CoIP Dyeing

Another first for dyeing - up until now we have only worked with indigo (the Clun Forest scarf was our first indigo and since then Anne has done a class in indigo dyeing (we now have a LOT of CF wool in dark blue)).  For the place mats I need stripes that will be a mix of colours to match the theme - in this case colours of Ireland.  I chose Kelly green (that was easy) forest green, gray, navy blue and sky blue.  The dyes are from Dharma Trading Co and are the fiber reactive dye range for natural fibers (I'm using linen). The instructions couldn't have been clearer and the procedure seemed pretty straight forward.  I chose to sensitize the material (the yarn) first and paint on the dyes.  That needed a little bit of thickening and adding all the appropriate amounts of dye per colour (some need more to get the brighter/darker colours).

All went well for the test stripe.

The dye factory

Note: the vodka bottle contained the thickened chemical solution to mix the dyes in NOT refreshment during the process.  The test stripe (1 inch of weft yarn) is on the white block, wrapped in glad wrap while the dye fixes.

24 hours later and after washing out the left over dye (very little) and drying it was time to try the weaving.

The test stripe

The measurement was not precise enough and the painted pattern 'smeared' across the stripe, but as it had started as a fairly random set of colour 'blobs and streaks' that didn't really impact too much.  I'll work on a more precise measurement before the stripes on the first mat, but keeping with the fairly random allocation of colours.  In the photo above the blue line is the cut mark at the start of the first real place mat, and the green marks at the selvedge were for marking the warp to enable me to measure the true width of a weft shot.

I'll be doing a production run of stripes over the weekend and will weave what linen I have on hand.  I should have enough for a set of four and then I have to wait for the back order of another cone to complete the rest.  It will be interesting to see what the next 'lot' is like - a small contrast with the warp would enhance that pattern even more, so oddly I'm hoping for a difference in the same product (which is possible between batches).

Colours of Ireland Placemats (CoIP)

Spent most of the day dressing the Macomber loom with the linen warp.  On Saturday I spent an hour or so untangling the last couple of feet of warp after winding it on - it managed to wrap itself in knots (sort of) and required some dedicated unraveling from the lease sticks out.  With that done it was a relatively easy (but long) process to complete the dressing.

The first few inches will be purely experimental - using the new temple, and getting a feel for the linen which, so far, will be the finest yarn I have used on this loom.  The non-elastic nature doesn't seem a problem. the sheds are forming nicely and the sett seems pretty spot on.

the first couple of inches

The pattern looks fairly good on the white on white warp/weft - it will really jump out when I put the stripe in.  Still waiting for the dyes for that - they should be arriving early in the week.  I also need the other cone of linen (on back order) to complete the 18 place mats I have planned.

Also have one more scarf on the Dorothy loom and two or three skeins of alpaca to spin - I think I'll be busy enough.

Colours of Ireland Placemats

The next project is underway - linen place mats for some wedding presents (coming up).  This is the first time I have tried linen (purchased from the Yarn Barn of Kansas) and it will include some hand painted stripe features (that's where the colour will come in).  The dyes have been ordered (along with everything needed to use them as paint and to fix them into the linen).

Warping started

 Warping was a little bit faster as the order included two partial cones of linen so I could do two yarns as once (half the time - it took about 2.5 hours)

Close up

 It is Normandy Linen, 100% line flax 20/2 bleached, from Belgium

Finished and tied off

All up there are 2618 yards of yarn for the warp.  The sett is 24 ends per inch and it will be a twill design (my own) that has some nice crosses (vaguely Irish) and stripes in it - with warp and weft the same colour it will only be evident at certain angles and where the colour stripes (2. One at each end) are.

First job though, clean and tidy up the loom before dressing.

Right Side of the Bed Rug #1 Finished

A concerted push of the last two days meant that late this morning Anne finished the weaving of the first RSotBR.  Nothing to do with the fact that I've received and finished warping up the linen for the next project on the Macomber :-)

Finished...

 Rachel and I waited quietly in the hall and as soon as the beating stopped - appeared with a celebratory glass of wine (and camera).

Off the loom

With the mats off the loom there's the cutting and finishing the ends then blanket stitch down the edges to keep the roving tidy.  Final photo's to follow.

Why I'm a weaver

I mentioned a while back that our third Thursday group had a night doing mainly woolen yarn.  I ended up making a small skein of three-ply woolen (with the plying taking care of the fairly inconsistent singles :-)

Diana from the group was interested in how it would knit as she is looking at doing some socks from Clun Forest if it looks like it would provide the right springiness/sturdiness/softness - if that is even possible?  So that left the challenge of knitting some of the CF 3ply woolen into a swatch that will hopefully demonstrate this...

2.5 inch swatch US#3 needles, stockinette

This tiny sample took me over an hour to knit (nearly two - I had to start 0ver once!). While for the weaving side of things yesterday I was happily weaving over 5 inches of scarf in 30 minutes and it is 8 inches wide (and comes out neatly!!)

Scarf #2 progress.

Each block has a four inch block of colour (they alternated after each stripe) then 1 inch of pink/blue between).  By swapping the colour blocks the twill pattern shows up clearly first on one side then on the other as the warp has half of each of the main colours.

Currently I'm just under half way through this scarf, with one more to go after that.

Isabel's Scarf

After a few false starts - the scarf is well underway - I did a re-sley, and then found a mistake so had to 'unweave' a couple of inches and fix that.  All seems nicely balanced now so it's full speed ahead (although I do have some CF to spin to ensure there is enough yarn for the rugs - then finally finish up the alpaca - which will be the next project on the Dorothy).

Quick progress on Isabel's scarf

Weaving on the Dorothy

After a delay for a week (trip to Florida then Ohio), I've finally finished dressing the loom and started weaving.  I had the loom dressed on Friday but wasn't happy with the crammed and spaced layout - the spaced part was WAY too spaced.  So with a quick re-sley I put some normal sett spacing in the center and then moved all the rest 'in' onto that.  It looks a lot better, and will weave up fairly easily.

First two inches

The photo doesn't really do justice to the 3 colours in use - perhaps in full daylight it might come up better.  The weave structure is twill - and the varying 'angle' is because the warp changes from normal to crammed, to normal, to spaced to normal and repeats.  The normal sett is at 45 degrees the crammed steeper, the spaced less.

It will be interesting to see how it holds up once off the loom.