Back to Spinning

It's been a few weeks since I had the spinning wheel out - it was put away when we were tidying up ready for visitors, and then most of the craft work after that was weaving (the tartan and the Navajo throw/rug).

I found some very nice camel roving in the stash that my sister-in-law was kind enough to include with the spinning wheel I have on loan.  It's a beautiful light brown/fawn colour and very very soft.  Initially I thought it was angora, but the bag clearly has camel hair 1lb, $2.50 (I suspect it was purchased quite some time ago).  There is about half of that 1lb left, so I'll make up some 2-ply with it, and then use some white angora to make up enough for a scarf of some kind.

First of the camel

The roving spins very easily, although not with my normal Clun Forest short forward draw.  With that method it tends to 'grab' very quickly and can without much warning end up with a super thick portion with the only solution to remove it and join a new section.  I was able to spin some fairly smooth medium thin yarn, but really had to pay attention to the spinning.  By using a modified draw - drawing the drafting hand back like a long backward draw and controlling the spin with the forward hand a lot more the yarn became a little more manageable.  It was interesting to see the 'cut/shorn(?) ends looping around the drafting triangle as the yarn was twisted and drawn out.  Twisting in themselves at a slightly different rate.  Not sure what causes that, but it doesn't do any harm.

I nearly finished enough for two bobbins last night so should be able to finish this in a few nights.

In the meantime the Navajo inspired rug/throw is going very well.  I'm able to weave about an inch an hour (there are 5 shuttles, and the blue colour changes in a Fibonacci sequence on every direction change.  Anne suggested a name for it so it will now be known as the Turquoise Lightning blanket (it is the light coloured blue that inspired the name)

Progress on the blanket

Family Tartan

With a busy Sunday of weaving I managed to finish off the tartan sampler that began so long ago.  It only took two days of weaving to make up the 15 inch sample once everything was prepared.

The skeins wound onto balls prior to warping

 The warping took a lot of knotting - changing the colours at each of the many stripes.  Each colour having a minimum of 2 threads so the knots were all at the one end.

The warp tied on to remaining warp.

To cut down the amount of the hand spun/dyed yarn that would be wasted the warp was tied on to the remaining warp after the ikat project, plus enough to make up the number of ends.  The 200+ weavers knots meant that by the end I was fairly quick at tyeing them! 

Tartan on the loom

 The weaving was fairly quick and once I worked out the right beat to maintain the 45 degree twill line, it was relatively easy.  With the weft threads having a minimum two for each colour all the shuttles stayed on one side and I was able to hook them into the selvedge on the way up the right side.

The traditional wine at the finish of the weaving

Tartan off the loom and sewn at either end

Simulating the cushion that it will become.

The next job will be to full the cloth and then to sew it into a cushion to put on the couch.  In the mean time it is back to work on the large loom and the Navajo throw/rug.

Progress on the zig-zag throw/rug.

Ikat finished

Anne took over the weaving of the ikat scarf/sampler from me which allowed me to head back upstairs to the upright loom to work on the Navajo throw/rug (good progress there).  We managed to finish the ikat with almost exactly the amount of weft wool planned.  I dyed the last lot of stripes (measured correctly for the width).  That ran out about half an inch from the second 'chevron' (warp ikat) which allowed us to use plain white for the weft emphasising the white blocks caused by off-setting the warp yarn (white) stripe.  I then dyed some stripes at the shorter weft width as done at the beginning of the weaving just to finish it off. There was about 10 turns on the bobbin when the warp could be wound no further.

As with all 'finishing' we celebrated with a wine - this time both of us as it was really a joint project.

I have to prepare a 'pdf' instruction sheet with photo's to give out to the guild members this coming weekend.  We don't have our normal meeting, but are instead heading to the Port Nicholson guild exhibition in the morning and then heading for lunch out at the gallery.

Warp stripes - with binding to stop the dye spreading.

Weft ikat 'winding' up the warp.

 With the warp width and the weft strip width only slightly off-set the red/yellow/red stripes move alternatively right and left as the weaving progresses.  Obviously wrapping around and moving back when they hit the selvedge.  Only slight variations in warp width can mean larger 'loops' right up to a 'standing stripe'.

Warp ikat 'chevron'

The warp stripe, off-set by the shifting device.  Not particularly tidy, but shows the principle.  The other chevron was less clear as it appeared underneath the weft ikat stripes.  I would try and do something a little more tied together if planning this again.

All finished this project.

  The plyed warp held up well, and the quickly spun Clun Forest two-ply weft matched very nicely.

Guild project

Anne finished her section of the guild cotton project.  The complex twill went pretty well over all.

