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Busting the Stash

17 Friday Jan 2014

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A couple weeks ago, I wrote about looking at my yarn stash and planning projects accordingly. So I have two batches of yarn that have been on the shelf for years–honestly! One is a heavy cotton/acrylic blend. I have several shades that remind me of orange and strawberry sherbet. My original plan was to weave sturdy block design placemats with it and I did weave some, but obviously not enough to use up the yarn. Time to revisit that plan!

The other yarn is a crinkly, thick and thin cotton novelty yarn in several shades of blue, nutmeg and natural. I inherited this yarn from another weaver several years ago. The balls were wound with two or three strands together; not my usual put-up, but with some patience, I’ve rewound it as singles. Because of the fiber and texture, I’m envisioning terry-like towels. We’ll see what comes off the loom.

My goal is twofold: first, I want to stretch myself to use what I have on hand. Accumulating more and more without using what’s there is inefficient and wasteful. Second, I need to make room for the finer perle cotton yarns I use most often, many cones of which are stacked in precarious places. It’s all part of the New Year clean-out.

After I finish with the heavy cotton/acrylic and the novelty cotton, there are several small balls of perle cotton that a friend had used for Finnweave and gave to me when she could no longer weave. What’s Finnweave, you ask? That’s for another blog!

Two Trains left the station traveling in opposite directions….

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Planning, Uncategorized

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Word problems. We all had to do them in elementary school. Some people I know can arrive at an answer before I even mentally map out what is going on. Just give me straight numbers and what you want done with them; that’s all I ask. Good old arithmetic!

I’ve been doing some arithmetic this week. I planning to weave a small table cloth. Let’s see, 48″ square sounds good. In order for the cloth to lay flat, I’ll need fine yarn. The yarns I have on hand need to be threaded 48 threads for each inch.

48″ x 48 threads per inch = 2304 threads

But how long do each of those threads need be? Okay, here’s a variable: If I’m going to all the trouble of threading 2304 threads, why make only one table cloth? (I have a pin from the Lunatic Fringe shop that says “Weave Long and Prosper”–sound familiar?) So in this case, I’m going to weave four table cloths. There are all sorts of conditions that come into play in planning a warp length but to cut to the chase, I’ll need 7.5 yards for each thread.

2304 threads x 7.5 yards each = 17,280 yards of warp

That’s a lot of warp! My next question is: do I have enough yarn on hand to do this? Each size of yarn has a standard weight per pound. The yarn I’m using comes to 8400 yards per pound. How many pounds will I need?

17,280 / 8400 = 2.057 pounds

But this is just for the warp, the threads that travel lengthwise from the front to the back of the loom. What about the weft, the yarn that crosses the warp? That, too, is variable and depends on how hard I beat it in and how much the woven cloth draws in, but a good guess would be to estimate the same amount of yarn for the weft as for the warp. So now how much yarn will I need?

2.057 x 2 = 4.114 pounds of yarn.

Good old arithmetic!

 

Happy New Year!

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by in Planning, Uncategorized, Weaving Inspiration, Yarn Stash

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I hope all of you have had a joyful and peaceful holiday season with those you love. In our house, the holidays continue through January 6, so I’m still breathing balsam scent and eating cookies. The thoughts of what projects to start next are just tickling the back of my mind.

As I think about what to put on my looms next, the supply in house is the obvious place to start. January is a good time to look at the stash, those drawers and shelves of yarn that sparked my interest sometime in the past and now await fulfillment. How can I creatively combine the colors and fibers? What patterns will let those hues shine?

Among the cones I have purchased are others that I have inherited from weavers moving on to other things. Sometimes these yarns just don’t fit my style anymore and have languished on the shelf for who knows how long. If you have some of these, consider donating them to a local craft studio and fellow weaver. Maybe someone else is looking for just that fiber to finish a fabulous project.

Whatever your next project is, I wish you happy creating, and a Happy New Year! May you have a healthy and fiber-filled 2014!

When is a Towel Not a Towel?

