It Don’t Come Easy

I dress the loom back to front, I generally have so much going on in the set up of the loom that it does not behoove me to use a true traditional method (pre-sleying a reed, removing shafts etc).  In setting up the wool warp rug, I decided to pre-sley a topless reed instead of my usual raddle.  Well, didn’t work out too well.  The reed top flipped, the threads became tangled and locked up before the lease sticks which required removing one lease and re-sleying and slowly reestablishing a true cross.

The wool has a rough grist and the set is very dense.  So once again, a project is not going smoothly.  Tomorrow will be a long day but hopefully the weaving will be smooth, if I get that far!

 

Quiet Riot

My last couple of projects have been disappointing and this makes me a little dubious about the next in line.  I have a nice stash of rug yarns and decided that a warp faced wool runner would be a relatively headache free project.

The set for the wool varies yarn to yarn and a dense set is required in order to completely cover the thick weft for a rep style weave.  The wraps per inch came to 16, I decided to use 32 epi as the set.  This will give 16 warp ends per upper shed and 16 lower shed, therefore a dense set and complete coverage of the weft.

Warping with multiple cones makes preparation go a little faster and as the wool is rather thick, I am splitting the warp into several warp chains.  I do not care for the pale grey that surrounds the red and teal stripe.  It appears to have a lavender tone which bothers me.  There goes my theory of a headache free warp, I have decided to remove the lavender grey during dressing the loom and replace it with a different grey or black.

I do like the darker grey combined with the cream and black.

The lavender grey really jumps out in this picture and clashes with the teal and red.  It will be messy to remove it and replace with another color but I think I will be happier with the results.  This will be woven on the Oxaback.  I removed some components of the draw loom, added 4 shafts using regular heddles and will still need to use the counter weights as the coupers are still set up “upside down.”

I still have to prep for the upcoming local weavers guild meeting that I am hosting in July.  The project of study is huck lace and I have not even started planning the project yet.

Half Baked

Yes, I know what you are thinking, but I am referring to the Merriam-Webster Half Baked.

I have been half in, half out, too busy, not dedicated enough to actually complete a single project I have liked, in several months.  The earlier referenced damask towels came out too heavy and still need finishing.  I rushed them off as I was busy and irritated and felt claustrophobic in the tiny room I have that house two full size production looms.

Take the above project for example.  I had some “dubious” warp that I thought may/may not work for a flatweave rug.  The yarn was too soft and a little too fine and the weft required multiple strands of decent rug wool and the result was still lackluster.  So I decided with re-sleying that towels were the way to go.  I used a hand dyed heavy cotton slub for weft and the results were underwhelming.  Also, I have insufficient amounts to make a solid color towel.  I decided “New Rules” should be implemented.  One loom at a time for a planned project using the right yarns even if this requires purchasing new inventory, the second project can be more fluid and experimental.

TIP: dependent on the structure, a thicker yarn is more likely to require a floating selvedge than finer yarns.  A floating selvedge can slow weaving speed down a little.  The diamond twill above required a floating selvedge.  When weaving with finer yarns, the float at the selvedge between weft picks (the actual warp thread and distance before it is once again caught by the weft) is not as obvious.

 

Synopsis

Hi, my name is Dawn, I am a neglectful blogger!

The abbreviated version;

Moved, sold looms, bought looms, condensed, de-cluttered, new job, not much weaving, lots of running, new puppy, kid changed school, another kid just graduated from college, graduate coming home with furniture, significant other and pooch (Dear Huxley), new coaching job, working on the house, working on the garden, working on me…..

So there you have it.  Now back to regular programming. New goal, to resume teaching and start new product line and blog a lot more with pictures!

D

 

Oxaback Drawloom Cont.

The main construction of the drawloom attachment is complete.  The drawcords are placed with the large loop on the front support bar and the remaining length travels over to the back of the loom above the pattern shafts.  As there are hundreds of drawcords, they are placed by color in groups of 10.  This makes it easy to identify specific lifts of the pattern leash from the graph design.

Here is the view from the front.  The drawcords are somewhat slack as they have not been attached to the patterns leashes.  I did place a pair of lease sticks at the back and at the front of the drawcords.  This only serves to keep them a little more organized and assists in identifying the sequence of the drawcords.  It is not necessary to use lease sticks.

Below shows the drawcords attached to the pattern leashes by a small jewelry clasp (approx $6.00 for 200).

The drawcords are selected according to your draft.  Fo me, each graph square represented one leash of 6 ends for a 6 shaft broken twill.  You can save pattern draws by some method, usually string.  I found the string a little cumbersome and resorted to sticks to save the pattern.  The sticks can be stored either behind or in front of the large bar where the large loop is secured.

On this particular design, a pattern shaft draw would have been more appropriate but I wanted to identify that simple patterns can be stored on the single unit.  Below is the sample using cotton warp and a cotton boucle for weft.  The fabric is a little heavier than desired but will make adequate hand towels.

 

Oxaback Drawloom Attachment

The single unit attachment finally arrived last week.  I placed the order at the end of last year/beginning of this year.  It was made for the Oxaback loom and was shipped from Sweden.

Below is the packaging with the exception of a USPS large flat rate box full of hardware.

The device itself is quite simple, everything attached easily and only required drilling a few holes into the main loom.

Below is the back beam extension.  The single unit device requires less space than the harness version.  I particularly like the height adjustment for the warp beam.

This is one of a pair of the side support pieces, it supports the pattern draw shafts, the back reed and the top support beam.

Below shows how this is installed.

Below are the shaft support hangers.

Below is the support for the extra weighted cords.  In this photo I have the part installed upside down, the metal rod should sit a little higher so the cords do no abrade with the countermarch cords.

The front assembly in place.

The rear of the loom awaiting the pattern heddles to be transferred onto the four pattern shafts.

Boring Updates

Got my two commission pieces done and shipped.  Ran an awesome marathon and got an age group award.  Work is going well, last interview not so much.  Issue with Parent (ergo poor interview).

Other than that, rolling along.  Still waiting for the Single Unit Device to arrive from Sweden.  In the interim, prepping the new warp.

Scored a great amount of wool yarn from a local mill that will be used for rugs for my home.  Kids doing well, one graduating soon, the youngest starting drivers ed.  Feeling old.