but I would have had far fewer breaks had I run the balls through the spinning wheel giving them a couple of turns more.
Warp it in even bundles of say, four inches on the reed, and sley/thread one bundle at a time rather than overwhelming myself with all of them at once. After all the threads are gone through the front, it is easy to untangle the warp with this slick alpaca, just a few shakes and the strands magically align, to wind on to the warping beam.
As I was breaking warp threads, I was looking for things in the house I could wind and weight down as a floating weight. I discovered my tiny drop spindle to be the perfect warp weight!!! I loved it so much because I could actually spin and increase the twist of the yarn that was breaking because it was too loosely plied. So, bought another just like it, and plan to have two of these tiny less-than-an-ounce spindles to be my official floating selvedge weights, perhaps twisting two selvedge strands together rather tightly and “parking” it on the table, as those turkish style spindles do so well.