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Towels, Uncategorized

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There is a familiar line we hear when talking to others about handwoven towels: “Oh it’s too pretty to use for dishes!” We laugh, but if you have to do dishes, why not do them with something pretty? Handwoven towels are absorbent, they are soft, they feel special, and are a pleasure to work with. But when is a towel not a towel? What are some of the other uses for a “towel”?

I have a collection of towels woven by friends of mine. They grace my coffee table. They cover my end tables. They accent the center piece for festive dinners. They line bread baskets. They make great hostess gifts. A friend wove one in a pattern from an early American weaving manuscript but with rich hues of plum, ruby, blue, burgundy, and gold. Another in my collection blends pastel colors of cotton and linen. There is the terra cotta towel with a natural accent border. And just recently, I purchased a delightful towel with dragonflies floating across the surface.

We like to weave towels. They are short projects and you don’t have to match one to another like placemats or napkins. You can warp a loom for 10 towels and weave a different pattern and color for each. And when we get tired of a draft, we can just thread a different one next time.

So next time you see a handwoven towel, remember all the places you can use it. And remember–they do dry dishes!

Creative Community

19 Tuesday Nov 2013

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The past month has been a whirlwind of activity around our local Columbia Weavers and Spinners Holiday Exhibition and Sale. This was the 24th annual exhibition for us and a lot of energy goes into making it happen. A lot of energy comes out of it too!

Sale Table 2013

Creativity encourages more creativity! We always enjoy seeing what others in the guild are making and we joke about being our own best customers. One member will encourage another as we bring in towels, runners, scarves, rugs, and jewelry. Some have worked all year for this one event; for others, this is one exhibition among many. Regardless, it comes together for three days of delightful fiber fun! And we all come away with ideas and plans for our next project at the loom and spinning wheel.

Do you have a fiber event coming up in your area? Check it out for some unique gift ideas and support your local fiber artists!

What’s on the Loom?

04 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by in Scarves, Tencel, Uncategorized

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In the “What’s on the Loom Now” department, I am experimenting with a new fiber I purchased this summer. Tencel has been around awhile but this is the first project I’ve woven with it.

Tencel is a registered trade name for a type of lyocell, which is similar to rayon. It is made from wood pulp and so is biodegradable and sustainable. Tencel takes dye very well, so the colors are vibrant and luscious. But it’s the feel that makes Tencel stand out. It is soft, silky, and drapable—perfect attributes for a scarf or shawl. You have got to feel this fiber!

The yarn I found this summer is space-dyed. One color blends gradually into another, then into another until it comes back to the original color. There wasn’t quite enough in that one skein to make the length of scarf that I wanted to make, so I combined it with a solid color. The trick then is to accentuate the blending colors and not cover them up with either the solid or the weave structure.

Twills are great for allowing a warp (the lengthwise yarn) to show up. Twills give us that distinctive diagonal line in weaves (think of your blue jeans). Tweak that a little by moving the twill line in segments and you have advancing twill. An advancing twill scarf in space-dyed Tencel just loves to snuggle around your neck. Take a look and tell me what you think! jeanweaves@gmail.comEggplant_Scarf

Announcing…!

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Etsy, Uncategorized

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I am happy to announce the opening of my on-line shop on Etsy.com!

Each item in the shop began with fiber and a design. I tossed colors around to see which ones complemented each other. Then I measured the yarns and threaded the looms, treadled the warp until complete, cut off the fabric, washed, hemmed and pressed it.

You will find several towels, some placemats, napkins, and a few scarves. More will follow as new items are finished, so check back often. Simply go to Etsy.com/shop/JeanWeaves for more information.

A Word about Words

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Terminology, Uncategorized

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No matter what field you are in, you are sure to speak your own “language”, using terms that lose people outside your expertise. Weaving is no different. Some weaving terms have worked their way into common idioms (Have you ever heard someone refer to “the warp and woof of life”?) but are still a little obscure. So here’s a quick little lesson to help clarify cloth-making for you!