The finished project.

All at the guild were impressed with Anne's first time efforts.  The rest of the weaving should be finished by the next meeting so we will be cutting off our own sections ready to hem and then wash.  It will be good to see them hanging side by side.

Ikat weaving project

The guild ikat project has moved on after the last meeting.  Our goal was to tie up the resists so that the warp could then be put on the loom.  Everyone had a go, and all seemed to go fairly well.

Attentive (or was the confused) audience

Anne and Jinnie busy wrapping the resists onto the warp

Resists tied - using both rafia and plastic

Resists, after the dyeing

Resists removed.

The dye used was Ashford wool dye - a mix of yellow and red, based on the dry weight of the wool.

Tied on using the shifting board.

 The loom was dressed front to back (a first for me - I usually dress back to front), as this was the simplest given the unique way of offsetting the warp.  Once the reed was sleyed and the heddles threaded the step shifting board was attached to the back beam (bungy cords) and using the 'off-sets' of the steps the warp was tied on.  Once the shifting board was removed and the warp pulled back through from the front the off-sets become obvious.

The off-set blocks of the stripe.

Once wound on to the warp beam the front was tied on and now I only have to wait for the weft yarn dye to take (24 hours) and then dry and I'll be ready to start weaving.

Stripes painted on weft wool.

Using Earth Palette dyes I painted colour stripes on the weft wool (some of it - it will be done in batches).  Nothing precise, but the red and yellow are in approximate positions - marked on the wood.  That was then wrapped and is sitting in the hot water cabinet for 24 hours.  Once rinsed and dry the wool will be put on a bobbin and will form stripes through the length of the scarf, but off-set so should wind from side to side, based on the repeat width.

Tartan Dye

Today being a rainy, cool Saturday - perfect to catch up with some of the tasks.  I had the 3-ply all spun for the tartan sampler, but had not done any dyeing.  I spend this morning dividing up the skeins into the required amounts and then pot dyeing them with Ashford wool dye.

Red dye, coming to the boil

Dye exhausted

The four colours, plus white of the tartan.

The wool now has to dry and then it will be ready to divide (half for warp half for weft - loom waste will be scrap wool).  That will be the next project after the ikat weaving is finished.

Lots of weaving

Anne and I have been working on the guild project and the new rug over the last few nights. Plus a little bit of spinning (Clun Forest) to supplement the yarn needed for the guild ikat project.

Progress on the guild project is going well - Anne is racing ahead with the guild towel project and apart from a broken warp thread all is going well.

Guild project - half way through

I managed to get the upright loom dressed ready to make a kilim style rug and have managed to sort out a relatively good/consistent pattern which will have the basic white-ish background and a stripe with blue (changing from dark to light and then back) in the center.

The rug stripe

The plan will be to repeat the stripe (zig-zag) 4 times and then finish off with more grey (which also wraps up the side on this rug).

But in the meantime - it's off on holiday for a week, and begin work on these projects on return.

Guild weaving project

At the weekend meeting we found out that the weaver who took the loom after me, to weave her trial dish towel, was unable to because of other things taking up her time.  That meant that the loom came back with my towel as the last one.  We took the opportunity to bring the loom back home and give Anne a chance to try some advanced multi-shaft weaving.

We were able to find some quite nice purple colour - to contrast with the orange that I used.

Anne picked a design that is about 4 times as complicated as the one I did, and has raced ahead and finished about 4 inches in her first session (quickly identifying some of the many problems you can encounter when undertaking these sort of projects).

Notwithstanding - all problems overcome - and excellent results already.  It will be a spectacular towel when it is finished.

Anne's towel at the top.

With two projects on the go (the rug and now the towel) Anne will be busy - and time for me to do some spinning catch-up.

Guild project 2

At the weaving part of the guild meeting this weekend we began a project to try out ikat weaving.  Anyone familiar with the term will know it is a method of preparing warp or weft with dyes that when woven will form some sort of pattern.  Very complicated versions are made in Indonesia/India/Middle Eastern countries (and no doubt more), but we are aiming a lot lower than that, and given the skill and knowledge of the leader for this project, probably very simple indeed.  Somehow I was volunteered for the job, I think because I had suggested it might be interesting to try, and I had just read the guild library book on the topic.

So with some work on the days leading up to the meeting to find some useful background information (photocopies made & attributed) and the construction of a 'shifting' device I began the task.  First job was to work out the 'maths'.  Everyone had a go at the Steve method - the way I work out the amount of yarn needed for the project, and a bit different for others to tackle.  To their credit everyone worked through the problem and we quickly identified that the amount of 2-ply I had made wouldn't be enough for a luxury scarf for everyone, so the plan b will be to adjust the size down to something that will use about 300 yards each, and call it an ikat sampler :-)

How long was that piece of string?

