Futility

Today I'm beating myself up a bit about that last failed project. I should have recognized that the yarn wasn't twisted tightly enough to be a warp. It pulled apart in my hands indicating that it was too soft for a warp tension.

Ah well. There's no sense in dwelling on it. The next project is part of the Ratings Program, so I won't be posting pics of the piece in weaving or finished until after the judging in September.

Finished the Silk Noil

....but I didn't finish a scarf. I'm kinda bummed, but that warp was just shredding. It wasn't just the abrasion from the reed. The warp itself couldn't handle the tension strain put on it. It started snapping from the front where it was winding around the cloth beam. At that point, when 5 threads gave at once, I gave up, wove a header, and cut it off the loom.

Here's what my 7.5" sample looks like:



And this is what the start of the piece looked like cut off the loom. (Remember, these were the unsuccessful attempts so it doesn't look like much.)



Not stopping to cry, I started beaming another project. This one is a long warp in wool:



I've spread the warp in the raddle, tied it on the back beam stick, and I've started to wind on. I need help to wind on since I can't hold the friction brake, pull the warp, and wind the beam at the same time. So, tomorrow when Norm has more time I'll get this on the loom and ready to thread.

And It Just Keeps Breaking...

I'm finally liking this project and in a weaving groove. I have to lay the weft in lightly so that the diamond pattern doesn't pack down and obscure the painted warp. So the weaving is a bit slow and fiddly. I'm about 6" into the weaving when this happens:



Another broken warp thread. And this one is after the real weaving started, which means I can't just cheat and tie on a length of warp and advance past the knot to start weaving again. This time I have to employ a weight off the back of the loom.



I haven't done this in a while. I don't know where my old film canisters are so that I can use a penny weight system. So looking around for something heavy enough to weight that thread but light enough it won't break it, I end up with the bracket for my raddle. It works.

I continue weaving along. Around 7.25", this happens:



And I'm fixing it off the back with the other raddle bracket:



I hope this won't happen again, but I fear that this is the beginning of the end. I think the painted silk noil yarn is just too soft to be a warp thread. It's snapping like mad. I think the skinny weft yarn that has 16 picks to the 3/8" is just too many abrasions with the reed for this warp.

If I break another one, I'll stop weaving on this project and pull it off the loom. Maybe I can make a small bag out of the tiny amount of fabric woven.

Fixed the Warp

I fixed the broken warp thread by tying the portion that was around the back beam and through the heddle to a long piece that I anchored in the web with a pin. Like this:



Once the warp thread was secured, I advanced the warp so that the knot wouldn't be in my weaving (or fringe on the finished piece) and started weaving the piece again. This time, I used that lovely deep purple cotton 10/2 yarn from the Lunatic Fringe --10 Purple Blue is the color. I just stuck with a straight vertical herringbone, and suddenly this failed project turned into something pretty:



The weave structure lets the painted warp peek through the solid zigzags. It's lovely. But that photo above isn't quite capturing the colors. This one does:



And there we go. I've gotten one inch woven off so far. Only 71" more to go. Pure work now that I've solved all the problems, but fun to see that pattern emerge.

Stubborn Scarf and Broken Warp Thread

See that? Right there kind of curled to the right side of the warp?



That's a broken warp thread. Grrr.

This hasn't been as successful as I'd like. I like the undulating twill effect at the bottom of the web, but the weft yarn is a heavier weight 2/10 merino tencel and was obscuring the silk noil warp.



The yarn has such potential. It's a luscious blend of silk nubbins in deep peacock colors. Witness:



And I don't think the camera does it justice.

But when I use the 2/10 merino tencel, the fabric is too dense and spongy and hides the beautiful warp. And when I cross it off with itself, it looks rather boring.

So, later today I'm going to try to fix that hanging broken warp thread in the usual manner. Then I'm going to try a different weft yarn --a 10/2 deep purple mercerized cotton from the Lunatic Fringe.

The noil warp is too soft to withstand weaving that beautiful undulating twill, unfortunately. That twill is very dependent on the floating selvedge because it does 3 weft shots for every shed opening. And the selvedge yarn isn't doubled because I didn't realize the strain that was going to be put on it. So I'm switching gears and just trying a straight vertical herringbone twill on it.

Silk Noil Scarf

I've started a skinny silk noil scarf on my Louet David floor loom. It's going to be a 5" wide undulating twill scarf set at 20 e.p.i.. It's a pretty silk noil yarn in peacock feather colors of dark blue, deep green, turquoise, and olive.

I've beamed the warp. Made the mistake of using the David's built-in raddle for this project. The raddle has too close a sett for this warp (1/5 inch or 1 cm), and this warp is too soft to handle any serious stress. I snapped about a dozen warp threads when I started to wind on, so I moved the warp down to a 1 inch raddle on the back beam. That decreased the stress and allowed me to finish winding it on without snapping the warp. I'm just going to be weaving an even skinnier scarf now.

I'm threading warp through the texsolv heddles. I'll probably use a 10-dent reed to sley.

WGGB.org Apprentice Weaver Ratings Program

I've started work on the WGGB Apprentice Weaver Ratings Program. I met with a study group last month. It's a fun group of people. Since then, I've completed the written work, dusted off my completed color wheel, and planned the warps for the projects.

The required weaving in linen will be the last piece that I do because I'll probably set up a long warp that will be that project and my napkin project. I expect that that project will tie up the loom for a long while.

It's a good refresher course in weaving. I haven't done any serious weaving in 10 years now. This is a thorough introduction again.

I won't talk about the individual project pieces in this blog because it is supposed to be kept private until you submit. However, I *can* say that I've finished points 1 and 2 of five. Only 12 woven samples left to go.