The place to start is the loom. The loom is the primary tool used to create cloth. There are lots of different kinds of looms: warp-weighted looms, horizontal looms, vertical looms, Navajo looms, backstrap looms, barn looms, draw looms, dobby looms, and computer-assisted looms. To learn more about all the different kinds of looms used throughout history, check out The Book of Loomsby Eric Broudy (1979, University of New England). It is a thorough presentation of lots of different looms, even if it is an older book and doesn’t include the more recent computer-assisted looms available now. Here is the 12-harness Swedish draw loom that lives in my studio.

what1The harnesses or shafts are the frames that hang inside a floor loom and carry the heddles through which the warp is threaded. There can be anywhere from 2 to 24 or more harnesses on a loom. The more harnesses one has, the more patterning is possible. Each warp thread goes through one heddle (white string heddles here) on one shaft. The exception to this is the draw loom which has two sets of harnesses and the warp will be threaded through one shaft on each set. I know—it’s complicated. Here you can see the front harness on my draw loom with the draw harness hanging in the back.

what2The beater holds the reed which pushes the weft thread down to make the cloth. Each warp thread is threaded through one slot or dent in the reed and then through one heddle on one of the shafts. Here you can see the reed in the beater with the warp yet to be threaded on my 8-shaft loom.

what3The warp is the foundation of the cloth, the length-wise threads that are tied onto the loom. Here you can see the warp threaded through the reed.

what4The treadles are tied to the harnesses and control their movement, leaving the hands free to throw the shuttle, which carries the weft across the warp.

what5The weft is the thread that is interwoven with the warp. In some older texts, the word “woof” is used, but it is the same thing. Here you can see the weft thread wound on the bobbin in the shuttle with the weaving in progress.

what6That is a quick lesson in weaving terms and a quick tour of a warp in progress. More on weaving terms in coming blogs.

Moving into Autumn

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by in Overshot, Table Runners, Towels, Uncategorized

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Autumn is my favorite season.  The weather cools down (or is supposed to!). Leaves start to change color in our part of the country. Winter squashes like butternut and acorn ripen. Apples appear in the farmers’ market. Hmmm…nice time of year!

The lemon yellow and daffodil gold hand towels are finished and off the loom. Spearmint green worked well as a weft, so that showed up in more than just one towel. These soft colors complement each other. The burnt orange pushed the yellow to the other side of the spectrum and resulted in a sassy, bold look that made the woven motif pop!

autum-1The hand towels were quickly replaced on the small loom with warp for overshot table runners. Overshot is a weave structure most often seen in early American coverlets. Snowballs, roses, stars, pine trees and other figures combine to make the overall design. Usually, overshot is woven on a finer warp using a heavier “pattern” weft alternating with a finer “tie-down” weft. Having two wefts means weaving with two shuttles but they are needed to create a stable cloth.

The longer floating weft threads of overshot give the structure its name. Each throw of the shuttle is called a “shot.” The pattern weft is shot over several warp threads before being tied down. The advantages are very clear motifs and uninterrupted colors. Because of the floats, an overshot works better in textiles like coverlets or table runners rather than kitchen towels. For these runners, the red threads float over the natural threads to show a bright rose-like figure.

autum-2The variety of overshot designs make them popular for traditional weaving. Volumes have been written, tracing the motifs through the various parts of the country.American Woven Coverlets by Carol Strickler (1987, Interweave Press) is a great resource. American Star Work Coverlets by Judith Gordon (1995, Design Books) is another. Look them up to find out more about overshot!

Greetings from the Weaving Room!

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Table Runners, Towels, Uncategorized

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It’s another pleasant, late summer day in Missouri. The beans are slowing down and the tomatoes are trying to ripen before the squirrels get them. They are on their own. I’m working on a couple new warps!

Last week, I put the draw attachment back on my Glimakra loom and rethreaded a damask warp, this one in forest green to grace holiday tables. I’m using a star pattern from an early coverlet which repeats for the length. The beauty of this damask threading is that I can change patterns at will and get a variety of designs on one warp.

tumblr_inline_mr9nl1hHDc1qz4rgpThe other warp on my smaller loom is for hand towels. I combined a lemon yellow cotton with a daffodil cotton to make nice, thirsty towels. I just wish I had more of each color to use as weft as well, but alas, both cones are empty now. So it’s time to get creative in using what’s on the shelf: perhaps a soft spearmint green, perhaps a bold orange, maybe a paler butter yellow. We’ll see what works.