There were some great examples of ikat brought along, and also one member brought along her laptop with some great videos of ikat preparation.

Shifting device in the foreground, and working out amount of wool using a McMorran yarn balance

The calculations done, we divided up the yarn and all will go away and wind their warp yarn onto their warping frame.  Next month we will tie on some resist and dye the warp.  If time permits we will have a go at putting a stripe on some weft yarn to make our weft and warp ikat sampler.

Demonstration of what we might do with the weft yarn

One of the examples - useful for showing 'shifted' warp.

Everyone contributed useful tips and helpful thoughts - this project is likely to run for the next two meetings, so if the enthusiasm stays high, and I don't confuse matters too much,  I'm confident we'll get some great results.

Lichen Dyeing

At the guild meeting on Saturday afternoon we were lucky enough to participate in a 'group dye-in'.  One or two members of the guild had brought their 'stash' of lichen.  This had all been collected over many years and many years ago when it was permissable to collect the lichen that had fallen off trees - I believe Beech - at quite high altitudes.  I should have noted the name down, but think it might have been Pseudocyphellaria coronata (sticta coronata) as a quick google brought up a description of using it to dye with.

A simple process of adding water to a large pot - adding the bag of lichen (which is re-used for years) and bringing the water to a simmer and adding the clean wool.  10 minutes later taken out of the brown-ish water the wool is now a dark shade of purple!!  And after a quick rinse (no colour comes out though) the wool is ready to dry and use.

We were all allowed to dye up to 2 oz.  Anne and I tried a 2 oz batt of Clun Forest.  It turned out superbly. (The pictures, taken with my phone, do not do it justice)

Some lichen dyed Clun Forest batt, ready for spinning

After drying overnight, I divided the batt into three and quickly spun it into thin singles ready to ply.

Partially spun singles

The result was a just under 2 oz skein of 3 ply in a rich purple.  There are slight variations (nothing like in the pictures - that's the camera) which in the 3-ply form a nice subtle graduated mix across the whole skein.  I also had slightly different amounts on the three bobbins so kept going until all the purple was gone (I had started on top of some Clun Forest white singles) making some nice purple and white yarn.  Good for a feature somewhere.

The finished skein

After seeing how simple this is, we will be researching to find something similar in the US.  Noting an article on lichens in NZ it is good to see that very few of them grow exclusively here, so there is a good chance we will find something the same in TN somewhere!

Cotton Towel Finished

Finished - with the traditional glass of wine :-)

I finished off the last 3 inches of the cotton towel (Guild project) this morning and as was the tradition in the US when a project is finished a glass of wine is earned. By the end of the 26" length I was actually moving along quite fast - I had finally memorised the sequence and could stand the odd interruption without loosing my place!

The weaving set-up

This photo shows how I ran my home made temple - wooden ends with nails, a chain to keep the width consistent and two of my large (telephone) glass insulators hung across chairs at the height of the warp to stretch the temple outwards.  It meant that from beginning to end the warp stayed at a consistent 13" width.

One selvedge.

The selvedges worked out pretty well - the use of a floating double thread and the temple and hand placing the weft thread all add up to a nice tidy finish.  Tension made a difference with the slub cotton warp - not enough and the unraised warp threads tended to 'stick' a little more which meant the floating selvedge threads often picked up an extra - I learnt early on to make sure they didn't and keep the wound on tension at a high enough amount to avoid it mostly.  The unwind speed of the warp beam and the wind on speed when the amount of warp on each is different along with the ratchet and pawl size on both means there is always a slight amound of difference I guess.

The finised piece.

Now that it is finished I'll contact the next person on the list and they can come and pick up the loom to do their section.  We should be through the list and ready to cut off the pieces and hem them in another month.  The warp lines (from three threads per dent in the reed) will disappear in the first wash.  Time now to go and pack it up. 

I will certainly be using this design again, but on the jack or counterbalance loom to make it a whole lot faster.

Guild Plying

While both Anne and I have been busy weaving over the last week - both the rug and the cotton towel projects are really going well - I have also managed to get a little bit more of the plying done.  The tally is now just under 2km of nice soft two ply in skeins.

All the skeins

Anne was able to produce - on her first go - a pretty nice small run of 2-ply which we've added to the pool.

Guild project

I received a call from one of the guild members who had finished her part of the current weaving project (the one I wound the warp for) - she was number 3 on the list and I had said I'd be next.  She only took 6 days to finish her section (20 inches of woven cloth, plus 2 x 1.5 inch for the hems and 3 inches for 'practice').

The first three people on the list all tackled different designs (from the project sheet) so far be it from me to change that - and very conveniently the pattern I really liked hadn't yet been done, so it was not really a problem picking what I wanted to do.  I didn't even bother using my 3 inch practice warp to try anything different - I just got stuck straight in.  Actually I did use those inches to spread the warp out a little bit as it had pulled in quite a bit over the previous weaving.  To achieve that I made my own temple - based on the method I had used in the US (until I bought a couple of temples that is) of hooks either side of the warp, with weights hanging over the side of the loom, and something to ensure the hooks didn't 'stretch' the cloth too far.

Unpacking the guild loom

The loom is a 8 harness Mecchia table loom (made in Hamilton, NZ) that is owned by the guild and used for projects.  It packs up fairly conveniently - and it easy to set up.

My part of the project

I was lucky enough to find some perfect weft cotton - exactly the same wraps per inch as the warp, but a fairly solid orange/brown colour.  It makes the pattern really stand out (both sides - one being the negative of the other).

The first 12 inches.

I'm getting the hang of the loom now - and as you can see in the picture above, I have a fairly simple graphic to keep track of the 'treadling' - set up for each weft shot.  It would be so much faster with a) my foot treadled jack loom, and b) a boat shuttle (for speed), although the stick shuttle helps keep the odd wayward warp thread (slub cotton sticking together) in check.

I should be able to finish this in another few more nights work, and then work out how to get it to the next person.

The final work this weekend has been more plying of the guild woolen singles.  We have now done nearly 1.5 kilometers!!

Rug finishing

The design for the rug completion is now done and we have started to weave again.  The first quick sketch shows the existing 'blocks' transformed into stripes that swirl into a central hole.

First sketch

After the first sketch I decided to add a center gold circle inside the black circle.  Then the next step was to map the whole thing out a little more accurately based on a full scale diagram.

The plan, on graph paper.

With the detailed graph we were then able to actually start the rows, and following the diagram it should then turn out reasonably close to what I want - there will not be nice sharp edges as the colours come together as I have had to vary the number of knots of each colour to accommodate both the swirl and the reduction in size.  Once at the half was stage I will have to abandon the tidy coloured strips in favour of a slowly randomising colour scheme as it wraps around the black circle.

The various colours cut up and grouped together.

The wool is cut by wrapping it around a couple of sticks with a groove between them.  Once thee is enough a knife is used to cut the individual lengths.  These are then grouped together into bundles with the number needed varying based on the thickness of the yarn.

Rug progress (front)

Rug progress (rear - with merging stripes more clearly shown)

Most of the weaving and knotting today was done by Anne - while I worked on the guild project.  The side white stripes here are our own Clun Forest wool - I have spun up some quick, thick, 2-ply.  The rest of the white (inside the grey stripes) is just plain commercial yarn.

Plying

At the guild meeting on Saturday (the weaving meeting in the morning) we decided to look at a project to follow on from our current one (in fact begin before, so as to minimise the down time).  One of our weavers had collected a whole large bag of singles (white wool - I'm not sure of the origin) and had made some two ply of some of it, but the type of wool meant it was a little scratchy to the touch and destined for just making slippers (which a few are now starting).   There was also quite a lot of very fine (and soft) singles that it was decided would make great soft two-ply that we could then try dyeing and some individual project work while the cotton towels are still on the guild loom.  Given the plying is pretty fast I volunteered...

Woolen singles ready to ply

I did a quick check to see which way the singles had been spun.  It was 'z' spun (the wheel turning clockwise) - not really visible in the photo above, but obvious by spinning and unspinning on the wheel.  Next step was to roll some center pull balls from the much larger ball of wool.  Quick work with the ball winder.

Two center pull balls ready to ply.

First run of two play

2nd run of 2-ply

Bobbin full of two ply

1st skein - 270 meters, 50+grams

The process went fairly smoothly, although I did learn when I first started out that unless there was a reasonable twist in the ply the yarn rapidly untwisted.  I suspect a symptom of the singles being in the ball for some considerable time.  Normally I ply quickly after finishing the singles and the natural twist in the fiber works to tighly hold the ply together.  I did read somewhere about re-energising wool that has sat for a while, but would have to research that.  In the meantime the well twisted 2-ply still has a nice soft drape and should retain enough of the plying twist to keep it together.

It took about an hour and a half to ply the bobbin full, so this morning I managed to get two done, and thee will be quite a few more in the original large ball/cone.